Portrait of Paul J. Kramer
© 刀根徹朗

Research Associate · LMU Munich

Paul J. Kramer

Social scientist specialising in Japanese politics and society. Research associate at the SFB 1369 Vigilance Cultures, LMU Munich. My research examines democratic crisis management — with a focus on Japan’s COVID-19 response and the interplay of democratic resilience, local self-governance, and institutionalised vigilance.

Projects

Ongoing Research

A glimpse into current research projects I am involved in.

Governance, Vigilance, and Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan
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Governance, Vigilance, and Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan

How can effective, solution-oriented, and democratic crisis governance work? Through the lens of vigilance, I analyze how the interaction between governance structures and institutionalized vigilance enabled the activation of democratic resilience in Japan's neighborhoods during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DissertationGovernanceCultures of VigilanceResilienceGRF funded
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Vigilance in Japan’s neighborhoods during the COVID-19 pandemic
© SFB 1369 Vigilanzkulturen

Vigilance in Japan’s neighborhoods during the COVID-19 pandemic

In Japan, the containment of the Covid-19 pandemic was based on measures that were not legally binding. Citizens were called upon to apply self-restraint (jishuku) in their daily lives whenever possible. This project analyses the pervasiveness of this type of self-restraint and the establishment of practices of vigilance directed both towards the self, as well as third parties, in the semi-public space of local neighbourhoods, which occurred as a result of interaction between administrative structures and cultural elements. The aim is to develop a corresponding model and to test it empirically.

GRF fundedResearch Associate
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Recent Publications

A selection of recent articles and monographs.

2026 Newspaper Article

Paulの"そぞろ歩記"「恋する三隈川」

Paul J. Kramer

西日本新聞[Nishi Nihon Shimbun] (20 March 2026).

Full Bibliography →

CV Highlights

Positions

Research Associate

LMU Munich - CRC 1369 Cultures of Vigilance

2023 — present

Education

Dr. phil. Japanese Studies

LMU Munich - CRC 1369 Cultures of Vigilance

Since 2023

Full Curriculum Vitae
© Paul J. Kramer

Updates

LinkedIn “This past weekend, thanks to the introduction of Paul Johann Kramer, I was able to catch a glimpse into the making of a long-standing pottery community in Japan. In this mountain village in rural #Oita prefecture, some ten families preserve the art of #Onta-yaki slipware production. They share their basic #lifelines: …”

— April 2026

Bluesky “Go and visit Hita, if you ever get a chance to during the Sakura season! One of the nicest places I have been so far 🌸🍒 news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/801... #Hita #日田 #Sakura #桜 #Hanami #花見”

— 30 March 2026

LinkedIn “Thank you to the speakers Timo Thelen ("Popular Culture and Revitalization Initiatives in Hita"), Masahiko Nishioka ("Lessons from 25 Years of Community Building in Hita"), Paul Johann Kramer ("Community Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Governance and Vigilance in Hita"), and Sebastian Polak-Rottmann for their …”

— January 2026

LinkedIn “📌Here is a short reminder before the weekend, for my upcoming event next week Friday, „Hita Workshop: Machizukuri Initiatives and Adaptive Governance in a Rural Japanese City“ at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo, organized together with Sebastian Polak-Rottmann. In this workshop, together with Tim…”

— January 2026

LinkedIn “‼️ I’m very excited about this upcoming event at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo together with Sebastian Polak-Rottmann, Timo Thelen, and Masahiko Nishioka. Stunning Hashtag#Hita in northern Kyushu is the main field site of my current research on governance, Hashtag#vigilance, and Hashtag#resilie…”

— January 2026

Bluesky “I’m very excited about this upcoming event at the DIJ together with Sebastian Polak-Rotmann, Timo Thelen, and Masahiko Nishioka, who has been engaged in community (re)building for over 25 years. Please feel free to drop by and discuss with us, either in person or online. 👇🏻👇🏻”

— 6 January 2026

LinkedIn “🚗Was hat Autofahren mit Hashtag#Vigilanzkulturen zu tun? Alle Jahre wieder erscheint von mir ein Beitrag auf dem Blog unseres SFB Vigilanzkulturen in dem wir auch alltägliche Dinge durch die Linse der Hashtag#Vigilanz betrachten. Dieses Mal steuere ich eine kleine Auto-Autoethnografie bei, in der ich versuche, meine…”

