Library

The Nichibunken Library collects a wide range of materials needed forresearch on Japan and makes these materials available to researchers. It
also provides access to Japanese studies-related information of variouskinds. The 610,000 titles in the library can be searched via the OPAC,
CiNii and OCLC WorldCat (As of March 31, 2024). Researchers
outside Nichibunken may use the inter-library loan system to apply
for document copying and loans of books and other materials. The
collection prioritizes books about Japan written in other languages
and translations of Japanese works originating in Japan and overseas.
In addition to books and periodicals, the collection includes coloredphotographs from the late Edo and Meiji periods, old maps, andvideo, DVD, and CD audio and visual materials.
https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/en/library/

Visiting Research Scholars and FellowsAs an international research center, Nichibunken opens its doors to
the world by inviting many scholars from foreign countries to carryout international and interdisciplinary research related to Japaneseculture. The foreign scholars are classified either as “visiting researchscholars,” who are accepted for periods from three months to one year
and receive a salary from Nichibunken, or as “visiting research fellows,”
whose income is provided by public and other foundations.
In addition to carrying out their own research, foreign scholars
at Nichibunken take part in team research projects organized by
Nichibunken professors and deliver presentations at seminars, forums,
and international meetings. They also have the opportunity to publish
the results of their research in Nichibunken publications.
We hope that the close collaboration between these foreign scholars
and the professors at Nichibunken and members of their research teams
will become the base for the further development of Japanese studies
in the world.
Applications for Visiting Research Scholars and Fellows
https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/en/research/employment/#gaikenkobo
https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/en/research/employment/acceptance/

Nichibunken House

Public Databases Access

Nichibunken develops databases of the materials in its collection, theoutcomes of research by its faculty, and Japan-related materials heldby other organizations. It now provides public online access to 46
databases (As of March 31, 2024).
https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/en/db/

The Nichibunken Digital Archive

Nichibunken House consists of family- and single-occupancy units.
Family-occupancy units are primarily for visiting research scholars whostay for a long term, with their families. Single-occupancy units comprise
two zones, one for long-term users and the other for guests such as teamresearchers here for a short stay.
Qualification for use :Short-term stays up to one month• Visiting Faculty Members• Team Researchers• Participants in International Symposiums
Long-term stays• Visiting Research Scholars• JF Research Fellows• JSPS Research Fellows• Visiting Research Fellows

National Institutes for the HumanitiesInternational Research Center
for Japanese Studies
2024 Brochure
NICHIBUNKEN PROSPECTUS

Faculty

(As of May 1, 2024)

Director-General
INOUE Shōichi	History of manners and customs
Deputy Directors-General
Frederik CRYNS	History of the Sengoku period, interaction
between the Western world and Japan
MATSUDA Toshihiko	History of Japanese and Korean relations
Professors
ARAKI Hiroshi	Japanese literature
ENOMOTO Wataru	Medieval history of international exchange
ISODA Michifumi	Japanese history
ISOMAE Jun’ichi	Religious studies; critical theory
ITŌ Takayuki	History of Chinese thought; cultural interaction inEast Asia; comparative cultureKUSUNOKI Ayako	Japanese political and diplomatic history; securitystudies
LIU Jianhui	History of cultural connections between Japan andChina
Timon SCREECH	Art history and history of the Edo period
SEKINO Tatsuki	Informatics
TAKII Kazuhiro	Constitutional history; comparative legal history
USHIMURA Kei	Comparative literature and culture; intellectualhistory
YAMADA Shōji	Informatics; history of cultural exchange
YASUI Manami	Japanese folklore; cultural anthropology
ZHAN Xiaomei	History of artistic connections between Japan andChina in the modern age

Team Research Projects 2024
Title of ProjectSolid “Impermanence”/Fragile “Impermanence”:
The Transmogrification of the Classics and Future
Prospects
The Japanese Colonial Empire and the Global Linkage ofKnowledge

About Nichibunken

Project Leader(s)Professor

ARAKI Hiroshi
Professor

MATSUDA Toshihiko

Mouths and Noses: A Cultural History of theProfessor
Junctures between the Human Body and the Outside ISODA Michifumi
World in Japan
City and Monument: Urban Planning and Memory
in Japan, from the Perspective of Visual Culture

