Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Centre for Documentation & Area-Transcultural Studies
Oral Archives Group
Objectives and Plan Members Activity Reports


2006 / 2005 / 2004 / 2003

Activity Report
From the 2006 Academic Year Onwards


1. Overseas Projects (Collection, preservation and sharing of historical documentation)
(1) In the last academic year, we concluded a three-year collaboration project with the Bangladesh Muktijuddha Gabeshna Kendra "Oral History Project". This resulted in our receiving copies of Sukuwar Biswas (ed.) The Bangladesh Liberation War 1971: Oral Evidence, vol. 1-11, Furthermore, Mr. Sukuwar Biswas (Editor in Chief of Bangladesh Muktijuddha Gabeshna Kendra) made a presentation on the outline of the project and its impact at the International Symposium held on December 16th and 17th, 2006, sponsored by the Central Coordination Committee.

(2) We have also successfully concluded a collaborative project with Indonesia's Hasanuddin University (digitalization of interview records on Sulawesi Selatan under Japanese occupation). After digitalization (on CDs) and transcription of the ninety-eight volumes of audio documentation (on 60-minute tapes) held by the Makassar Archive in South Sulawesi, we conducted additional interviews in areas of Sulawesi Selatan that had previously not been researched. The new interviews were recorded on eight-six 60-minute tapes, which were all digitalized. In addition to the CDs, this project produced nine volumes of transcript text, exceeding a total of 500 pages, copies of which were received. The contents catalogue will soon be published. At the international symposium mentioned above, a report was presented by Mr. A. Rasyid Asba, (Chairperson of Centre for Regional and Multicultual Studies Division of Social Science and Humanities, Hasanuddin University, Indonesia) who spearheaded the project.

2. Workshops, etc.
May 16, 2006
The 15th Regular Workshop
Ichiro KURAISHI (Assistant Professor at TUFS, Oral Archives Group)
• "On the Experience of being a 'Welfare Counselor' in Kochi Prefecture"
Study: "Antidiscrimination Education in Diverse and Fusional Educational Organizations and Interviews from Experienced Counselors"

September 23-24, 2006
Co-sponsored by the 4th Japan Oral History Association Conference
Research Lecture Building, Classrooms 113, 114, 115
In the afternoon of the 23rd, the Symposium, "War and the Colonial Period - From an Oral History Perspective" was held along with a research exchange meeting; and on the 24th, individual reports were presented in four breakout groups. Many participants on both days took part in active discussions and the exchange of ideas, making the sessions very successful. From the Oral Archives Group, we presented the following reports:
• Yuka KAWAJI (Assistant Professor, Foreign Languages Department, TUFS): "Thai Exchange Students in Japan for the 1942 and 1943 Government-Sponsored Thai Students Invitation Program - Discussions among Former Exchange Students and Japanese Documentation"
Breakout Group 2 (Colonialism and Documentation)
• Kozue Terauchi (TUFS Graduate School Doctorate Program, Researcher with the Japanese Embassy in Cambodia): "A Prison Without Walls - Speaking of the Khmer Rouge Era"Breakout Group 3 (Personal Memories /National Memories)

December 18, 2006
Lecture Sponsored by the Oral Archive Group
Administration Building, Small Meeting Room
Lecturer: Shen Huai-Yu (Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan)
• "Establishment, Application, and Challenges of Oral Archives"
The Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica of Taiwan has been deeply involved with Oral History since very early days, actively publishing an oral documentation series since the 1980s. In December 2005, Kyoko Nomoto and Yuka Kawaji of the Oral Archive Group and Hsieh Chaling (TUFS Graduate School Doctorate Program) visited the Institute to learn more about their activities as well as obtaining various oral archive manuals and other documents.
Ms. Shen Huai-Yu has long been active in the Institute's oral research efforts, and the editing and publishing of materials. The lecture covered a wide range of topics and was of great interest: a pragmatic perspective on the importance of preparatory research; tips for the interviewer about embarking on oral research and the storing of collected information; and the transitional history of the Institute’s projects, including expansion of the scope of interviews and specific research results. (Details of the lecture can be found translated into Japanese in the same issue). Graduate students also participated in the lecture and contributed to the active question and answer session.

January 23, 2007
The 16th Regular Research Conference
Lecturer: Professor Takahiro SASAKI (TUFS)
• "About the University of North Carolina SOHP (Southern Oral History Project)"

3. Research Activities in the 2006 Academic Year by Lecturers and Graduate Students
(1) Akio IMAI
1. Visit to Vietnam: National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam, etc.
Period: August 28-September 10, 2006
Details: Interview research on the "Memories of War" in Vietnam
2. Visit to Vietnam: National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam, etc.
Period: November 18-26, 2006
Details: Interview research on the "Memories of War" in Vietnam

(2) Ichiro KURAISHI
1. Visit to the United Kingdom: The University of Essex Data Archive, etc.
Period: August 6-11, 2006
Details: Research on trends in oral archives and oral history research in the United Kingdom
2. Visit to the United Kingdom: Museum of London, British Library (seminar: "Oral History and Television")
Period: November 29-December 3, 2006
Details: Research on trends in oral history research in the United Kingdom

(3) Zhang Yanhong (TUFS Graduate School Doctorate Program)
Visit to Yanji, Jilin Province, China
Period: June 27-September 6, 2006
Details: Interview research at schools and with individuals on the status of education for Koreans, a minority group

(4) Hsieh Chialing (TUFS Graduate School Doctorate Program)
Visit to Taiwan: National Central Library, National Taiwan University, etc.
Period: August 16-September 4, 2006
Details: Research on trends in oral archives and oral history research in Taiwan

4. Intervie Research results by the Oral Archives Group Members
We are in the process of collating approximately seventy volumes of transcripts of tapes of inverviews conducted by our Group members in Nepal (Hiroshi Ishii and Purna R. Shakya), Thailand (Yuka Kawaji), Vietnam (Akio Imai), and China (Zhang Yanhong). We have decided on a standard "Introduction" format that explains the outline of the research in each volume.