"Analysis and Remodeling of the Relations between Religion and Society" International Study Group

This study group will bring together researchers from Asia, Western and Eastern Europe (including Russia) and North America to focus on themes of religion, including religion in contemporary Japanese society. The group aims to understand various issues in the international community that have religious underpinnings, and communicate internationally about the values of contemporary Japanese society.

Activity records

2025.12.19 (Fri.)

Event

Seminar

Building Eternity: Japanese Perspectives on Sustainability and the Sacred

2025.03.05 (Wed.)

Event

Lecture

Public Lecture by Christian Schmidt (High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina) “Current Political Challenges in South-Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans and Their Impact on Global Stability”

2024.10.23 (Wed.)

Event

Symposium

Symposium “Trans-Border Approach to War Commemoration: East Asian and Balkan Cases”

2024.10.21 (Mon.)

Event

Symposium

Workshop "Animism Today"

2024.02.29 (Thu.)

Event

Lecture

Public Lecture "Roles of Religion in Contemporary Japan"

2024.02.28 (Wed.)

Event

Symposium

Public Symposium “Religious Organisations and Their Transformation in the Time of Crisis”

2024.02.14 (Wed.)

Event

Symposium

International Symposium: “Why Does the Number of God(s) Matter, and How?: Beyond the Dichotomy between Monotheism and Polytheism”

2024.01.23 (Tue.)

Event

Symposium

The World of Dedication: The Celts and Japan

2023.12.27 (Wed.)

Event

Seminar

QWS ACADEMIA SPECIAL（The University of Tokyo）"What are the roles of art and literature in the War in Ukraine"

2023.11.08 (Wed.)

News

Publications and Reports

Kinokuni Children's Village Senior High School Visit to ROLES

Members

Akira NISHIMURA

Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo Religious Studies South Island Area Studies Sociology of War

Yukie TATTA

Project Researcher

Working Group 2 on Middle Eastern and Islamic Alternatives (Coordinator)

Israel Week @ UTokyo Komaba Research Campus

Working Group 5 on Indo-Pacific Transport Security (Coordinator)

Sub-Working Group 2 on Tabletop Exercises (Coordinator)

Professional Experience
2024 - : Project Researcher, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo
2024 - : Part-Time Lecturer, School of Global Studies, Tama University
2020 - 2023: Part-Time Lecturer, School of Global Studies, Tama University
2018 - 2020: Other, School of Global Studies, Tama University

Madoka INOUE

Assoiciate Professor, Faculty of Literature Department of Cultural History, Seisen University

Kenta AWAZU

Visiting Researcher, Institute for Grief Care Studies, Sophia University / Lecturer, Human Resource Development Course
Anthropology of Religion, Sociology of Religion, Comparative Culture

Studied abroad at the Department of Sociology, University of Essex, from 1997-98; subsequently earned PhD credits from Soka University in 1999. PhD (Sociology). After working at the National Museum of Japanese History and the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, is now currently a Visting Researcher at the Institute for Grief Care Studies at Sophia University.

LEE Chungsun

Project Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, the University of Tokyo
Modern History of Korea, Sociology of War

Degree
・Ph.D. (Feb, 2023, The University of Tokyo)
・MA (Mar, 2018, The University of Tokyo)
・Master of Business Administration (Sep, 2008, Waseda University)

Job
・Apr, 2024 - Present: Project Assistant Professor, Center for Evolving Humanities, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo
・Apr, 2023 - Mar, 2024: Researcher, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo
・Mar, 2015 - Dec, 2015: Overseas Correspondent, International Relations Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government
・Dec, 2003 - Dec, 2014: Administrative Staff, Korea Electric Power Corporation
・Sep, 2002 - Feb, 2003: Overseas Correspondent (Intern), Maeil Business News Korea
・Sep, 2002 - Feb, 2003: Young Trader Intern, KITA Tokyo Branch, Korea International Trade Association

Ryo SHIMIZU

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, Keio university
Sociology of War, Modern Japanese History

Kana TOMIZAWA

Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo

Kazuhumi HAMAI

Professor, Department of Education and Culture, Faculty of Education, Teikyo University

War Sociology, Modern Japanese History

Tâm Ngô

Senior researcher, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Netherland &Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Germany

Susumu NONAKA

Professor, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Saitama University

Russian Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, Russian Cultural Studies

Hisako KATO

Professor, Faculty of Sociology, Yamato University

Catholic Studies Modern and Contemporary Polish History

Akira HASEGAWA

Professor, Faculty of Education and Culture, Akita University

Contemporary Russian History, Russian Image Culture

Yuuko KAMBARA

Professor, Center for Fundamental Education, The University of Kitakyushu

Sanami TAKAHASHI

Lecturer, Graduate School of Human Environment Studies, Kyushu University
Contemporary Russian History, Russian Orthodox Studies

Dino Abazovic

Sociologist, Full Professor at the University of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina. He has also worked as the Director of the Human Rights Center of the University of Sarajevo and as the Academic Coordinator of the Religious Studies Program of the Center for Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Studies at University of Sarajevo. His research is focused on the role of organized religion in conflict and post-conflict societies, the political role of religion in post-socialist transition and religious revivalism, as well as a nexus between religious claims, transitional justice and human rights in emerging democracies.

Kikuko HIRAFUJI

Professor at Faculty of Shinto Studies, Department of Shinto Studies

Publications

2025.03.30 (Sun.)

Commentary

Akira Nishimura “Hibakusha Masked by Borderline: Atomic Bomb Victims from Amami Archipelago”（ROLES Commentary No.48）

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