About

Asia Institute, together with the Japan Foundation, the University of Melbourne Law School, Asian Law Centre and the Hokkaido University Research Faculty of Media and Communication presents the International Conference on New Frontiers in Japanese Studies. The conference features papers from Japanese Studies academics and researchers from institutions around the world.

Overview

The International Conference on New Frontiers in Japanese Studies represents the work of a new generation of scholars in the field of Japanese Studies. The conference will present new approaches and ideas in Japanese Studies scholarship, focusing in particular on approaching global challenges in the twenty-first century. (Topics include environmentalism, ageing society, energy policy, tourism, lifestyle, gender equality, social media, multiculturalism, civil society).

Japanese studies scholarship has spread globally, and while it has been dominated by Western scholars in the US, Europe, and Australia, in hope of integrating multiple perspectives on Japanese society, we also include scholarship from centres of Japanese Studies in the Asia Pacific region. We believe this effort will push existing boundaries of the field, and make this conference a starting point for a new dialogue on Japanese Studies scholarship.

The International Conference on New Frontiers in Japanese Studies will be a kick-off conference for the Modern Japanese Studies Consortium - a new academic initiative institutionalising research hubs in Japanese Studies. The founding institutions of the Consortium are the University of Melbourne Asia Institute, and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies Department of International Japanese Studies (provisional name) which will admit its first students in April 2019. We will open the research network internationally.

This conference will provide a solid knowledge foundation for the establishment of the Consortium, with two major aims:

  1. to enhance the prominence of Japan and Japanese Studies within global academia
  2. to root Japanese Studies as a discipline more firmly within the international environment and academic disciplines

The Consortium will help improve new collaborative international research in Japanese Studies and expand student exchange opportunities

Conference sponsors