The Activities of the Japan Foundation
Dialogue: Japanese Studies and Intellectual Exchange Education Overseas
Japanese Studies Overseas
To consolidate the foundation of Japanese studies around the world, and to support its specialists, the Japan Foundation concentrates comprehensive support to core organizations in different countries/regions. In particular, we focus on providing our support to international conferences, staff expansion, library acquisitions and study tours to Japan. We also work to facilitate further development of Japanese studies by strengthening scholarly networks that extend beyond countries and regions.
Japanese Studies Fellowship
Timon Screech
Professor of the History of Art, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London
Professor Screech, a Fellow of the British Academy since 2018, has earned acclaim for his commitment over the years to the study of arts and literature of the Edo period. He has been a Japan Foundation Fellow on several occasions to conduct some of his many research activities in Japan. His work is extensive and fruitful: authoring over a dozen books on the visual culture of the Edo period, researching the English East India Company in Japan and its dealings in works of art, and encouraging younger generation of Japanese studies in both the United Kingdom and Japan.
Support for Japanese Studies Organizations
Collaborative Research Workshop for Aspiring Scholars in Japanese Studies
The Japan Foundation organized a one-week intensive workshop for 23 graduate students from 15 principal institutes for Japanese studies in East, South and Southeast Asia. In this workshop, outstanding researchers from Japan, South Korea and the Philippines gave lectures about collaborative research and told the students that it would even help them to find originality in their own research. The students took this opportunity to think about their future career as a researcher in Japanese studies and broaden their perspectives in other fields. On the final day of the workshop, they presented interdisciplinary model panels collaborating with the other participants who have different backgrounds.
Participants discussing research collaboration transcending regions and fields together with Shigeto Sonoda, Professor at The University of Tokyo
Enhancement of Japanese Studies Network
The 6th Japanese Studies Association in Southeast Asia (JSA-ASEAN) Conference 2018, Jakarta
The 6th JSA-ASEAN Conference, which was initiated in 2006, was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December 2018. Approximately 250 researchers and graduate students (including more than 120 presenters) gathered at the conference, which featured 24 panels, and these participants engaged in lively exchanges. The Japan Foundation provided support for covering a portion of the expenses for holding the conference and assisted with travel grants for 49 persons, including 45 persons from ASEAN countries and four persons from the United States, to encourage presentations by young researchers. The conference fulfilled its function as a platform for developing human resources, such as by actively providing graduate students and other young researchers with opportunities for making presentations. There are expectations that in the future as well this conference will develop into a driving force that leads the way in Japanese studies in Southeast Asia.
Executive Committee members gathered from various ASEAN member countries.