Launching the seminar series "New studies on Japan and Asia"

Previously, through seminars and especially recently the workshop with the theme “Japan in the Asian era” of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, young lecturers of the Faculty had the opportunity to present their research and at the same time improve their understanding of their specialized fields. However, such seminars were only organized on a small scale within a group of lecturers of the Faculty, so it was necessary to continue and develop this program. In that context, the Faculty’s young staff union proposed to upgrade this scientific program to the Faculty level so that not only young lecturers of the Faculty but also researchers from other faculties and research institutes could participate and experience a new scientific environment.

In the development strategy of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities with a vision to 2020, research activities are considered the main pillar to promote and orient the school to become a research university. In that trend, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research methods are encouraged. In that context, the Faculty of Oriental Studies has many advantages due to its intra-regional and inter-regional characteristics as well as its high multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature. Moreover, most of the lecturers are trained in many different countries, so they can share with each other research methods as well as theories related to their majors and other majors.

The first panel discussion of the series "New Studies on Japan and Asia" took place on May 24, 2014.

This series of talks aims to:

- Gathering participants from different majors of the Faculty of Oriental Studies such as: Chinese Studies, Korean Studies, Japanese Studies, Indian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies as well as other majors such as: Economics, History, Politics, Languages, International Relations... to approach issues from many research fields, to clarify questions raised by young lecturers.

- Expand the network of young researchers studying Japanese studies as well as Oriental studies.

- To clarify the role and position of Japan in the context of current political and international relations in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia.

The series of talks will include 4 main talks, taking place from May 24, 2014 to March 31, 2015.

Specific content will be discussed at the seminars:

-New Approaches in Asian Studies;

- Applying corpus linguistics to teaching and learning Asian languages;

- Traditional cultural and religious characteristics of Japan and other Asian countries - their influence on modern life in these countries and the Asian region;

- Japan's role in the development of new Asia;

- New findings in research on Japan and Asian countries;

- Research contemporary literary trends in Japan and other Asian countries.