Japan studies

Japanese studies (or Japanology) is a term generally used to describe the historical and cultural study of Japan. In North America, the academic field is usually referred to as Japanese studies. The term "Japanology" is more often used in Europe.

Japanology is the study of many subjects, including

• Japanese language
• Japanese calligraphy
• Japanese culture
• Japanese divinities
• Japanese history
• Japanese literature
• Japanese art
• Music of Japan
• Manga
• Anime
• Science and technology in Japan

The roots of Japanology begin with the Dutch at Dejima, Nagasaki in the Edo period.

Japanology was encouraged by the Asiatic Society of Japan at Yokohama which was established in 1872.

Notable Japanologists

• Edwin O. Reischauer
• Edward Seidensticker
• Ruth Benedict
• Lafcadio Hearn
• Donald Keene
• Helen Hardacre
• Francis Xavier
• Ernest Mason Satow
• Richard Ponsonby-Fane

Notable foreign centers of Japanese studies

• University of Virginia Japanese Text Initiative
• Harvard University - Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies
• University of California, Berkeley - Center for Japanese Studies
• Columbia University - The Center for Japanese Legal Studies
• Oxford University - Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies
• School of Oriental and African Studies - The Japan Research Centre and Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
• School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences – Centre de Recherches sur le Japon
• Leiden University - Japanese Languages and Cultures
• Universitas Indonesia - Japanese Area Studies Program

Associations for Japan Studies overseas

• European Association for Japanese Studies
• British Association for Japanese studies
• The Society for Japanese Studies (United States)

Notable Academic Journals

• Journal of Japanese Studies (The Society for Japanese Studies)
• Monumenta Nipponica (Sophia University)
• Social Science Japan Journal (Oxford University Press)

Related pages

• Bushido
• Oriental studies

Other websites

• Electronic journal of contemporary Japanese studies
• European Association for Japanese Studies Archived 2008-05-12 at the Wayback Machine