Research Reports
At this meeting, five invited researchers in the field of Japanese Language and Japanese Language Education Research and five in the field of Japanese Literature and Japanese Culture Research each presented a 15-minute research report. After each 15-minute research report, the hosting faculty members commented on the activities of the invited researchers and the significance of their research, as well as their interactions with Japanese researchers and students. During the Q&A session that followed, the members of the Evaluation Committee asked questions and offered opinions from a variety of perspectives, raising many topics that could help develop and advance the research.
Summaries of each researcher’s activities during their stay in Japan, their research, and future outlook will be provided based on their presentations
<Japanese Language and Japanese Language Education Research>
Associate Professor, University of Hawaii at Hilo (U.S.A.)
“Identity and Language Ideology in Endangered Languages and Dialects — Comparison between Japan and Hawaii”
“During my stay in Japan, I visited ‘Hands On,’ a citizens’ group working to revive and promote the Okinawan language (Shimakutuba), and the ‘Urespa Project,’ an Ainu language and culture preservation group in Sapporo, conducting research on aspects such as number of speakers, immersion education, language ideology, and identity, and compared findings with research on Hawaiian languages. Going forward, I plan to conduct exchanges between groups working to revive endangered languages in Japan and abroad, as well as joint classes with my institution, the Department of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.”
Professor, Department of Japanese Language and Literature, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University (Egypt)
Cultural Differences that Impede Language Acquisition: From an Arab Elementary Japanese Language Learners' Perspective
“I conducted an analysis on ‘Minna no Nihongo’ I and II, textbooks used by beginner Arab students of Japanese, limiting the scope of the study to weather, first meeting, and time-based greetings due to time constraints. The results showed that Japanese greetings contain many expressions involving nature, while Arabic greetings contain many religious expressions, etc. I discovered that it is necessary to explain to learners the cultural differences between Japan and the Arab world, such as the meaning behind the greeting words. I plan to publish this research as a paper and develop an Arabic instruction manual on greetings to be used for learning.”
Lecturer, Faculty of Linguistics, Ain Shams University (Egypt)
“Verbs Collocations and Voice in Academic Writing of Arab Learners of Japanese — Corpus-based Analysis”
“In order to develop the academic writing skills of Arabic-speaking learners of Japanese, I collected and organized data for the development of a corpus. For the learners, approximately 665,000 corpus words were collected from 80 papers, and for the native Japanese speakers, approximately 1,511,000 corpus words were collected from a total of 67 bachelor's and master’s theses. This data was then processed accordingly. In terms of long-term plans, I intend to create a collocation list for learners to refer to, investigate the actual use of voice and conjunctions, and compare the results with those of native speakers.”
Associate Professor, Japanese Language Education Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO) (France)
“Developing Argumentation Skills through Formal Nouns in Japanese Language Education”
“I analyzed the discourse function of formal nouns from the perspective of developing Japanese language learners’ argumentation skills. To do this, I collected and analyzed data and classified constructions containing typical formal nouns such as ‘koto,’ ‘mono,’ and ‘hazu,’ and modeled seven uses (catch-all nouns, adverb equivalent phrases, compound predicates, nominalizers, nominal predicates, conjunctive particles, and sentence-final particles). I intend to use the results of this work to create teaching materials dealing with formal nouns. Going forward, I also feel the need to broaden this approach beyond formal nouns.”
Professor School of Mongolian Studies, Inner Mongolia University (China)
“Construction of Speech Database of Japanese as Spoken by Mongolian Learners: For the Acoustic Phonetic Analysis of Variations in Learners’ Speech”
“With the guidance of Professors Maekawa and Igarashi at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, I established the method and direction of my research and examined the initial and medial plosives /d/ and /t/ produced by native speakers of Mongolian learning Japanese from three perspectives: VOT, closure time, and voice quality of the following vowel. The results identified various pronunciation differences between learners and native speakers. Going forward, I would like to take this foundation established during my stay in Japan as the basis for further research, expanding the scope of the experimental data and perspectives, and conducting more in-depth analysis.”
<Japanese Literature and Japanese Culture Research>
Part-time Lecturer of Sociology/Anthropology and Religion, Lake Forest College （U.S.A.）
“Spirited Ecology at the End of the World: Community-led Reconstruction Projects in the 3.11 Tsunami-affected Fisherman’s village of the Northeast Coast of Japan”
“Living with the Sea: For this study, I conducted interviews, participatory observation, and the collection and analysis of primary data with respect to three community-led reconstruction projects in the Motoyoshi district of Kesennuma City, Miyagi Prefecture: the Camellia Forest Project, planting activities on seawalls, and a children's support project. Although conducting research during the COVID-19 pandemic required flexibility and a more creative approach to research methods, some unexpected findings were obtained as a result of this change of course. The results will be presented at a conference in North America, and I plan to continue my research and analysis in the area in the summer of 2023 and beyond.”
Associate Professor, Brandeis University （U.S.A.）
“Postwar Kanshi Journals and the Canon of Sinitic Poetry in Japan”
“Thus far, I have been studying Japanese poetry written in Chinese (Kanshi, Kanshibun) from the early modern to Meiji periods, but this fellowship has allowed me to begin a new research project on Kanshibun in postwar Japan. During my stay in Japan from the end of last year, I conducted a literature survey of “Gayuu,” a literary magazine specializing in Kanshi, in order to investigate the reality of Kanshibun in postwar Japan and Japanese people’s attitude toward Kanshi. The readers and contributors to the magazine, which ran for 20 years after the war, varied so much that it was difficult to identify the individuals involved, I was able to appreciate the breadth of Kanshi as an art form. Going forward, I would like to continue my research into its relationship with other Kanshibun journals.”
