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The Establishment of a New Department for Researchon East Asian Culture: As a New Research Base for the Studyon Cultural Interaction StudiesFUJITA TakaoDeputy director, ICIS; Deputy Head,Graduate School of East Asian CulturesKansai University established the Department for Research on East Asian Culture as a new research sectionin April 2011. This new department is established to drive for the continuation and further development of theeducational organization formed as a COE program, “The formation of basis for the research and education of thestudies on cultural interaction in East Asia” which will end in March 2012.As a training unit for global COE program, Kansai University hasalready established the course specialized on the studies of culturalinteraction in April 2008, by rearranging the department of literaturestudies. As this course met the year of completion in March 2010when the first Doctor of this curriculum was born, it was decided tomake this course independent from the department of literaturestudies and merged into newly established department of research onEast Asian instead. By so doing, we intend to improve the activitiesof research and education for the studies on East Asian culture whichis the specialty of Kansai University as well as to develop the featureof the international hub for research and education which wascultivated within the global COE program.We primarily succeed the former curriculum arranged by thedepartment of literature studies. In addition to the old program,however, we set the following three new research areas to provide thefoundational viewpoints for the study on East Asia and arrange thecourse programs accordingly; “Language and Images in East Asia”,“Ideas and Structure in East Asia” and “History and Movement inEast Asia”.Research students in this newly established department will focuson substantial themes for their own research projects from one ofof Literature. Also we have received 15 students for the precedingcurriculum and 7 research students for the following curriculum bothfor PhD course on this April in the first year of the department. 11students which are about the half of all the students in our departmentcome from foreign countries. In comparison with the situation of theperiod when the department of the research on literature was incharge, it remains the same that many foreign students are registered.Adding the number of students who had been enrolled previously, wehave 56 postgraduate students both of preceding and followingcurriculums which is quite a large number for a solo department.The term of “the cultural interaction” was not generally knownwhen our Kansai University started to advocate this new field ofstudy. Later, however, Korea Maritime University at Busan whichwas chosen for a program similar to COE called HK HumanityKoreafounded an educational program for cultural interactionstudies. The Department of Literature at Sophia University alsoestablished the course for cultural interaction studies in April 2011.Language and Imagesin East AsiaIdeas and Structurein East AsiaHistory and Movementin East AsiaWelcome Party for New Students 2011Three research areas in the department of t East Asian cultural Studiesthese three areas and attempt to develop their own studies by crossingborders of academic fields as well as regions for the research.The department of research on the East Asian culture started withseven members consisted of the Head Manager TAO Deming, theDeputy Managers UCHIDA Keiichi, NIKAIDO Yoshihiro, FUJITATakao, and the Promoters of Project AZUMA Juji and MATSUURAAkira, in addition to Prof. NAKATANI Nobuo from the DepartmentEach university, though attempting to do individually differenteducation and research, adopted the term “cultural interaction” in<strong>English</strong>, which could be a sign of the expansion and fixation of thecultural interaction studies as a new field of research. Under thesecircumstances, the role of this research base as a pioneer of the fieldwould increase its importance more than ever before. We hope tohave still more understandings and cooperation from all interestedparties.
ICIS Newsletter, Kansai UniversityConsidering the Hometown from the Perspectivefor the Experience of the Research in AmakusaWang Hai ICIS-RAWhat kind of knot there had been between me and Amakusaremains mystery even though I think it over and over again. I did notcome from Amakusa nor had scarcely known about this place evenafter I came to Japan for study. Indeed, there were many studentsfrom abroad amongst the research group those who were similar tome. Moreover, even for the Dr. ARATAKE who is the leader of ourresearch group and who specifically studies the regional history ofJapan, it was his first time to visit Amakusa for research at the time.In other words, we were a group of amateurs who were looking atAmakusa. Nonetheless, the most important was to achieve the successof the related research for the project. The success expected herewould be the feeling of accomplishment as well as responsibility tocultivate carefully the seed for future for each member of the researchgroup, by finding the fruit for each other and packing it in the cage asin a form of report.I had written an article aboutthe relationship between SHIBARyotaroand Amakusa out of mypersonal interest which wasraised by a coincidental encounterwith a square piece of thickpaper which was written bySHIBA at Chindoji in Amakusa.That paper investigated how theSHIBA’s perspective of historyin Amakusa was evaluated bythe local people. As a part ofconclusion, I pointed out thatSHIBA was greatly trusted byPhoto 1provincial historians andresponded to this local people’s trust through “a memorial present” ofKaido wo Yuku 17 Shimabara Amakusa no Shodo 17 Going on theMain Road, vol. 17, Various Roads in Shimabara and Amakusa.Through such mutual recompenses, matters in Amakusa gains moreattentions by people and regional research on Amakusa develops. Ourresearch group has been able to do fruitful research also because ofthe supports by the passion by local people.The experience from research of this time reminded me of my ownhome town. I came from a beautiful town called Leshan city inSichuan Province in China. The Big Buddha called Leshan Dafo isconsidered to be the biggest Buddha imagery in the world at whichmany tourists visit every day. Meanwhile, there were few provincialmaterials. Only articles I could find in the city library before weresuch as thin leaflets and guidebooks. In addition, participants of thegovernment do not want to do the compilation of regional records andit is said they have left the editing works only onto 80 years old men.In comparison with “the Catalogue of Materials Concerning aboutAmakusa” which ICIS has created through this research, there is awhole difference. The negligence onto the provincial research as wellas the lack of successors should be serious problems that China iscurrently facing. It would probably not only the matters for China. Allthe graduate participants for this research were, except for lecturersand researchers, consisted of students from abroad. The research inAmakusa might have given great impact onto the mind of all theforeign students just as it gave onto me.Provincial research in Japan would also contain the similarproblems due to the current tendency to contempt the cultural andregional research in the society of economical globalization. Undersuch circumstances, we being researchers should deepen theinteraction with local people through social association, in order tovalue the provincial culture Note 1. For this very matter, the relatedresearch for the project of this time was particularly meaningful tostrengthen solidarity between researchers and the local area and togive new sense of mission for us, the students from abroad. I sincerelythank the cultural interaction studies as well as local people who haveknotted me and Amakusa.Photo 2Photo12a square piece of thick paper which was written withSHIBA Ryotaro’s own handwriting stored in ChindojiPhoto AboveLeshan BuddhaNote1 Historian AMINO Yoshihiko points out in his “KomonjyoHenkyaku no Tabi Trip to Returning the Ancient Articles; 1999,Chuko Shinsho” that some scholars considered provincial materialsthat they gathered from local area as their own property, whichmade local people lose their trust in researchers. He further arguesthat this is the causation for the provincial studies to get into ascrape. One of the purposes for the research of this time was toconstruct trusting relationship with local people.
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