Schedule*

Location: Mokichi Okada Foundation (Fundação Mokiti Okada – M.O.A.)
Address: Rua Morgado de Mateus 77, Vila Mariana - São Paulo - SP - Brazil
Information: conferencia2008@fmo.org.br telefone: (11)5087-5169/5134

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Opening Ceremony
6p.m.	Table formation – representatives from PUC, FMO, Fundação Japão, and ABEJ
6:30p.m. - 7:15p.m.	Celia Sakurai SAKURAI, Celia - Doctor’s degree in Social Sciences at  Unicamp (Universidade Estadual de Campinas), organizer of the Grupo de Trabalho “Migrações Internacionais”of the National Association of Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences (ANPOCS) and academic coordinator of the History Museum of Japanese Immigration in Brazil. Wrote several articles on the Japanese immigration.	History Museum of the Japanese Immigration in Brazil	Contact and changes: a thought on the Japanese-Brazilians Contact and changes: a thought on the Japanese-Brazilians Abstract: The history of 100 years in Brazil is also the history of at least three generations of descendents. Therefore, those years concern the cultural changes rising from the contact with Brazilians during all these years. The thought on the process of formation of a Japanese-Brazilian culture refers to the polemic issue regarding the maintenance of Japanese culture, so exposed at the immigration centennial celebration. It should be more relevant to discuss the way the Japanese immigrants switched their original culture to the Japanese –Brazilian culture whilst their contact with Brazilian society was intensified. At least, those changes were visible in two crucial aspects in the life of anyone else: in family patterns and in the language. This is the purpose of the presentation.
7:15p.m. - 8p.m.	Alexandre Ratsuo Uehara UEHARA, Alexandre Ratsuo - é Master’s degree (1995) and doctor’s degree in Political Science at the University of São Paulo (2001). Guest researcher at Keio University (1993) and Sophia University (1999-2000). Currently, international relations professor at Faculdades Integradas Rio Branco. Member of Grupo de Análise da Conjuntura Internacional / USP and researcher at the Núcleo de Pesquisa em Relações Internacionais (USP). Furthermore, chairman of the Brazilian Association of Japanese Studies (ABEJ). Among his papers, it can be mentioned:  Estudos Japoneses no Brasil. São Paulo (1998) collection and articles such as Relacionamento Brasil-Japão: história, análise e perspectivas (2005).	Faculdades Integradas Rio Branco (Brasil)	Studies on Japanese religions in Brazil: almost 100 academic studies – Studies on Japanese religions in Brazil: almost 100 academic studies –. Abstract: Brazil features a high ethnic miscegenation which leads to the dissemination of religious influences from different cultures. Catholicism is the prevailing religion and represents  73,8% of population according to IBGE census (2000). Nevertheless, there is a large variation of other religions which are also present in the country and divide and share followers in the Brazilian territory. In this diversified environment, there also the Japanese religions. The ones that have an more ancient influence are: Shinto and Buddhism. However, the Japanese religions are not limited to them; there is also the significant presence of the so-named new religions. Interesting papers on the issue of Japanese religions in Brazil have already been achieved, but there are few of them. From records of dissertations at data bank of CAPES and other similar sources, the paper will depict the current situation of Japanese religions research until then.
8p.m.	Opening Cocktail

 

