Call for Papers: ASCJ 2026 (Sophia University, 4–5 July 2026)
Alex Vesey
The Executive Committee of the Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ) invites proposals for panels, roundtables, and individual papers for the 2026 ASCJ Conference. The conference will be held at Sophia University on Saturday and Sunday, 4–5 July 2026.
As in past years, all presentations must be delivered in English. Proposals may be submitted online from 1 September and 31 October 2025. Results will be announced by late December 2025.
Starting this year, the Executive Committee is implementing changes to the online panel and roundtable proposal entry forms and to the conference's session format guidelines. Prospective organizers should carefully review the details on the “Proposal Submission Form” page (https://ascjapan.org/conference/call-for-papers/) before finalizing their proposals.
The forms and further information are available at:
https://ascjapan.org/conference/.
Submission Categories:
1. The ASCJ Executive Committee has added a new “Discipline” entry field to the Panel and Individual Paper formsto facilitate processing of submissions for internal review. The Executive Committee realizes that some proposals may be multidisciplinary in nature. Therefore, while organizers are asked to indicate only one “Discipline,” this will not influence the evaluation of your proposal.
The disciplines are: “Religion and Intellectual History”; “Literature”; “Art, Culture, and Media”; “History”; “Politics and Economics”; and “Sociology and Anthropology.”
Panels (max. 5 participants): 1 chair; 3–4 presenters; (and preferably) 1 discussant. Each abstract has a maximum of 250 words (both the session abstract and each paper abstract). The chair may also serve as a presenter or discussant.
Roundtables (max. 5 participants): 1 chair; 3 to 5 discussants. Roundtable proposal applications should include an abstract of a maximum of 350 words that includes each discussant’s position on the topic being discussed. (While one role per participant is strongly preferred, the chair may also serve as a roundtable speaker if necessary; in such a case, there must be at least 4 roundtable speakers.)
Individual Papers: paper title, an abstract no longer than 250 words, and the name(s) of the presenters. While any person may submit a proposal for an Individual Paper presentation, a strong preference is given to those submitted by advanced graduate students or those who have completed their PhDs within the last two to three years.
2. The ASCJ Executive Committee will adopt “two appearances/one paper rule” as follows:
a. A participant may serve as chair of up to two organized panels or roundtables.
b. A participant may serve as a discussant on up to two organized panels or roundtables.
c. A participant may chair one session and be a discussant in another.
d. Each participant may present in only one organized panel or individual paper session.
The Executive Committee asks the organizer of each panel or roundtable proposal to inform their prospective participants of these conditions prior to submitting their proposal. Participants are expected to limit their panel or roundtable commitments to meet these conditions.
3. Each session will have a new time limit of 90 minutes. (Previous conferences allowed 120 minutes.) Panel and roundtable organizers must consider this time frame when finalizing the number of participants for their submission.
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Since 2014, the ASCJ has awarded the Linda Grove Graduate Paper Prize. For details on this competition, please see the “Conference” section of the ASCJ website. To be considered for this prize, a student must be enrolled in a degree program at a Japanese university and be accepted as a presenter at the ASCJ 2026 Conference. The deadline for submission of the completed paper is 15 June 2026. The winner will be announced at the time of the keynote lecture.
The Executive Committee looks forward to seeing you in Tokyo in 2026.