Congress Theme

Being East Asia, Thinking East Asia

Social Transformations and Dialogue for the Future

East Asia has become a crucial site for understanding the future of contemporary societies. Demographic aging, inequality, migration, digitalization, environmental challenges, urban change, and shifting geopolitical relations are reshaping social institutions, everyday life, and collective identities across the region.

Yet this congress also asks a more fundamental question: what is East Asia? East Asia is not only a geographical label, but also a historical, political, cultural, and relational category. It has been shaped by modernization, colonialism, war, development, migration, economic interdependence, and changing regional imaginations. To reflect on East Asia is therefore to examine how societies in the region have been connected, divided, compared, and represented.

The 2026 EASA Tokyo Congress invites scholars to explore both the transformations taking place in East Asia and the meaning of East Asia itself. How are inequalities, institutions, families, communities, and forms of belonging changing across the region? How do historical memories, geopolitical tensions, migration, cultural flows, and transnational connections shape what East Asia means? What can sociological inquiry from East Asia contribute to global dialogue?

We welcome papers on social transformation, inequality, migration, gender, family, work, welfare, education, culture, technology, environment, social movements, political change, regional identity, historical memory, and global dialogue. The Tokyo Congress will provide an open and collaborative space for scholars from East Asia, Asia, and the wider world to share research and imagine more inclusive futures.

Submissions are welcome on the congress theme and on other sociological topics across EASA’s research networks.

*This congress is co-hosted with the Graduate School of Human Relations, Keio University.