GPJS GPJS

International Graduate Program in Japanese Studies, Tohoku University

Research ProgramResearch Program

To the Frontier of Knowledge

At Tohoku University, we have conducted research through a variety of projects with the aim of creating a new kind of Japanese Studies. These include The 21st Century Hasekura Project by the Tohoku Forum for Creativity, the Global Japanese Studies Initiative through the Program for Key Interdisciplinary Research, and Creative Japanese Studies, which conducts research that has an impact on society.

Through alliances with leading research institutions overseas, the International Graduate Program in Japanese Studies inherits and develops such pioneering initiatives, and advances both education and research.

Leading project example

Tohoku Forum for Creativity “The 21st Century Hasekura Project”

The aim of this project was to create an academic network for Japanese Studies between Tohoku University and Europe, to invite many researchers from around Europe and share the place of knowledge creation through joint experience. The Graduate School of Arts and Letters invited researchers from the universities which form the Japanese Studies Joint Research Project network, and held an international symposium. In the seminar, debates were conducted with the inclusion of young researchers, and we were able to present results in Japanese Studies originating in Sendai.

◎Tohoku Forum for Creativity “The 21st Century Hasekura Project”
◎Annual Report of Tohoku Forum for Creativity

Program for Key Interdisciplinary Research: Creative Japanese Studies – research which has an impact on society

The Creative Japanese Studies project is advancing under the leadership of Professor Naoyuki ONO of the Graduate School of International Cultural Studies. The aim of this is to overcome the specificity of conventional Japanese Studies as regional research, to find the universal significance of Japanese culture and create new cultural values. In a world where there are diverse values and deepening chaos, we aim to show the universal originality of Japanese culture. Researchers in history, culture, linguistics and images, who belong to Tohoku University Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, and the Center for Northeast Asian Studies, form research units which cross domains in each of their fields.

◎Creative Japanese Studies
◎“Creative Japanese Studies” – research which has an impact on society project, Tohoku University

Collaboration with overseas research institutions

The International Graduate Program in Japanese Studies is developing international joint research centered on the Hasekura League.