 2005-2006
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Yasushi Nakano |
| In
the autumn of 2005 I returned to the small
fishing village of D on the northern
part of the east coast of the Republic
of Korea, where I have been doing long-term
fieldwork since 2003. I was just in time
to attend the regular meeting of the Youth
Association, for the first time in a year.
Other than the one new member, all the
faces were familiar to me and I was relieved.
New topics included the whale that had
been caught in the fishing nets several
days previously, and which had been sold
at a great profit by one of the members,
who had then been pressed to make a donation
to the Association. |
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Wataru Enomoto
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| I
have been allocated the topic "The
Frontline in Overseas Field Research",
but unfortunately my area of expertise
is somewhat different. I have been involved
with the history of Japan, China and Korea,
but as far as overseas research is concerned,
I must ask the assistance of my colleagues
abroad and learn from their work. Of course
I have gained much from them, but I have
no confidence about my qualifications to
talk on my own behalf. Therefore I would
like to speak here of some recent field
research I have undertaken in Japan. |
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Amiko Nobori
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| When
studying diplomatic history a vital question
is what kind of primary sources the scholar
has been able to use, so whether or not
documents are open to the public, and can
be accessed, is a matter of great concern.
As a result of the growing development
of electronic archives in recent years,
researchers are able to access materials
from within Japan and abroad even from
home, using the Internet, and so it can
be said their job has been made somewhat
easier. |
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Hiroyuki Hokari |
| It was
after reading Vandana Shiva's Biopiracy,
the Plunder of Nature and Knowledge that
I became conscious of the intricate connection
between modern civilization and the natural
environment. This book is a clarion call,
warning that the advanced nations are
using, in the name of globalization,
the acquisition of patents and genetic
engineering as new weapons, enclosing
indigenous and local knowledge and even
life itself in a new version of colonialization. |
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Fei-Ling Wang |
| In this essay I briefly discuss the importance of Asian study and its underdevelopment
in Asia. However, there have been considerable efforts and impressive achievements
of the discipline especially in Japan. Finally, I will attempt to make
some observations about what more Japan may do to help furthering Asian
study in Asia.. |
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Fei-Ling
Wang
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| Divided
yet booming, East Asia is experiencing
an epic reconfiguration. Increasingly,
a new organization of East Asian countries
is seen as the best way to manage the profound
social and economic changes sweeping the
region. |
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| Fei-Ling
Wang |
| Few
nations are culturally so similar yet
have disliked each other so deeply and
so long as China and Japan. As the Chinese
proverb goes, "Two tigers cannot
live on the same hill." Mutual respect
based on equality and understanding is
sorely lacking in both China and Japan,
a situation that could destine them to
a violent showdown. |
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| Mitsuhiro Kondo |
| Japanese mass media and non-specialists commonly use the term of hindû shijô-shugi (Hindu supremacism) to indicate Hindutva influences in contemporary India.
They previously preferred the use of another term, hindû genri-shugi (Hindu fundamentalism), until coming to appreciate Islamic scholars' admonitions
against the imprudent use of the word genri-shugi (fundamentalism). This shift happened just a few years ago, and some people
still use the term whether or not they mean to make a strong statement............(03/Mar/05) |
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| Timur Dadabaev |
| Central Asian culture, history, art, politics and economics are the predominant
fields which attract the international community of scholars to this unique
region. This interest is enhanced by Central Asia's rich heritage at the
heart of the Silk Road as a hive of cultural exchange and a melting pot
of various peoples and civilizations. The demise of the Soviet Union and
the advent of independence for Central Asian states further opened up the
region to foreign scholars, and also motivated regional scholars to intensify
their research thereby putting modern Central Asia on the global academic
map....(Mar/05) |
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| Komatsu Hisao |
| Central Asian studies in Japan have a rich historiography. The first serious
work was undertaken in the 19th century by a young diplomat, Nishi Tokujiro.
After working some years in the Japanese embassy in St. Petersburg, in
1880 he travelled extensively in Russian Turkestan. After returning to
Japan he continued to study contemporary Central Asia, and in 1886 he published
a book, ......(Mar/05) |
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| Siddharth S. Saxena |
| Central Asia has a mystical resonance in the British imagination, whether
through the writings of the Orientalists or the biographers of the Great
Game. The colonial withdrawal and Soviet takeover of the region instigated
a steady decline in what was once a glorious tradition of scholarship of
the region in Britain, as the access to it became restricted. ......(Mar/05) |
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