Home > About Us > Awards and Special Prizes > Special Prizes (2002) > Ceremony and Reception > Speech by Warsaw University, Oriental Studies Institute, Department of Japanese and Korean Studies
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The Japan Foundation Awards / Special Prizes (2002) - Ceremony and Reception
Speech
by Warsaw
University, Oriental Studies Institute, Department of Japanese and Korean
Studies
As
a representative of the Department of Japanese and Korean Studies of the
Oriental Studies Institute of Warsaw University, I wish to express our
deepest gratitude for this Japan Foundation Special Prize.
In Poland today there are three universities where degrees are offered in
Japanese studies, in the fields of Japanese literature and linguistics. Warsaw
University has the oldest tradition of Japanese-language education (since
1919) in its Japanology department (officially known as the Department of
Japanese and Korean Studies). The other two Japanese studies departments
are at Jagiellonian University in Krakow and the Adam Mikiewicz University
in the city of Poznan in western Poland, which is famous for its international
book fair. The Japanese studies departments of both of these universities
were established fifteen years ago.
These three centers of research in Japanese studies cooperate mutually in
the promotion of Japanese-language education, which is the basis for research
into Japanese civilization and culture. Since these academic facilities are
comprehensively interdependent, particularly in the obtaining of a Ph.D.,
this prize will serve as an encouragement to the further development of Japan
studies, not only at Warsaw University, but also at the universities in Krakow
and Poznan as well.
What I refer to as the Department of Japanese and Korean Studies of Warsaw
University is a Japanese culture department that pursues a multifaceted view
of culture that includes the language, literature, history, ideology, and
performing arts of Japan, while at the same time it is a research department
that also examines the language and literature of Korea and China, which
have a deep relationship with the culture of Japan.
I will refrain from going into the details of the history of Japanese-language
education at Warsaw University at this time, concentrating, instead, on our
department's international relationships.
To begin with, an international conference on the theme of Japan was held
at Warsaw University in 1980. It deserves particular attention as the first
conference in a formerly socialist nation in which Japanologists from both
East and West participated together. Twenty-three years ago, under the cooperation
of Tokai University, and thanks to aid from the Japan Foundation, Eastern
Europe's most renowned Japanologist had the opportunity to pursue the research
theme of "People and Society in Present-day Japan."
Again in 1994, an international conference was held in celebration of the
75th anniversary of Japanese-language education at Warsaw University. The
cooperation of such Japanese universities as the University of Tokyo was
obtained for the holding of this conference.
And
we are eagerly looking forward to the gathering of numerous Japanologists
in 2003 at our Department of Japanese and Korean Studies for the
10th regular academic conference of the European Association for
Japanese Studies at Warsaw University. A large number of scholars
not only from Europe, but from Japan and America as well, are slated
to read papers on the results of their research, and it is expected
that they will inquire into the prospects for the future of Japanese
studies. I sincerely hope that you will all come and participate
in this Warsaw 2003 Conference.
Prior to our receiving of this prize, Their Majesties, the Emperor and Empress
paid a visit to Warsaw University on July 12 this year. This was the greatest
possible honor for us. Their visit served as an incentive for further development
of research into Japanese culture, and we and our students were deeply moved
by it.
The Japanese studies conference in Warsaw next year is of extreme importance,
but I feel that the events in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the
Japan Foundation, which has played such an enormous role in exchange between
Japan and the other countries of the world in terms of Japanese studies,
is of even greater import. Without aid from the Japan Foundation, development
of Japanese studies would be difficult indeed.
Looking back over the past, it is obvious that the Japan Foundation has made
an enormous contribution to the dissemination of Japanese studies and Japanese-language
education in Poland. This has been of the utmost significance in the dissemination
of Japanese culture in terms of such programs as aid for books, dispatch
of teachers, research in Japan, publication assistance, and academic conferences
on Japan.
I wish to express my deepest gratitude for all these types of aid, as I humbly
accept this Special Prize as a representative of the Department of Japanese
and Korean Studies of the Oriental Studies Institute of Warsaw University.
Thank you very much.