About Research Cooperation

The International Research Center for Japanese Studies was established both to promote research as well as to provide research cooperation and assistance. Research cooperation activities aim to stimulate Japanese Studies research overseas. The activities can be divided into two categories: activities to provide information on Japanese studies research, and activities to facilitate exchange with Japanese studies scholars worldwide.

Information on Japanese studies is provided first and foremost by the library facilities. We aim to become one of the finest research libraries for Japanese studies in Japan, and thus the fundamental principle upon which the library was founded was research cooperation. The library collects major series, document collections, complete works, dictionaries, reference works and all other materials necessary for research in Japanese studies, in addition to recent research findings in all Japan-related fields. In order to facilitate efficient access to these collections, we are working daily to catalogue the collections and make them widely available worldwide.

The Center's international research exchange activities include various programs such as seminars and a forum lecture series on Japanese studies, which serve as opportunities for individual consultation on research and venues for the exchange of ideas. In addition, the Center offers cooperation to qualified individual researchers who are supported by outside funds. Each faculty member at the Center is assigned to a particular region of the world and is responsible for planning cooperative activities in response to the special needs of that region. The ten regions are: East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Oceania.