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Think Tokyo ‘19” is the umbrella name under which IAFOR is holding its concurrent Asian Conferences on Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences (ACP), and Ethics, Religion and Philosophy (ACERP). This naming reflects our move from Osaka/Kobe to the capital city of Tokyo, and also underlines IAFOR’s mission to promote interdisciplinarity. Since 2011, this extraordinary event has encouraged us, working in and across different academic fields, and from different cultural, religious and national backgrounds, to come together to reflect on how we reason, believe, and behave, as individuals, communities and societies, and on the act, art, science, and imperative of thinking.

This conference is organised by IAFOR in association with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in Osaka University, Japan.

Conference Theme: “Value and Values”

The conference theme, Value and Values, refers to two of the fundamental questions of human enquiry – why and how we do what we do. Focussing on them takes us back to the basics of academic enquiry. The focus on the Value of our area of study invokes questions of why our field is important for us, for society, for humanity; asking us to consider why we research, teach, and engage with other research and researchers in our area; and what the benefit of our work might be, to ourselves, to society, to the world.

Focusing on values, on the other hand, addresses our deeply held beliefs and integrity, and suggests our intentions, how we approach our work, and demands that the process of our enquiry be as important as the product. Our core values may be universal, but are coloured by our social, cultural, religious, political and personal contexts.

How can the study of psychology and the behavioral sciences, as well as those of ethics, religion and philosophy, inform each other, inform other fields, and inform our lives, from the way we lead our individual lives, to the ways in which governments engage with their citizens, and with those from other countries and regions?

In a world which is seeing a rise in authoritarianism, nationalism, and populism, this conference asks us to consider “value and values”, inviting scholars from around the world to come together and engage in challenging, rigorous debate across the lines and borders of religion, creed and nation, and we warmly encourage you to come to Tokyo in 2019!

– The ACP2019 Organising Committee

George D. Chryssides, The University of Birmingham, UK
Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Frank S. Ravitch, Michigan State University College of Law, USA
Monty P. Satiadarma, Tarumanagara University, Indonesia
Dexter Da Silva, Keisen University, Japan
Brian Victoria, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK