IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP) > ACERP2023 > Programme

Programme

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Conference Outline

Thursday, March 30Friday, March 31Saturday, April 1Sunday, April 2Monday, April 3

13:30-15:00: Pre-Conference Registration | Toshi Center Hotel, Room 702

15:00-17:00: Cultural Visit: Hanami in the Imperial Gardens

17:00-19:00: Conference Meet & Greet | GARB Central

09:00-10:00: Conference Registration & Coffee | Orion Hall (5F)

10:00-10:05: Announcements & Welcome | Orion Hall (5F)

10:05-10:15: Welcome Address & Recognition of IAFOR Scholarship Winners | Orion Hall (5F)

10:15-11:00: Keynote Presentation | Orion Hall (5F)
Whose Time Am I Spending? Nonzero-sum Time Perception Promotes Psychological Well-being and Prosociality
Yu Niiya, Hosei University, Japan

11:00-11:15: Coffee Break | Orion Hall (5F)

11:15-12:00: Keynote Presentation | Orion Hall (5F)
Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State
Frank Ravitch, Michigan State University College of Law, United States

12:00-13:00: Lunch Break

13:00-13:45: Panel Presentation | Orion Hall (5F)
Recent Developments Concerning the Separation of Religion and State in Contemporary Japan
Frank Ravitch, Michigan State University College of Law, United States
Haruko Satoh, Osaka University, Japan
Brian Victoria, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, United Kingdom
Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum, Japan (Moderator)

13:45-14:15: Featured Presentation | Orion Hall (5F)
Are Modern Understandings of Karma the Teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha?
Brian Victoria, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, United Kingdom

14:15-14:30: Conference Photograph

14:30-14:45: Coffee Break | Orion Hall (5F)

14:45-15:45: Conference Poster Session | Orion Hall (5F)

15:45-16:30: Featured Workshop Presentation | Orion Hall (5F)
Aging Data: The National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging
James McNally, University of Michigan, United States
Kathryn Lavender, University of Michigan, United States

09:00-09:30: Registration & Coffee

09:30-11:10: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 1
Room 703: Qualitative/Quantitative International Psychology
Room 704: Mental Health
Room 705: Psychology and Education
Room 707: Vision and Hearing Health
Room 708: Philosophy in Arts, Culture & Technology

11:10-11:25 Coffee Break

11:25-12:40: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 2
Room 703: Qualitative/Quantitative Research in any other area of Psychology
Room 704: Psychology and Society
Room 705: Psychology and Education
Room 707: Aging & Gerontology
Room 708: Ethics & Philosophy in Education & Language

12:40-13:40: Lunch Break

13:40-15:20: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 3
Room 703: Qualitative/Quantitative Research in any other area of Psychology
Room 704: Mental Health (COVID-19)
Room 705: Psychology and Education
Room 707: Aging and Gerontology
Room 708: Ethics

15:20-15:35: Coffee Break

15:35-17:15: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 4
Room 703: Psychology (Media & Design)
Room 704: Mental Health
Room 705: Psychology and Education
Room 707: Navigating Aging and Illness
Room 708: Interdisciplinary Religion

17:20-18:00: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 5
Room 703: Calm and Clear – Meditation Workshop
Room 708: Taemong Writing Workshop

19:00-21:00: Conference Dinner
Pre-registration is required
Location: Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu

09:00-09:25: Registration & Coffee

09:25-10:15: Featured Discussion | Room 703
Curious about Curiosity
Dani S. Bassett, University of Pennsylvania, United States
Perry Zurn, American University, United States

10:15-10:30: Coffee Break

10:30-12:10: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 1
Room 703: Mental Health
Room 704: Psychology and Education
Room 705: Mental Health
Room 707: Support Systems
Room 708: Health & Psychology

12:10-13:10: Lunch Break

13:10-14:25: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 2
Room 703: Communication & Psychology
Room 704: Focus on Teachers
Room 705: Mental Health
Room 707: Aging and Gerontology (Health)
Room 708: Industrial Organisation, Leadership, & Training

14:25-14:40: Coffee Break

14:40-16:20: Onsite Parallel Presentation Session 3
Room 703: Aging and Psychology
Room 704: Focus on Teachers
Room 705: Mental Health
Room 707: Aging and Gerontology
Room 708: Linguistics/Language & Psychology

16:20-16:30: Onsite Closing Session

08:55-09:00: Online Welcome Address

09:00-11:05: Online Parallel Presentation Session 1
Room A: Mental Health
Room B: Aging and Gerontology

11:05-11:20: Break

11:20-12:35: Online Parallel Presentation Session 2
Room A: Qualitative/Quantitative Research in any other area of Psychology
Room B: Philosophy

12:35-12:50: Break

12:50-14:30: Online Parallel Presentation Session 3
Room A: General Psychology
Room B: Religion and Education

14:30-14:45: Break

14:45-16:00: Online Parallel Presentation Session 4
Room A: International Psychology
Room B: Religion

16:00-16:10: Break

16:10-16:55: Keynote Presentation | Online
To Be Young and Depressed: Higher Prevalence Rates for Depression in Youngsters in the Netherlands
Jan Spijker, Radboud University, The Netherlands

16:55-17:00: Online Closing Session

The above schedule may be subject to change.