Professor

From Womb to Tomb: Exploring Life and Death inContemporary Japan

Professor

Island Japan: Fluid Bodies, Senses, Imaginaries
Studying Nichibunken’s Collection of Inoue
Tetsujiro’s Correspondence:
The Rise and Fall of the Nation-State

Timon SCREECHYASUI Manami
Associate Professor

Edward BOYLE
Professor

ISOMAE Jun’ichi
Team Reseacher

KARITA Shinji

Reconsidering the Early-Modern in the History of
East Asia: In Search of a New Global History

Professor

The Formation and Development of Western
Perceptions of Japan

Professor

Japanese Foreign Policy in the Cold War Era:
The Formation of “Peace State” (1952-1972)

Visiting Research Scholar

Beyond the Postwar and Modernity:
Japan in the 1970s

Professor

Professor

Assistant Professors
GOZA Yūichi	Japanese medieval history
MITSUHIRA Yūki	History of music therapy
SUN Shiyu	Family Sociology, gender studies

The Formation and Transformation of the Cultural
Commons
Anthologizing “Chi (Knowledge)” for the Future:
An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Associate Professor

Specially Appointed Assistant Professors
Cultural studies, modern and contemporary Japanese literature
KOMAI Sachi ※1	Oliver WHITE	Japanese early modern popular literature

The Transformation of “Bunjin Culture” in Modern
Japan

Associate Professors
Edward BOYLE	Border studies; heritage; islands
KATAOKA Mai	Modern Japanese literature; comparative literature

https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/en/research/researcher/※1

Project Assistant Professor (Center for Innovative Research, The National Institutes
for the Humanities) and concurrently Specially Appointed Assistant Professor(International Research Center for Japanese Studies)Japan Review

Japan Review is published annually. It is a refereed interdisciplinary
journal that carries manuscripts, research notes, review essays, aswell as annotated translations of important texts relating to Japan.
Submission to Japan Review is open to all those engaged in thestudy of Japanese culture past and present.

Comparative History of Cultural Mediators

Inner Palace, Oku, Harem:
Comparative Historical Research on Court Womenfrom the Perspective of Gender Analysis

ITŌ Takayuki
Frederik CRYNSHUANG Tzu-Chin

PhD Program at Nichibunken

Nichibunken is the institutional home of the Japanese Studies Program,
Graduate Institute for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI. The Program
promotes interdisciplinary and comprehensive Japanese studies education
and research from an international perspective. Students from abroad
as well as from Japan enroll in the doctoral program. Under the special
inter-university researchers system, the Program also accepts and trains
graduate students recommended by other universities.

KUSUNOKI Ayako
YAMADA Shōji
KATAOKA Mai
Professor

ENOMOTO Wataru
Professor

ZHAN Xiaomei
Visiting Associate Professor

KANDA Yuri
Professor

ENOMOTO Wataru
Visiting Research Scholar

A View on Global Japanese Studies

The International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken)
was founded in 1987 to pursue international, interdisciplinary, andcomprehensive research on Japanese culture and to provide researchcooperation and support for Japanese studies scholars around the world.
In addition to research on the distinctiveness of Japanese culture,
Nichibunken emphasizes the perspectives of comparative studies andcultural exchange. Its professors lead diverse interdisciplinary teamresearch projects on Japanese culture that bring together specialists froma wide range of fields from within and outside Japan. Nichibunkenengages in international research collaboration of various kinds suchas sharing research information with scholars and research institutions
around the world, and sponsoring the participation of its faculty atscholarly meetings held overseas.

SATO-ROSSBERG
Nana

Nichibunken Monograph SeriesThis series comprises scholarly books in English representing thehigh quality of research carried out at Nichibunken. Several volumes
have been co-published with publishing houses in the U.S. andEurope. The authors are primarily faculty members at Nichibunken.

International Research Center for Japanese Studies
3-2 Goryo Oeyama-cho, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto 610-1192 Japan

https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/en/

Nichibunken Open Access

PDF files of publications of Nichibunken are available on the
Nichibunken website.
https://nichibun.repo.nii.ac.jp/lang/en
https://www.nichibun.ac.jp/en/library/search/repository/