Activity Reports

It is an activity report of the center

Research Conference "Towards a Construction of International Japanese Studies" Tue. Sep. 27 2011

On 2011 September 27, Prof. Wang Min (Hosei University) and Prof. Shinichi Shirato (Meiji University) were invited to the research conference "Towards a Construction of International Japanese Studies," organized by the Center. They were invited as panelists for an international symposium scheduled to be held in March (but later cancelled due to the Great East Japan Earthquake).

This conference was planned for participants to have another opportunity to listen to their lectures. Prof. Wang Min is the Chief Leader for Chinese research at the Research Center for International Japanese Studies, Hosei University and specializes in Kenji Miyazawa research and comparative culture. Prof. Shinichi Shirato specializes in economics history (historical review of distribution organization in modern Japan), and has been working at the School of Global Japanese Studies, Meiji University, since its inception in April 2008.

Prof. Wang in her lecture "Trials and Errors of International Japanese Studies" explained in detail the history and activities of the Research Center for International Japanese Studies at Hosei University. It was interesting to know that the Research Center was established in 2002 when Hosei University's "Declaration of International Japan-Studies）" program was selected under the 21st century COE and that it has been working together with the university's Institute of Okinawan Studies and the International Japanese Studies Institute (from AY 2004) ever since. The center is running four sub-projects, namely, 1) "International Japanese Studies" as research in foreign culture, 2) Japan (Japanese Studies centered in East Asia and China) as a foreign culture, 3) foreign culture in Japan (Okinawa), and 4) construction of an electronic library system. Prof. Wang is the Chief Leader of 2). She introduced in detail, the issues they have set and are working on based on their respective problem awareness, by listing the conferences and publications for each year, and through her lecture, we understood the center's achievements in terms of collaboration with not only Japanese institutions, but also with institutions and researchers in China and Korea. Her presentation was stimulating and very useful to our Center's staff and external participants when we consider our future activities.

Prof. Shirato based his lecture "University's Education Principles and Goals for the World" on data. In July 2007, Meiji University was selected to become one of the base universities under its "300,000 Foreign Students Project." Even before that, the School of Global Japanese Studies was established in the hope that it would implement (lead) the internationalization of education in Meiji University. In other words, the school has the main responsibility to promote international exchanges between students and staff of the university. Prof. Shirato pointed out that the university's education principle is "'Rediscover' Japan while Comparing Japan" and also explained in detail the education goals and curriculum structure in order to fulfill the principle. He also explained the Japanese Culture Program and Japanese Social Systems Program, and the goals of the other programs and it was interesting to compare them with the education and research systems of our university.

In the lively discussion session at the end, many questions were asked from the floor, and one of them was the fundamental question "What is 'International Japanese Studies?" It was a fruitful conference and I would like to thank the two professors for their contribution despite their busy schedules.