As a research institute of cultural anthropology and ethnology in Japan, we strive to capture the latest research trends in Japan and abroad and share the results both inside and outside the Museum. We are carrying out a research project entitled “A Survey of the Trends in Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology and the Needs of Academic and Non-academic Communities for These Studies. ” For this purpose, we recruited research assistants, and together we have been conducting the survey. The results of the survey are reported in the “Report on the Activities of the Center for Research Development” issued at the end of every academic year.

In collaboration with the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, we organize workshops on anthropology in practice and others on world research trends in cultural anthropology. The Museum, the Society’s Kinki Research Study Group, and the Global Collaboration Center, Osaka University, jointly held a workshop called “World’s Anthropology I” in 2005 and “World’s Anthropology II” in 2007. The results of these workshops were featured in the Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology in 2006 and in 2009.

As the host of 2009, the Museum organized the 43rd Meeting of the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology at International House, Osaka, on May 30-31, 2009. On May 29, prior to the meeting, a joint symposium organized by the Anthropological Associations Council, “Infinite Appetite in Anthropological Perspectives“ was held at the Museum’s lecture hall with the Museum’s cooperation.

We gather information on the demands of other academic fields for cultural anthropology and ethnology through our core and joint research projects and collaborative relationships with other institutions and information on social demands obtained from fieldwork to discover what today’s society requires from cultural anthropology and ethnology.

Based on the information obtained from the studies on research trends and academic and social demands, we develop future research strategies, including mid-term objectives and the plan for the following year.

We establish research systems and researcher systems that best fit the research strategies. We also explore the best ways to secure and maintain materials indispensable for research, such as literature, books, and archival materials.

We support the implementation of the Museum’s core research projects and give advice on redesign or operation of projects to establish more efficient research systems.

We support the implementation of joint research projects for collaborative research of the National Institutes for the Humanities.

We provide the Museum staff with information regarding outside competitive funds, such as Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, COE programs of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, or research grants of private foundations, and we plan and develop large-scale research projects to which the Museum should fully commit itself.

We develop a self-evaluation system for the Museum’s research activities and devise ways to integrate it with external evaluations.

We create a draft of the Museum’s annual performance report for submission to the National Institutes for the Humanities. We also develop materials for the mid-term and final evaluations regarding mid-term objectives and plans.

We collect and inspect annual and mid-term reports of ongoing core research and joint projects and provide feedback on these projects.

We develop ways of applying the results of evaluations of the Museum, including self-evaluations, opinions of the Museum’s External Evaluation Committee, the annual evaluation by the National University Corporation Evaluation Committee, and the evaluation by the National Institution for Academic Degrees and University Evaluation, with respect to the Museum’s mid-term objectives and plans.

We promote the shared use of the Museum’s facilities and materials by publicly inviting researchers into inter-university research project and by developing library and archives.

In 2007, we held the “Junior Researchers Meeting at MINPAKU,” where participants who responded to our call for participation, such as graduate students from national, public and private universities including international students, researchers, and assistants, gathered to discuss ways to maximize the shared use of the Museum’s materials. Based on the result of the meeting, we started “Inter-university Research Project for Junior Researchers” in 2008 and “MINPAKU Seminar for Junior Researchers” in 2009.

We explore and give advice on the system of core research projects that might be suitable for international dissemination of research products and promoting collaboration with other research institutes in Japan and abroad.

To achieve the smooth implementation of core and inter-university research projects, we promote collaborative relations with other research institutes through visiting faculty members and researchers from outside organizations.

We actively encourage research collaboration with the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology, one of the Museum’s user communities and the Society with which we have the closest ties. Since 2005, we have been and will continue working on the creation of a database of cultural anthropology research and the organization of video archives related to cultural anthropology. In 2006, the Society and the Museum established the Committee of Practical Anthropology Research Projects to explore ways to make the most of cultural anthropological knowledge and materials, and in December 2007, an academic exchange agreement was signed between the two organizations. Since March 2006, the Museum’s exhibition hall has been available to members of the Japanese Society of Cultural Anthropology free of charge, provided they present their member ID when entering the Museum.

Japan Consortium for Area Studies is an entity of academic communities sharing the common theme of “area studies” and the Museum joined the Consortium as the 70th member institute in May 2006. On November 8, 2008, an annual meeting was held, cohosted by the Museum, and an open symposium was offered on “Practical Use of Area Studies: Reports from the Field at Development, Disaster, and Medical Sites.”

With the aim of planning and developing core projects, investigating research trends and social demands for cultural anthropology and ethnology, and promoting further development of cultural anthropology and ethnology in Japan, we are undertaking preparations for agreements with overseas research institutes in efforts to obtain research coordination and collaboration.

Currently we have an agreement with the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in France (December 2004), under which we promote academic exchanges among researchers and held the Japan-France International Symposium in May 2007 in France. We also concluded an agreement with the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (June 2005) in Peru, under which joint research projects are being conducted. We also promote academic exchanges with the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines through an academic agreement (July 2006). In July 2007, we concluded a cultural exchange agreement with the National Folk Museum of Korea to promote joint research and academic exchanges among researchers. In September 2008, we concluded an academic agreement with Inner Mongolia University (People’s Republic of China). In May 2009, we concluded an academic agreement with Taipei National Museum of the Arts. And October 2009, we also concluded an academic agreement with the Palace Museum (People’s Republic of China).

We collect, digitize, and store information on all research activities conducted at the Museum, including core, joint, and individual research projects, as well as other research projects funded by external funds, such as Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research. We also compiled a 2009 annual research report.

The Museum has conducted a number of research projects over the years. Recent social demands, however, increasingly require us to make this research more accessible so as to share it for the benefit of society at large. To this end, we established the Promotion of the Research Forum Program in 2002 and the following year expanded the program to position it as integral part of the Research Dissemination Program. Through these efforts, we intend to publish the results of core, joint, and individual research conducted within the Museum through symposiums, research forums, and academic meetings. In 2008, under the Research Dissemination Program, two symposiums and four research forums were conducted, and seven staff members presented their research at overseas research meetings. We also held an academic lecture in Osaka and another in Tokyo to share results and to add leverage to the Museum’s research for the benefit of society at large.