Events

The DAAD Regional Office Tokyo organizes numerous events throughout the year, some online, some face-to-face, that target different audiences.

Below you can find information about

Gatherings of the DAAD network in Japan (for alumni and supporters of DAAD)
Kigaru ni Austausch (students and early career researchers)
Tandemtreffen (students and early career researchers)
Events for professionals involved in teaching German
Events of the DWIH Tokyo (anyone who is interested in Japanese-German collaboration in research and innovation)

Information about additional events targeting Japanese students and alumni can be found on the Japanese page (coming soon).

Gatherings of the DAAD Network in Japan

The DAAD Regional Office, together with the Japanese alumni club, DAAD Tomonokai, organizes two or more gatherings per year. At these events, more than 100 alumni and supporters of the DAAD gather at the German Cultural Centre in Akasaka, Tokyo – budget and public health situation permitting. Because capacity is limited, current and former DAAD scholarship holders as well as invited guests from the academic and corporate worlds are prioritized.

Both gatherings (“Netzwerktreffen” in German) have a long tradition. The gathering in winter, also known as the annual Christmas Concert, was first organized by the DAAD Tomonokai in 1983. Up to this day, DAAD alumni contribute to the musical performances of the event. The gathering in spring, known among insiders as “Butterbrot und Bier” also has a long history. It began in 1985 as a gathering of German scholarship holders in Japan.

Kigaru ni Austausch

Kigaru ni Austausch is a series of events by students for students. At these casual (“Kigaru ni” in Japanese) events, the German and Japanese participants exchange opinions (“Austausch” in German) on topics of relevance to both countries. These topics may be academic or personal. The events begin with a thought-provoking presentation that provides the stimulus for the discussion that follows. The language of each event depends on the participants and may be chosen from German, English, or Japanese. The events depend on the active participation of current and former DAAD scholarship holders, and we are always looking for presenters. The content of the presentations should be easy enough to be understood by non-experts and students from a variety of fields, and interesting to both participants from Germany and from Japan. By participating, presenters can practice science communication and public speaking skills for their future careers. In the past, we have also offered public speaking coaching for presenters in collaboration with the DWIH Tokyo.

To offer presenters a safe space in which mistakes do not need to be feared, the events are not recorded and only those who are still at the beginning of their academic careers are invited (up to and including postdocs). If seats are available, even Japanese and German students who have not yet received a scholarship from DAAD are welcome to attend. If you are interested, please get in touch with Ms. Rachel Martin (martin[at]daadjp.com).

#1 Günter Ellrott: „Mein Leben in Japan, und wie ich der ‚foreign bubble‘ entkommen bin“
#2 Carmen Appenzeller, Takashi Kubota: „Recht im Alltag: Japan und Deutschland im Vergleich“
#3 Yuki Asano: „Was Hänschen nicht hört, hört Hans nimmermehr?!“ (Psycholinguistik)
#4 Lisa Woite: “Uncovering the Palimpsest – Exploring Tokyo through Story and History”
#5 Jan Pack: “The Nobel-Prize Winning Research of Tasuku Honjo and Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University”
#6 Sergio R Molina Ramirez: “Activism and Vegetarianism in Japan”
#7 Julian Bucher: „Sind wir eigentlich Freunde“ (interkulturelle Herausforderungen in persönlichen Beziehungen)
#8 Pascal Wenz-Kim: „Religion in Deutschland und Japan“
#9 Olivia Parczyk, Jackson Asidanya: “Comparing the German and Japanese Education Systems by Evaluating the Systemic and Social Differences and their Psychological Implications”
#10 Hiroyuki Ikeda: “How German Linguistics Enriched My Life”
#11 Kerstin Daut: “What Eating Disorders Can Teach”
#12 Yasushi Miyazaki: “Neurodivergent Students’ Growth in Japanese Universities Through English”
#13 Martin Omainska, Martin Rathmann: “Robotics in Germany and Japan”
#14 Jan Pack: “CRISPR-Cas – the Fastest Nobel Prize Ever Awarded”
#15 Regina Bichler: “Kamikatsu, a Role Model for Zero Waste Cities?”
#16 Satomi Nakasuga: “Introduction of J-PARC: a Cutting-Edge Research Facility to Explore the Origin of the Universe”
#17 Leannán O’Grady: „Die Mönche des Kōya-san: Der Wandel eines spirituellen Ortes“

Tandemtreffen

Once a semester the DAAD Regional Office Tokyo organizes an event called “Tandemtreffen” where German and Japanese native speakers who are learning each other’s language can meet up and make friends. These gatherings usually take place online. Additional gatherings are sometimes organized in conjunction with DAAD’s partner universities in Japan. If seats are available, Japanese and German students who have not yet received a scholarship from DAAD are also welcome to attend. If you are interested, please get in touch with Mr. Pascal Wenz-Kim (wenz[at]daadjp.com).

Events for Professionals Teaching German

The DAAD Regional Office Tokyo organizes multiple events and workshops for those teaching German at universities in Japan. More information can be found here (in German only).

Events of the DWIH Tokyo

The DAAD Regional Office Tokyo also manages the German Centre for Research and Innovation Tokyo (DWIH Tokyo). The DWIH Tokyo organizes many events throughout the year, both face-to-face and online, that deal with research and innovation in Germany and Japan. Its newsletter also includes information on funding programs, such as for German-Japanese academic collaboration. You can register for it here.