— December 2025

Vigilanzkulturen “Vigilanz im Straßenverkehr: Eine kleine Auto-Autoethnografie”

Ich bin zwar auf dem deutschen Land geboren und aufgewachsen, wo Autos Teil des Lebensgefühls sind und aufgrund eines mangelnden Angebots an öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln zur Selbstverständlichkeit geworden sind. Doch habe ich bis vor Kurzem nie wirklich den Drang verspürt, einen …

— 17 December 2025

Bluesky “„[Citizens] are practicing freedom by alerting neighbors to danger, calling attention to patterns of abuse and showing compassion to the persecuted.“ This article by Michael S. Roth is a great example for the importance of #vigilance. See also Ingo Rohrer on our blog vigilanz.hypotheses.org/12189”

— 10 December 2025

Bluesky “I’ve been quiet here, busy with #fieldwork and making friends in the beautiful #Hita, in #Japan. My research on #Covid19 #governance was recently featured in #Oita Godo Shimbun, which finally inspired me to post a short fieldwork update on the Japan-Center‘s blog! See below👇🏻 #大分 #日田 #自粛 #jishuku”

— 20 November 2025

Blog des Japan-Zentrums “Einblicke in die Feldforschung: Wie lokale Gemeinschaften Krisen meistern – und was Hita mich über Resilienz lehrt”

Vor einigen Tagen erschien in der Lokalzeitung der Präfektur Ōita (Ōita Gōdō Shimbun) ein kurzer Artikel über meine noch laufende Feldforschung (Abbildung 1). Seit Oktober 2024 arbeite ich in Hita...

— 20 November 2025

Bluesky “Back in Japan! I think I’ve never been to Haneda this time of the year, so seeing the Christmas decorations was a first for me.”

— 15 November 2025

LinkedIn “I know I’ve been mostly quiet on social media this year, but that’s because I’ve been busy doing Hashtag#fieldwork, and making friends, in the beautiful Hashtag#Hita Valley and its surrounding towns and hamlets. Recently, my research on the Hashtag#governance of the Covid-19 pandemic caught the interest of local civil …”

— November 2025

LinkedIn “I wholeheartedly agree! This was truly one of the best conferences I’ve been to so far! My heartfelt congratulations to the great Andreas Eder-Ramsauer for putting together this truly inspiring event in the beautiful city of Vienna. Exciting panels, an electric atmosphere and an absolutely superb opportunity to meet w…”

— November 2025

Bluesky “Some impressions from the first day of the 2025 @ipsa.org world congress in Seoul, yesterday. Looking forward to more cutting-edge research on the second day, today!”

— 14 July 2025

Bluesky “It’s good to be back! But now the real work begins (after I treat myself to some good food first). About my research 👉🏻 project.paul-kramer.com Thanks to @gabrielevogt.bsky.social for putting me on her team, thus granting me this opportunity!”

— 7 March 2025

LinkedIn “This week, we had the great pleasure of welcoming James Farrer as a guest of the SFB Vigilanzkulturen. Thanks to James, it was a highly productive week, filled with valuable discussions and new insights. On Wednesday, James gave an excellent talk on the role of small independent restaurants as social infrastructure. H…”

— February 2025

LinkedIn “‼️🚨New Blog Post Alert! Excited to share my latest contribution to the SFB 1369 Vigilanzkulturen blog: World-Wide Vigilance: Netizens Against Trans-Spatial Scams in the Digital Age 📝In this short essay, I explore a niche of YouTube content highlighting various aspects of vigilance on the World Wide Web. This netwo…”

— December 2024

Vigilanzkulturen “World-Wide-Vigilance: Netizens Against Trans-Spatial Scams in the Digital Age”

Zapping through the billions of hours of content on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, I came across a certain niche of content that seems to have attracted quite the audience: Vigilant Watchman of the Digital Age. The World Wide Web, with its many digital places of community and con…

— 17 December 2024

LinkedIn “Some personal news incoming!🗞️ After three years, last Friday marked the end of my time at Exxeta, the consultancy where I started as a student and later worked part-time as developer alongside my Hashtag#PhD project at the SFB Vigilanzkulturen. First and foremost, I want to thank my great team led by Andreas Gast, …”