Professor, Chonnam National University (Korea）
“The Artistic and Literary Research of Japanese-Korean Child Culture through the Early Modern Paintings and Kusazosi”
“My research involves exploring the nature of Japanese and Korean children’s culture in the early modern period through paintings and illustrated books (Kusazosi). In Japan, Waseda University’s reference service has enabled me to obtain rare books from the collections of Tenri University and Toyo University. I also received guidance from my hosting faculty member, Professor Narisawa, in such areas as interpreting old texts, and visited Japanese art exhibitions. Going forward, I will use the materials I have collected to conduct artistic and literary reinterpretations of the works of Jippensha Ikku and other works depicting monsters and heroes popular among children.”
Assistant Professor, Columbia University
“Knowledge and Technique: Media Histories and Science Cinema in Japan”
“My work examines the history of science, technology, and its reception through an analysis of Iwanami Productions, which typified the postwar short film industry, and its predecessor organization, The Nakaya Ukichiro Laboratory. During my six-month research stay, I browsed and collated Iwanami-related materials at the Documentary Film Preservation Center in Ichigaya, Tokyo. I also attended a research report meeting at the Nakaya Ukichiro Snow Science Museum in Ishikawa Prefecture, which provided excellent materials and an opportunity to interact with people involved in the field. In the future, I hope to broaden the scope of my survey and carry on conducting analysis from multiple perspectives.”
Professor, Jeju National University（Korea）
“A Study on ‘the Korean War’ seen by the Japanese Archipelago; Focusing on Literary Works Published in the 1950s”
“I conducted a literature review to examine how the Korean War was discussed in Zainichi Korean community magazines and Japanese literary magazines published in the 1950s. I was finally able to enter the country in June, and although my stay in Japan was very short, I was glad to be able to read primary sources in the form of Japanese literary magazines from the 1950s. I also participated in seminars led by my hosting faculty member, Professor Tomotsune, and a series of lectures organized by the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. I will continue to collect and analyze the data and make a presentation at a conference to be held in the fall.”
Comments from the Evaluation Committee
After each invited researcher’s research presentation and Q&A session, the six members of the Evaluation Committee gave their comments.
FURUKAWA Takahisa “As a result of the pandemic, there were so many invited researchers who were unable to fully accomplish what they had originally intended to, so I was very glad to hear about the results that your tireless efforts had managed to produce regardless. In addition, there are many things you can learn about historical materials by seeing and touching them in person, and I am happy that you were able to do so in Japan, even if only for a short period of time. Thank you so much.”
YAMANAKA Reiko “I was pleased that you were able to spend a little time in Japan even amid the pandemic, and to hear about what you were able to accomplish here. As a member of the Evaluation Committee, I am happy that, with some researchers having withdrawn, you were at least able to interact with your hosting faculty members and open the door to future research. Please keep up the interesting work!”
TANAKA Yukari “I believe that the variety of presentations we have heard this year is the result of the Fellowship's expansion beyond its initial focus on Japanese language education and research to include the history, literature, and culture aspects of Japanese studies. I was reminded once again of the significant role the Fellowship has played in fostering international Japanese studies.”
KOYANAGI Kaoru “It was interesting to hear about the results of various studies on Japanese language education for Arabic, Mongolian, and French speakers. A year ago, foreign researchers were still unable to visit Japan. I hope that you were able to gain a foothold in your research during your stay in Japan, even if it was only a short one, and that you will be able to capitalize on this opportunity in the future.”
IJIMA Masahiro “It is a shame that the pandemic has cut short your stays here, and that this meeting, which had been scheduled to take place in person, was switched to an online event at the last minute, meaning we are unable to speak to talk to you all in person. However, I found this meeting to be a very useful opportunity to learn not only about research in my own field, but also about other fields of research that I had never heard about before.”
Finally, Committee Chairman INOUE Masaru gave a few words.
“Thank you again, as always, for a very rewarding experience. Despite the many restrictions imposed by the pandemic, I hope that this research fellowship will serve as an asset for all of you, including the invited researchers, their hosting faculty members, and the administrative staff.
I have been involved in this Fellowship for about 14 years in total, initially for about four years as a host at the National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics, and then 10 years as the head of the Evaluation Committee. With that in mind, I would like to make two requests. The first is to the invited researchers. I hope that you will engage in active exchanges with people in other fields in your own countries and regions, thereby enhancing the status of Japanese studies there. The other request is to the Foundation and the invited researchers. Although this Fellowship will now come to an end, all of the researchers we have invited for research in Japan to date have been valuable assets to the Foundation. I hope that everyone here will maintain the relationships we have built with researchers into the future. I also hope that the researchers will cooperate with any future requests from the Foundation. I would like to conclude my remarks as chairman of the Evaluation Committee by asking for your continued support.”
With the above, the 15th and 16th Research Report Meeting was brought to a close.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the invited researchers who have stayed and conducted research in Japan, to the hosting faculty members, to the liaison staff at hosting institutions, and to everyone else involved. We also wish you continued success and prosperity in the future.
*Each researcher's presentation, etc., has been summarized by the Fellowship Secretariat. As such, all responsibility for error rests with the Secretariat.
