Cultural Typhoon 2023’s main theme is ‘The new pre-war (and wartime) and feminism’.

We now live in a world and society that is becoming “pre-war”.

Everyday tasks and jobs don’t give anyone any insight into what’s happening in the world or where we’re heading. Ridiculous agitators create a social ‘atmosphere’ while those who remain serious are bogged down in their daily work. It even feels as if this whole society is heading for a terrible ‘game’.
That is why we called this situation ‘the new pre-war’.

And now we have realised: War has already begun.

Cultural Typhoon celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
The conference will be held at Waseda University, which hosted the first conference 20 years ago in the midst of the SARS coronavirus scare.
Coincidentally, this year’s conference will be held on 2-3 September, the 100th anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake in 2023.

We have no control over the passage of time in nature, such as the cycle of a great earthquake or the evolution of a virus.
But we do live in the present, in which we have to consider how we deal with our memory, our history or our culture, with human time.

In fact, it is at this time of year, in September, that there is often a big typhoon.
Our “cultural typhoon” should be the one that refreshes the present stagnant conditions of our society.

The small typhoon of feminism with significant value that was generated last year at Seijo University will blow again this year at Waseda University.
Together we are making a strong wind.
It is our hope that you are a part of it.

Cultural Typhoon 2023 Executive Committee
Chairperson of the Executive Committee Kunihiko Hama