Monday, August 25, 2008

PANEL: Japanese religions in Brazil under the academic research viewpoint - issues and challenges
9a.m. – 10a.m.	Frank Usarski USARSKI, Frank - accomplished his doctoral degree in  (1987) Religious Studies at the University of Hannover (Germany). Until 1992 he belonged to the faculty of Religious Studies Program at the same university. Between 1992 and 1997 he participated as religion  scholar in the formation of Ethics professors at Pedagogy School of Erfurt. Since his return to Brazil in 1998, he has been at the Graduate Program in Religious Studies at PUC-SP. He is the founder and coordinator of the  Revista de Estudos da Religião (REVER) and leads the research group of the Centro de Estudos de Religiões Alternativas de Origem Oriental no Brasil (CERAL) (Center of Studies on Alternative Religions of Eastern Origin in Brazil). Among his latest academic activities it is worth mentioning research, teaching and several papers on Eastern Religions; among them, the  collection “Buddhism in Brazil (2002) and papers such as O dharma verde-amarelo mal-sucedido - um esboço da situação acanhada do Budismo (2004), Conflitos religiosos no âmbito do budismo internacional e suas repercussões no campo budista brasileiro (2006), O Momento da Pesquisa sobre o Budismo no Brasil: Tendências e Questões Abertas  (2006) e “The Last Missionary to Leave the Temple Should Turn Off the Light” Sociological Remarks on the Decline of Japanese “Immigrant” Buddhism in Brazil (2008).	Pontifical University of Sao Paulo (Brazil)	Research on Japanese Religions in Brazil under the Religious Science viewpoint Research on Japanese Religions in Brazil under the Religious Science viewpoint Abstract: The paper gives an overview of the research on Japanese religions in Brazil from the specific standpoint of science of religion by presenting not only a summary of the conquests and current deficits but also of the hisctoric, structural, institucional and epistemological aspects that have contributed to a considerable delay in the field.
10a.m. – 10:30a.m.	Coffee Break
10:30a.m. – 11:30a.m.	Ronan Alves Pereira PEREIRA, Ronan Alves - master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Tokyo (1988) and doctoral degree in Social Sciences at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (2001). Currently, he is Teaching Assistant (Tutor) at Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) and full professor at Universidade de Brasília. He researches mostly the following issues: Anthropology of religion, Religious transplantation, Buddhism, Japanese religions in Brazil, New Japanese religions and Millenarianism. He conducted extensive research on Japanese religions in Japan and in other countries. Several publications came from that research, among which, the book Spirit Possession and Cultural Innovation: the Religious Experience of Miki Nakayama and Nao Deguchi (1992), the collection (organized with Hideaki Matsuoka) Japanese Religions in and Beyond Japanese Diáspora (2007) as well as papers on Buddhism in Brazil such as Transplantation of Soka Gakkai to Brazil: Building “The Closest Organization to the Heart Of Ikeda-Sensei” (2008)	Universidade de Brasília (Brasil)	Research and engagement in the context of Japanese Religions in Brazil Research and engagement in the context of Japanese Religions in Brazil Abstract: Many Brazilian religions, in first place, the Catholic Church, have established their own educational system, publishing houses and other means of communication as a form of reaction against the increasing hegemony of the scientific speech and also as a strategy to interfere with it. Based on that observation, the paper will discuss the situation of the Japanese religions established in Brazil, mostly the efforts made in order to educate their members towards a spiritual training in their own institutions searching thus for social legitimacy and adequate spaces in order to spread their religious messages. The example of such dynamics will be given through considerations on the Brazilian branch of the neo-Buddhist movement Soka Gakkai International.
11:30a.m. – 12p.m.	Final Discussion
12p.m. – 2p.m.	Lunch
PANEL: Religion and immigration from the Japanese perspective