Featured Presentations

  • Curious About Curiosity
    Curious About Curiosity
    Featured Discussion: Dani S. Bassett & Perry Zurn
  • Are Modern Understandings of Karma the Teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha?
    Are Modern Understandings of Karma the Teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha?
    Featured Presentation: Brian Victoria
  • Recent Developments Concerning the Separation of Religion and State in Contemporary Japan
    Recent Developments Concerning the Separation of Religion and State in Contemporary Japan
    Panel Presentation: Frank Ravitch, Haruko Satoh, Brian Victoria, Joseph Haldane (Moderator)
  • Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State
    Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State
    Keynote Presentation: Frank Ravitch
  • To Be Young and Depressed: Higher Prevalence Rates for Depression in Youngsters in the Netherlands
    To Be Young and Depressed: Higher Prevalence Rates for Depression in Youngsters in the Netherlands
    Keynote Presentation: Jan Spijker
  • Whose Time Am I Spending? Non-zero-sum Time Perception Promotes Psychological Well-being and Prosociality
    Whose Time Am I Spending? Non-zero-sum Time Perception Promotes Psychological Well-being and Prosociality
    Keynote Presentation: Yu Niiya

Conference Programme & Abstract Book

The online version of the Conference Programme & Abstract Book is now available for download. It contains access information, session information and a detailed day-to-day presentation schedule.

Click to download as a PDF

*Please be aware that the above schedule may be subject to change.

Important Information Emails

All registered attendees will receive an Important Information email and updates in the run-up to the conference. Please check your email inbox for something from "iafor.org". If you can not find these emails in your normal inbox, it is worth checking in your spam or junk mail folders as many programs filter out emails this way. If these did end up in one of these folders, please add the address to your acceptable senders' folder by whatever method your email program can do this.

Previous Programming

View details of programming for past ACERP conferences via the links below.

ACERP2022 ACERP2021 ACERP2020
ACERP2019 ACERP2018 ACERP2017
ACERP2016 ACERP2015 ACERP2014
ACERP2013 ACERP2012 ACERP2011
Curious About Curiosity
Featured Discussion: Dani S. Bassett & Perry Zurn

In this interactive, interdisciplinary plenary interview and discussion, Perry Zurn and Dani S. Bassett introduce their new theory of curiosity as a relational or "network" practice. For them, curiosity is not so much a capacity to acquire new information as it is a capacity to connect.

The presentation and discussion will also explore curiosity's centrality to the humanities and the sciences, its important connections to human cognitive as well as affective functions, and the implications of this transformative approach to curiosity for education and our collectively curious futures.

Participants, both online and in-person in Tokyo, are encouraged to contribute questions and comments.

Read presenters' biographies
Are Modern Understandings of Karma the Teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha?
Featured Presentation: Brian Victoria

"Karma”, like the word "Buddha”, is one of the few words of Buddhist/Hindu origin that have become so commonly used they no longer need to be italicised when written. Thus, when discussing something that happened to a particular person, usually of a negative character, it is unsurprising to hear someone say, “It was his karma, man.” Here, karma becomes very close to meaning "fate", suggesting a power outside of one’s control that determines one’s destiny. But is this the genuine meaning of karma?

This presentation will focus on the understanding of karma in twentieth-century Japan, beginning with that of Rinzai Zen master Shaku Sōen as presented at the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893, including an examination of the doctrinal underpinnings of Sōen's understanding in the Lotus Sutra. This will be followed by the contrasting understanding of Sōen's lay disciple, D. T. Suzuki, as well as that of the martyred Sōtō Zen priest Uchiyama Gudō.

To ensure that the understanding of karma held by Shaku Sōen, et al. is not regarded as a uniquely Mahayana interpretation, reference will also be made to examples of the use of karma in the Theravada tradition, specifically as used in contemporary Thailand.

In conclusion, an examination of karma as taught by Shakyamuni Buddha will be presented. It will be shown that both the Mahayana and Theravada understandings of karma are far removed, even contradictory, to the teachings of the Buddha himself.

