大学共同利用機関法人 人間文化研究機構　国立民族学博物館

Objectives

The primary objectives of this joint research are to understand the actual situation regarding overseas anthropological studies of Japan, and to study issues related to representations of Japan as a foreign culture. Geographically, the bulk of the accumulated research is centered in the English-language speaking zone. For that reason, more than half of the team members are scholars with academic degrees from British or American universities involving Japan as the object of study. Furthermore, even while seeking to utilize the perspective of Japanese folkloristics studying Japanese culture itself, we intend to introduce a comparative perspective by examining research on Japan in other parts of East Asia. We have established the following specific research goals: (1) Creation of a detailed list of written records and bibliographical notes on those records–Creation of basic research materials for the committee through a thorough survey of the existing literature on Japan written in non-Japanese languages. (2) Identification of intellectual genealogy–Investigation of the theoretical, ethnographic, and political backgrounds of key written works to clarify the flow of Japanese studies outside Japan. (3) Overall reconsideration of cultural research–Reexamination of how cultural research should be approached through consideration of how one's own culture is portrayed as a foreign culture by outside researchers. (4) Creation of forums for dialogue–Thinking about how dialogues among those who are depicting and those who are being depicted can point the way to cultural representations acceptable to both sides.