2p.m. – 3p.m.	Rafael Shoji SHOJI, Rafael - master’s degree in Religious Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo (2000), doctor’s degree in Religious Studies at Leibniz University, Hannover, Germany (2004) and post-doctor in Religious Studies at the Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo (2006). Currently, he is a  fellow at the Japan Foundation and guest researcher at the Religion and Culture Institute of the Nanzan University (Nagoya).  His research is focused on immigration,  ethnicity and contemporary forms of Buddhism and Christianity. His bibliography features various titles that are highly relevant to the conference, such as: Buddhism in Syncretic Shape: Lessons from Shingon in Brazil (2003); Rituais Sincréticos e Alimentação entre os Cristãos Ocultos no Japão (2005); Continuum Religioso Nipo-Brasileiro: O Caso do Budismo Cármico da Shingon (2006), The Decline of Shinto Nationalism and the Rise of Nikkei Catholicism among Japanese Brazilians (2008).	Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo (Brazil)	Religions among Brazilians in Japan: Structure and Spread of Christian Social Networks Religions among Brazilians in Japan: Structure and Spread of Christian Social Networks After placing migration trends between Japan and Brazil in a particular context, the presentation will focus on the history and sociology of Christianity among Japanese and Brazilians. The Brazilian Catholicism tended to replace Shinto religion as a national religion of the new Nikkei generations. Nevertheless, recent data on Brazilian religions in Japan show the increase of Pentecostal movements among dekassegui.   By following a theoretical viewpoint given by religions’ economics and by social networks, the main explanations regarding the Pentecostal growth are searched. From these explanations,  some of them must be emphasized: 1. Pentecostal groups spread effectively through social networks formed by Brazilian immigrants, through the opening of temples for demand optimized service whilst Japanese Catholicism has a few Brazilian priests; 2. the new Pentecostal movements show a low level of ethnic tension and congregate results, which most of the followers have been searching in religion, whilst Brazilian religiosity has little space inside the Japanese Catholicism; 3. Pentecostalism, through assistance networks as well as by dealing with crises situations the Brazilian immigrant undergoes in Japan, has accomplished a social role, which has been played by few transplanted social structures or by support groups. Furthermore, in some Pentecostal groups it can be noticed that the organization is an important factor regarding its expansion: the multiplication cells inside the ethnic community have shown the trend towards the practice of creating again the extended family as a way to maintain the Brazilian culture. Lastly, some trends regarding the future of Christianity and of other religions among Brazilians in Japan are given, by taking into consideration their plausibility in the Japanese context.
3p.m. – 4p.m.	Regina Yoshie Matsue MATSUE, Regina Yoshie – doctor’s degree in Foreign Relations, Intercultural Communication Department at the University of Tsukuba, Japan (2006). Master’s degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Brasília (1998) and master’s degree in Area Studies at the University of Tsukuba, Japan (2002). Currently, she is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National University of Singapore. She conducted on field research on several groups of Japanese religions in Brazil, Japan, and Australia. She wrote some papers in Portuguese as well as in English: “O Budismo da Terra Pura em Brasilia” (2002), “A Expansão Internacional das Novas Religiões Japonesas: Um Estudo Sobre a Igreja Messiânica Mundial no Brasil e na Austrália” (2002), “Overseas Japanese New Religion: The Expansion of Sekai Kyuseikyo in Brazil and Australia” (2003), “The Religious Activities among Japanese-Brazilian Dual Diaspora in Japan” (2006).	National University of Singapore	The Religious Activities among Japanese-Brazilian Dual Diaspora in Japan The Religious Activities among Japanese-Brazilian Dual Diaspora in Japan Abstract: The present paper intends to reflect on the religious activities of three groups – the Messianity members, the Catholics and Soka Gakkai members – among Brazilian nationals in Japan. At the same time, its purpose is to study the meaning that those practices represent to Brazilian members in a diasporic context. On one side, the doctrine and practices of the three groups are quite dissimilar, and all of them provide different tools for the transformation and adaptation of their members in Japanese society.  On the other aspect, in spite of those differences, the groups, in a similar way, represent a place of support, socialization and belonging to their members, who feel like being isolated from the migratory context. For most of the members, these groups mean an elementary form of participation and citizenship.
4p.m. – 4:30p.m.	Final Discussion

