Research areas

Researchers at UEA currently work with Japan in the following areas:

• archaeology
• heritage and museum studies
• contemporary media, including manga, anime and film, comparative media studies and Japanese media theory
• environmental science and climate change
• international development
• nursing
• political, social and international studies
• translation studies

CJS organises various events to promote Japanese Studies at UEA

Virtual Cities:

computer modelling and simulating the urban environment in Kyoto and Norwich, Tuesday 31 May 2011

Programme

Each year a number of Japan-related events take place around Norwich and the University, and UEA students and researchers are involved in Japan-related events elsewhere. Examples include:

“Cultural Heritage? in East Asia”: Workshop and Conference

Friday and Saturday, 12 and 13 March 2010 at UEA and University College London

What do a statue of Colonel Sanders thrown into the Dotonbori River by a festive crowd in Osaka and the threatened townscape of Tomonoura, the port on the Inland Sea, the setting for Miyazaki Hayao’s latest anime have in common with Korean TV dramas and museums in Inner Mongolia? All can be regarded as heritage assets: but what is cultural heritage and how is it relevant to understanding contemporary East Asia?

The event “Cultural Heritage? in East Asia” aimed at clarifying similarities and differences among cultural heritage notions and practices in Japan, China, and Korea. The participants from Japan, China, Korea, Europe, and North America held wide-ranging discussions to examine how the concept of ‘cultural heritage’ has been employed in East Asia in different social contexts, to explore the reasons of applying this concept and its implications for national policies and local practices, and to investigate whether there are materials, performances and/or phenomena in East Asia that have not been recognised as cultural heritage but can represent alternative ways of creating, experiencing, and preserving culture.

The event consisted of a one-day workshop at UEA’s School of World Art Studies and Museology and a one-day conference at UCL. It was organised and co-sponsored by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, the Japan Foundation, and the International Centre for Chinese Heritage and Archaeology (UK), and supported by UEA’s School of World Art Studies and Museology, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the UCL Institute of Archaeology.

“New Museology: Drawing Synergies Between Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Cultures”: Symposium

Monday, 13 September 2010 at Akiba Hall (Tokyo, Japan)

The symposium “New Museology: drawing synergies between cultural heritage and contemporary cultures” aimed at exploring new, innovative ways of promoting cultural heritage to a wider, especially the hard to attract younger anime-inspired, audience, through the use of contemporary culture in museum settings. Specialists from UEA, the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, and Japan joined the audience to discuss the implications and impact of the synergies between cultural heritage and contemporary culture through the case studies with which UEA has been closely involved.

The symposium was co-organised by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and the Japan Foundation, with support from the British Council and the Tokyo National Museum.

“Japanese Media Studies”: Research Workshop

Thursday to Saturday, 16-18 September 2010 at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in Norwich

The international research workshop on “Japanese Media Studies”, kindly supported by the Great Britain Sasakwa Foundation and the Japan Foundation, was designed to exchange research results on Japanese popular culture and foster the network within the academia in Europe. Participating were 16 researchers from seven countries: Japan, the UK, Germany, Finland, Spain, Italy and Belgium. The workshop started with the public “Third Thursday Lecture” Nr. 107 on “The Design of Japanese TV-news as Visual Art”, delivered by Mr. Yonekura Ritsu from the NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute. Over the next two days, four panels were held on “TV and Media Obsession”, “European Manga Markets”, “Media Digitisation” and “Blogging on Japan”. The papers covered various aspects of Japanese cultural exports, such as anime fandom, its visual impact on the West, the world of labour in manga and the use of manga for Japanese language teaching. There were vivid discussions on the different ways these media are received and adapted in Europe, and a great consensus in the necessity to promote collaborative and comparative research in the future.