The theme for this year’s conference is Connect.  Our goal for the conference is to connect with Japan and America, but most importantly, to connect Japan with America and to connect with each other.  As items like anime, karaoke, and sushi have become popular in America, Japanese culture is spreading widely throughout the United States and is even being incorporated into American culture.  This diffusion of popular Japanese culture is seen within media, music, and literature, and this topic will be explored at this year’s conference.  Lectures will focus on different aspects of Japanese influence as well as the counterpart of American influence in Japan.  Workshops will further support the theme by introducing musical instruments gaining interest in the States.  Being aware of the influences of the two cultures on each other is important in further strengthening the two countries, and it is our hope that this conference will stem further discussion on the subject.  We sincerely hope to continue ECJAL’s tradition and mission of interconnecting Japanese and Japanese American students across the various campuses by strengthening ties and enlightening students of Japanese culture.

This year, the ECJAL Conference will be held on Brown’s campus in Providence, RI, from Friday, April 7 to Sunday, April 9, 2006.

We would like to thank our sponsors for their help and donations to ECJAL:

Boston AIC
Multicultural Alumni Committee of Brown Alumni Association
Asian/Asian American Alumni Alliance(A4)
Brown Lecture Board
Wayland Collegium
Brown University Dean of the College
Brown University President's Office
Brown University Department of Anthropology
Brown University Department of East Asian Studies
Brown University Department of Comparative Literature
Brown University Department of Ethnic Studies
Dean Takesue, Brown University