 

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

PANEL: Japanese religions in Western contexts
9a.m. – 10a.m.	Michael Pye PYE, Michael - born in 1939 in England, he studied Modern Languages and Theology at the University of Cambridge (1958-1961). For the next five years, he conducted field researches in Japan.  From 1967, worked as Religious Studies professor in the English universities so named University of Lancaster and University of Leeds, where he obtained his doctoral degree  (Ph.D.). In 1982, became a Religious Science professor at the Marburg University/Germany. Between 1995 and 2000 he was chairman of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR). After his retirement in 2005 he moved to Otani University, in Kyoto, Japan. In June 2008, he will return to the Marburg University  as a professor emeritus.  Editor of the Marburg Journal of Religion. His broad bibliography features articles in English, German and Japanese, such as The transplantation of religions (1969), Diversions in the interpretation of Shinto (1977), An Asian starting point for the study of religion (1992), National and international identity in a Japanese religion (1994), Shinto, primal religion and international identity (1996).	University of Marburg (Germany)	Transplantation of Japanese religions to Latin America under Japan’s viewpoint with special regard to Brazil Transplantation of Japanese religions to Latin America under Japan’s viewpoint with special regard to Brazil Abstract: Several Japanese religions feature a long story of contact with Latin America regarding not only Spanish-speaking countries but also with Brazil. This exchange led to translation projects, activities aiming at the formation of missionary priests, several visits to representatives of groups related and a number of educational papers including in Japan itself. Based on field researches recently conducted in Japan, the paper will analyze every situation of a series of Japanese religions, mainly Shin Buddhism as the most significant traditional buddhist designation, and Tenrikyo as the paradigmatic example of a modern religion or “new” religion of Japanese origin.
10a.m. – 10:30a.m.	Coffee Break
10:30a.m. – 11:30a.m.	Kenneth K. Tanaka TANAKA, Kenneth K - after undergraduating in Cultural Anthropology at Stanford University (USA) in 1970, he moved to Japan where he accomplished his Master’s degree in Hindu Philosophy at Tokyo University. He was ordained monk of the Jodo Shinshu Japanese Buddhist school (1978). Back to the United States, he obtained his doctoral degree (Ph.D.) in Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He was hired by the same university as an expert in Japanese Buddhism. In 1998 he became professor at Musashino University, Tokyo, where he is currently the director of the Buddhist Institute and Culture. Furthermore, he is the chairman of the International Association of Shin  Buddhist Studies, and participates on a regular basis in sessions of the  International Buddhist-Christian Theological Encounter at Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA. Among his several publications there are monographs such as:  Ocean: An Introduction to Jodo Shinshu Buddhism in America (1997) and Pure Land Buddhism: Historical Development and Contemporary Manifestation (2004) as well as co-edited collections as The Faces of Buddhism in America (1998) and Engaged Pure Land Buddhism (1998).	University of Musashino, Tokyo (Japan)	Japanese Buddhism in the US. Tension between ethnic identity and universal teachings Japanese Buddhism in the US. Tension between ethnic identity and universal teachings. Japanese Buddhism in the US. Tension between ethnic identity and universal teachings. Abstract: Before World War II, some North-American politicians accused Japanese Buddhist temples in the US of being worship places of the Japanese Emperor. Therefore, this showed the discriminatory treatment of immigrants settled in the West Coast. In that social environment, Buddhist temples were not only religious centers but also social shelters for Japanese immigrants and their descendants. Mainly since the end of World War II, traditional Japanese Buddhist institutions in the US have been making efforts to accomplish their task as religious entities in order to spread a universal message that transcends ethnic boundaries. Results are ambiguous as temples could not be freed from their ethnic heritage. The paper will describe some of the tensions between ethnic trends and Buddhism universal ideals, and different strategies to overcome them. It is believed that a careful consideration on the special situation in the United States works as a reference regarding the general compared study on the Japanese religions in Western countries.
11:30a.m. – 12:30a.m.	Cristina Rocha ROCHA, Cristina - doctor’s degree in Anthropology at the Western Sydney University (Australia). Currently, she is Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow of University of Western Sydney (Australia). Previously, she as professor of the Anthropology Department of the Australian National University and of the University of Western Sydney. In 2000, she was fellow of Japan Foundation and guest researcher of the National Museum of Ethnology from Osaka. She wrote the book Zen in Brazil: The Quest for Cosmopolitan Modernity (2006), as well as several articles on Buddhism in West and in Brazil, among them, Being a Zen Buddhist Brazilian: Juggling Multiple Religious Identities in the Land of Catholicism (2004) and All the Roads Come from Zen: Busshinji as a Reference to Buddhism in Brazil (2008).	University of Western Sydney (Australia)	Sôtô Zenshû in Brazil: The Creolisation of Everyday Practices Sôtô Zenshû in Brazil: The Creolisation of Everyday Practices Abstract: Sôtô Zenshû was the first Japanese Buddhist School to have non-nikkei members in Brazil. This is due to the high profile Zen Buddhism enjoyed in the 20th century in the West. From the writings of DT Suzuki and other members of the School of Kyoto to the 1960s Zen boom in the USA, Zen was constructed as the quintessential Japanese religion, one that reflected Japanese culture in its entirety. Upon arrival in Brazil-through literature, missionaries, migrants, travels by practitioners, and the media-this imaginary of Zen encountered a mainly Catholic country. Some migrants converted before embarking to Brazil, others upon arrival. In recent years Zen in particular, and Buddhism in general, underwent a resurgence because of an exponential increase in New Age spirituality. I argue that this plural religious arena has given rise to creolised practices. In this paper I demonstrate the various ways in which Japanese immigrants and their descendants have overlaid a Brazilian religious 'vocabulary' onto their Buddhist 'grammar', while non-Japanese Brazilians use Catholic, New Age, and other religions syntaxes as matrices for new Buddhist vocabulary.