— November 2024

LinkedIn “Mascots of Sustainability: German-Japanese Intercultural Exchange in Berlin and Osaka? 🇩🇪🇯🇵 This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the annual conference of the German Association for Social Science Research on Japan (Hashtag#VSJF) at the Japanese-German Center Berlin | JDZB, co-organized and supported by th…”

— November 2024

LinkedIn “The dust has settled after Japan’s ruling coalition lost its long-standing electoral lead in the House of Representatives and, with it, its majority. Many news outlets worldwide have already covered this “seismic” shift and how it might impact Japan. I recently had the opportunity to conduct fieldwork across various p…”

— October 2024

LinkedIn “SFB Vigilanzkulturen goes global! This time in Tokyo ✈️🗼 After three months of fieldwork in Japan, I had the opportunity this week to present an exciting spin-off from our project B08 on the governance of COVID-19 in Japan at the GJSSS conference held at the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ) Tokyo. Check …”

— October 2024

LinkedIn “I’m excited to share that I’ve reached another milestone: submitting my bachelor’s thesis for my Sociology degree at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. This is my third thesis since 2021, and while it was challenging, it was also a great learning experience and equally rewarding! Starting a second bachelor’s degr…”

— July 2024

LinkedIn “This week, I had the privilege of attending the Social Norms Conference 2024 - Emergence, Stability, Social Change - at Monte Verità in Ascona, organized by Andreas Diekmann and Jörg Rössel. Amidst the stunning landscape of Hashtag#Ascona and Lake Maggiore, I was exposed to cutting-edge research on social norms across…”

— June 2024

LinkedIn “Today, I had the opportunity to speak at the conference “Hashtag#Denunciation - Creating a Culture of Fear” in Tartu, Estonia. Hashtag#Tartu2024 Hashtag#EuropeanCapitalOfCulture Alongside Gabriele Vogt, I shared some early findings on social dynamics and Hashtag#vigilance in Hashtag#Japan’s neighborhoods during the Ha…”

— June 2024

LinkedIn “It was my pleasure to invite Chris Schimkowsky to LMU Munich this week! On Thursday, Chris provided us with great insights into how railway companies manage customer conduct in Japan’s railway network through manner posters. This topic is particularly close to my heart, as I explored their connection to COVID-19-relat…”

— May 2024

LinkedIn “Exciting (belated) news (and shameless promotion)! Earlier this year, my colleague Pia Fuschlberger and I teamed up at @SFB Viglianzkulturen to write an article for our Hashtag#Mitteilungen format. We explored the concept of Hashtag#vigilance, spotlighting the social media phenomenon "Attenzione Pickpocket!" and draw…”

— March 2024

Blog des Japan-Zentrums “2 Panel Discussions Reflecting on Pivotal Discussions: A Comparative Analysis of Germany and Japan's Political and Social Dynamics”

Monday, 18 December, 2023 12:00 – 13:30  Panel Discussion: Regieren in der Dauerkrise – Deutsche und japanische Perspektiven * With consecutive Japanese-German interpretation. Prof. Koichi NAKANO, Ph.D., (Sophia University) and...

— 1 February 2024

Vigilanzkulturen “„Attenzione Pickpocket!“ Vigilante Appelle in Italien, Japan und der Frühen Neuzeit: Ein interdisziplinärer Dialog”

„Attenzione Pickpocket! Attenzione Borseggiatrici!“ Bei diesem Ruf handelt es sich um ein virales Vigilanz-Phänomen, eine Stimme und ihre Warnung vor Taschendieb*innen,1 die bereits in unterschiedlichsten Kontexten adaptiert worden sind. Denn Monica Poli, so heißt die Frau hinter…

— 12 December 2023

Blog des Japan-Zentrums “Bericht zur Forschungsreise nach Tokyo: Die Ichigaya-Gedenkstätte”

Im Rahmen unseres vom DAAD geförderten kooperativen Lehrforschungsprojektes mit der Waseda-Universität reiste eine Gruppe von drei Studierenden und drei Lehrenden des Japan-Zentrums Ende September 2022 für zehn Tage nach Tokyo....

— 9 January 2023