Greetings
Dear Director Greatrix,
Dear Ms. Troedsson,Dear Ms. Kato, representing the Japan Foundation,
Dear participants, members of the EAJRS,
Welcome to the 16th Conference of the European Association of Japanese Resource
Specialists,
which is hosted this year by the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies of theUniversity of Lund. At the request of the general meeting of last year, this year’s
topic has been kept as comprehensive as possible in order to accommodate thewidest possible array of problems and issues resource specialists and researches arefacing in their professional and scholarly pursuits.

Although we call ourselves a European association, we have been very fortunate inhaving Japanese and American experts taking a strong interest in our activities.
Participation from Japan, US and Canada has been limited in numbers, but has
always been very expert and stimulating.

We all know that there are abundant resources in Japan, Northern America andEurope, but we have long tended to forget that China too holds considerable
resources that are related to Japan. Japan related documents, paintings, drawings aswell as objects and utensils have found their way to China both before and after theMeiji Restoration. Book traffic between China and Japan has an impressive
history, and not only in the direction from China to Japan, but also vice versa.
Although the history and topography of Chinese books brought to Japan has long
been studied and written, and their present locations are well documented, it is only
in recent years that efforts have been made to draw up catalogues of Japan relatedresources in Chinese collections.

At the same time, there remains a considerable amount of work to be done inWestern Europe. A case in point is the Iberian Peninsula, where rich repositories ofresources are to be found, as we learned last year in Salamanca.

As has been mentioned repeatedly in previous Newsletters, funding by the JapanFoundation has been a vital prerequisite to the activities and the survival of ourassociation from the very beginning of its existence. Although in my greetings informer Newsletters, I have tended to be diffident about continued financial support
from the Japan Foundation in the future, so far we have been enjoying continued
support, including for this year’s conference. I am convinced that this is due to therecognition by the Japan Foundation of our unique mission, as well as of thesincere efforts made by participants to first draw on national or institutional
financial resources before turning to the Japan Foundation.

Looking back to the Salamanca conference of last year, I am sure to represent
everyone’s feelings when I say that it was a most fruitful and stimulating event. Forme personally, and I believe for many among us, it was a revelation. We were able
to acquire a better insight into the location and organisation of important holdings,
and it surely left us with hunger for even more. In addition, I am sure we all
succumbed to the charms of that lovely city, and the hospitality of its people, asexemplified by the reception offered by the city council in the elegant stately roomsof the city hall. We owe a great deal of debt to Mr. Yajima, who is present here.

I have no doubt that the 16th conference will likewise be a very stimulating andrewarding experience .The conditions to realise this expectation are all in place, for
our host, the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, has been very cooperative and helpful in providing us with all necessary facilities. We owe a
particular gratitude to its Director Prof. dr. Roger Greatrex, and its indefatigablelibrarian Ms. Annie Troedsson. We also thank them in anticipation for thereception they are offering us tonight in the White House, the signature building of
this university.
This is the second time that an EAJRS conference is organized in Sweden. In theearly 1990, Stockholm was the venue of one conference. The Centre for East andSouth-East Asian Studies is part of an university whose history goes back to 1666,

located in a charming and elegant town. We are fortunate in finding a pleasantenvironment for our proceedings in the Kulturen Museum.

I must not waste your time any further, but before I leave the floor to more worthy
speakers, there are a few matters of practical concern that I need to share with you.

We wish you a stimulating conference.

W.F. Vande Walle
Chairman