12:30a.m. – 2p.m.	Lunch
PANEL: New Japanese religious movements in Brazil
2p.m. – 3p.m.	Hideaki Matsuoka MATSUOKA, Hideaki - accomplished his doctor’s degree in Anthropology (Ph. D.) at the University of  California, Berkeley, USA(2000). Currently, he is a professor of international communication at the University of Shukutku, Saitama, Japan, and of Anthropology and Latin-American Studies at the University of Tokyo. He wrote several papers in English and Japanese on Japanese religions in Brazil; among them,  Hierarchy and Identity: On a Japanese New Religion’s Strategy of Maintaining Japaneseness in Brazil   (2004), the monograph Japanese Prayer below the Equator: How Brazilians Believe in the Church of World Messianity (2007) and the collection (organized with Ronan Alves Pereira (2007) Japanese Religions in and beyond the Japanese Diaspora.	University of Shukutoku (Japan)	Conversion to Messianity: on the continuity and the discontinuity between Messianity and Brazilian Spiritism Conversion to Messianity: on the continuity and the discontinuity between Messianity and Brazilian Spiritism Abstract: The World Messianity Church, founded by Okada Mokichi (1882-1955), was introduced in Brazil in 1955. Since then, the church has frequently increased the number of its followers. Presently, it states that it features more than  300.000 members from whom 95% are Brazilian without Japanese background. With the purpose of explaining that growth outside the ethnic community, the paper will focus on the continuity and discontinuity between the World Messianity Church and the Brazilian spiritism.
3p.m. – 4p.m.	Suzana Ramos Coutinho Bornholdt BORNHLODT, Suzana Ramos Coutinho - B.Sc. in Social Science at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (2000) and master's degree in Social Anthropology at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (2004). Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate at the Religious Studies Department (Lancaster University - UK). She is a research fellow at the Religious Studies Centre (NUR/PPGAS) at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Her main research interest is focused on missionary activities, with previous experience on Christian mission on the Internet and also millenarianist/missionary perspectives of the Jehovah's Witnesses. Her current Ph.D research focus on the missionalising strategy of the lay Buddhism of Soka Gakkai in Southern Brazil.	Lancaster University (GB)	Soka Gakkai in Brazil: Buddhism, Recruitment or Marketing? Soka Gakkai in Brazil: Buddhism, Recruitment or Marketing? Abstract: This paper is based on a case study done in the Southern part of Brazil in 2006 on Soka Gakkai International (‘International Value-Creation Society’, also SGI), a lay Buddhist movement founded in Japan in 1930, which now has over 12 million members in 190 countries. With an analysis based on anthropological fieldwork, this essay aims to understand how the ‘Brazil Soka Gakkai International Association’ (BSGI), creates innovative strategies of insertion into a specific religious field, presenting themselves in Brazil as an NGO and not as a religious group. The contradictory way in which BSGI uses the image and practice of an NGO responds to their own need: the recruitment and maintenance of members. I suggest that the insertion of this specific religious group in the third sector may bear more complexities than simply supplying services or resources to fill a gap left by the State. This article will show the ambiguities of a group that answers to the necessities of a country laid in immense social inequalities but which, at the same time, uses this process as a marketing strategy and a plan of action to recruit new members.
4p.m. – 5p.m.	Peter Clarke CLARKE, Peter - professor emeritus of History and Sociology of Religion at King's College, University of London. Currently, he is at the faculty of the Theology School of the University of Oxford (GB), where he teaches  Anthropology of Religion. He is also a member of the “Common Room” at Wolfson College, Oxford, and professor emeritus at the  University of Birmingham. Furthermore, he gave courses in universities in Africa, Brazil and Japan. Among his research projects it can be found comparative studies on New Religious Movements, mainly those of Japanese origin. He is the founder and co-editor of the renowned Journal of Contemporary Religion.	University of Oxford (GB)	Japanese Religions in Brazil: the wheel went round Japanese Religions in Brazil: the wheel went round Abstract: The paper will summarize the historical development of “old” and “new” Japanese religions in Brazil and will discuss the sociological significance of respective developments. The analysis will take into consideration the fact that since the 1970’s the Japanese religions are no longer characterized exclusively as a set of imported religions concerned about their ethnic aspects. Preferably, since the 1970’s, a second dynamics has been observed, that is,  the return of Japanese-Brazilian families to their ancestors’ country, which, sometimes, results in a sort of “opposite mission” in Japan, with innovative effects on the referring religions in their original context. That condition is not much different from pastors and laymen amidst African immigrants who aim at revitalizing Christianity in Europe from which most of African Christianity came.
5p.m. – 5:30p.m.	Final Discussion
5:30p.m. – 6:30p.m.	Closing ceremony

 

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Cultural Agenda: Visit to Guarapiranga Messianity Sacred Ground (Optional)
9a.m.	Departure from Mokichi Okada Foundation
10a.m.	Arrival at the Brazil Sacred Grounds Walk to the Cultural Center
11:30a.m.	Explanation of the Brazilian Sacred Grounds
12:30a.m. – 1:30p.m.	Lunch
1:30p.m. – 2:30p.m.	Presentation of Prof. Hideaki Matsuoka (Shukutoku University – Japan) on “Landscape and religiosity in Japan”
2:30p.m. – 3:15p.m.	Presentation of Mr. Carlos Roberto Sendas Ribeiro "Brazilian Sacred Grounds – a paradise prototype in the Brazilian way”
3:15p.m. – 3:30p.m.	Final discussion
3:30p.m.	Departure from Guarapiranga Sacred Ground

 

Other events  – August 24 - 27 (at FMO, Vila Mariana) -  Exhibit of Japanese-Brazilian arts - Exhibit: History of religious institutions of Japanese background in Brazil (regulation featured in information link)

* Schedule subject to changes.