Read presenters' biographies
Recent Developments Concerning the Separation of Religion and State in Contemporary Japan
Panel Presentation: Frank Ravitch, Haruko Satoh, Brian Victoria, Joseph Haldane (Moderator)

The ongoing impact of religion on the state (and vice versa) remains an "evergreen" and controversial phenomenon in many countries of the world. Today, the split on national lines between the Christian Orthodox Church in Russia and Ukraine reveals once again how religions are both impacted by and impact upon nations at war. Even more recently, the relationship between Sweden and Turkey became strained due to the burning of the Quran by a right-wing group in the former country, and support for Kurdish groups fighting for their freedom from Turkey, but which Turkey views as terrorist groups.

The purpose of this panel is to introduce recent examples in Japan at both the national and local levels that illustrate the ongoing conflict that Japan, too, has in this regard. Professor Frank Ravitch will discuss relevant developments in Japan at the national level that followed in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on July 8, 2022. These developments led to the linking of both Abe and numerous other Japanese politicians to the controversial Unification Church (also known as the "Moonies"). Prof. Ravitch will discuss the current attempts in the Japanese Diet to craft legislation that will make it easier to ban religious organisations that are accused of exerting undue pressure on their adherents to donate large sums of money to their religion of choice.

Dr Brian Victoria will introduce both sides of an ongoing court case in Kyoto concerning a local city government-affiliated neighbourhood association that stands accused of allocating some of its yearly membership funds to support activities of area Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. This violates the postwar Japanese Constitution, specifically Article Twenty of which states in part: "Freedom of religion is guaranteed to all. No religious organisation shall receive any privileges from the state, nor exercise any political authority. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious act, celebration, rite, or practice." The question will be asked whether this and other similar neighbourhood associations throughout the country are simply protecting long-established Japanese customs and culture, or, on the contrary, violating the constitution by contributing membership funds to specific religious organisations.

Read presenters' biographies
Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State
Keynote Presentation: Frank Ravitch

In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned more than 50 years of precedent on the establishment of religion (commonly referred to as the separation of church and state) in a case involving sectarian Christian prayer by a public high school football coach. This follows a recent trend of moving away from separationist concepts. This shift has already begun to have a negative impact on religious minorities and nonbelievers in some parts of the United States.

Meanwhile, in Japan, recent decisions by the 最高裁判所 (Japanese Supreme Court) have continued to expand the concept of separation of politics and religion through the application of precedent to new situations. Several recent cases have involved a Shinto shrine in Sunigawa City, Hokkaido and a Confucian temple in Okinawa.

Of course, the United States and Japanese legal systems and socio-political dynamics are quite different. If anything, however, these differences should have led to the opposite result because the U.S. system has a formal reliance on court precedents while the Japanese system has no such formal requirement.

What explains this difference in outcomes? This talk will explore this fascinating question.

Read presenter's biography
To Be Young and Depressed: Higher Prevalence Rates for Depression in Youngsters in the Netherlands
Keynote Presentation: Jan Spijker

According to recent results of NEMESIS, 26% of the Dutch adult population had a psychiatric condition in the past 12 months. Twelve years earlier this was 18%.

Especially, there was a sharp increase in the prevalence in depressive, anxiety and substance use disorders. Those aged under 35, living alone, without employment and living in cities were at higher risk of developing mental disorders.

NEMESIS-3 is a national psychiatric epidemiological survey with more than 6,000 respondents (18-64 years old) that started in 2019. The MINI is used to assess psychiatric disorders according to DSM-IV and DSM-V. Earlier prevalence of psychiatric disorders was assessed in NEMESIS-2. COVID-19 does not seem to have influenced the rise in depression as prevalence in the year before, during and after the pandemic did not differ. There are other signals of an increase of depression and suicidality among students. The chronic stress and performance pressure that young people experience might be the explanation for this situation.

Read presenters' biography
Whose Time Am I Spending? Non-zero-sum Time Perception Promotes Psychological Well-being and Prosociality
Keynote Presentation: Yu Niiya

In modern societies, time is a precious asset. Just like money, we invest, trade, spend, save, borrow, give, lose, and even steal time. Just like money, we see it as a zero-sum resource that can be taken or given. But time could be also conceived as a non-zero-sum: Time may be just there, created moment by moment, and may not belong to anybody. Drawing on an experience sampling survey and a series of experiments, I will present empirical evidence which demonstrates that when people perceive that time spent on others is time spent on the self and vice versa (i.e., they perceive time as nonzero-sum), they experience greater relatedness, autonomy, competence, and satisfaction with life, less stress and time pressure, and more willingness to spend time helping others. None of these effects appeared when people perceived that they were offering or sacrificing their time for others or when others were taking away their time (i.e., perceive time as zero-sum). Drawing on the ecosystem theory of relationships (Crocker & Canevello, 2015), I will suggest that people can enhance psychological well-being and prosociality when they care for others without sacrificing the self.

Read presenters' biography