What’s New

Global Classmates is an online cultural and language exchange program that connects high school students in Japan and the United States. The program is administered by Kizuna Across Cultures (KAC), a non-profit co-founded by Ayako Smethurst, who also serves as its Executive Director. Under her leadership, Global Classmates nurtures globally-minded youth through bilingual dialogue and cross-cultural collaboration. In this article, Ayako reflects on the program’s mission, origins and growth, joined by insights from teachers and students who have taken part.

Interview by Louise George Kittaka

Hosted by the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Vienna, the u:japan lectures series has grown from its pandemic origins as a web-based event into one of the most highly regarded and robust hybrid forums for scholarly dialogue and exchange in the field of Japan Studies. Japan-Insights spoke with its advisor, professor Wolfram Manzenreiter, under whose leadership the project has logged ten consecutive seasons and well over 100 lectures since 2020, offering viewers everywhere a window onto the latest research findings of scholars from around the world, while also serving to groom the next generation of Japan specialists. Plans are now underway to curate the growing database of presentations into themed modules accessible to all for teaching and learning purposes.

Interview by Susan Rogers Chikuba

With 2.8 million objects held in collections that span 5,000 years of human creativity, the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London draws on a wealth of resources to promote enjoyment of the designed world. Indeed, this has been the institution’s mission since its founding in 1852. Ahead of the fortieth anniversary of the museum’s Toshiba Gallery of Japanese Art in 2026, Japan-Insights sat down with Anna Jackson, Keeper of the Asia Department at V&A, to talk about the museum’s renowned holdings of Asian art and design, and some of the innovative projects through which curators and conservators have presented Japan’s cultural creativity in decidedly fresh and relevant ways.

Interview by Susan Rogers Chikuba

Academia isn’t just about what happens within the confines of universities; it’s also about exploring real-life issues and understanding society. Many scholars aim to connect their studies to the wider world, hoping to make a positive impact beyond their own institution and around the globe. A case in point is Professor Jung Byeong Ho, the Director of the Global Institute for Japanese Studies at Korea University, a private institution in Seoul, and a Japanese literature specialist in the University’s Department of Japanese Language and Literature.

Interview by Louise George Kittaka

Art and music are frequently used as mediums of intercultural exchange, but for a group of students studying design in Malaysia, it was furniture making that has leads to new perspectives—for their final projects at university and perhaps in their future careers. Supported by the Toshiba International Foundation, the students and their teachers visited Japan in 2023 to learn more about traditional Japanese woodworking techniques. Dr. Wan Noor Faaziah Wan Omar is a faculty member in the Department of Industrial Design at the Kedah campus of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) in Malaysia. She shares her reflections on the trip and tells Japan-Insights about how this experience has benefitted both staff and students.

Interview by Louise George Kittaka

Japan-Insights met in Tokyo recently with Dr. Sébastien Lechevalier, a labor economist and professor whose work addresses innovation, institutional change, and public policy. As president of a foundation that promotes scholarly exchange between France and Japan, he also leads INNOVCARE, a multidisciplinary initiative supported by TIFO that aims to put well-being at the center of technological innovation, particularly in the field of eldercare. The project has grown to involve 60 individuals from 18 member institutions, seven of which are in Japan. Now in its third year, it is entering a new phase where the research being done may eventually inform national policy goals in France with regard to the long-term care of older adults.

Interview by Susan Rogers Chikuba

2023 marks 50 years of diplomatic relations between Japan and Vietnam, and the Department of Japanese Studies at Vietnam National University (VNU) in Hanoi has much to celebrate during this auspicious year. With ongoing support from TIFO, the department—part of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at VNU—has just launched Vietnam’s inaugural graduate programs in Japanese Studies, while also making significant progress in building an integrated international network with other academic institutions. Dr. Le Thi Thu Giang, Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, spoke with Japan Insights about what these developments mean for Japanese Studies in Vietnam, as well for the Japan-Vietnam relationship.

Interview by Louise George Kittaka

As the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) readies to mark its fiftieth anniversary at its triennial conference to be held at Ghent University in Belgium this August, president Verena Blechinger-Talcott spoke with Japan-Insights about the globalization of Japan Studies, and how support of early-career scholars has proven to be pivotal in fostering comparative perspectives and strengthening intra-Asian and transnational connections.

Interview by Susan Rogers Chikuba

Tara McGowan, a Princeton, New Jersey-based Japan scholar and executive director of the North American Coordinating Council on Japanese Library Resources (NCC), met with Japan-Insights to talk about the council’s recent work, including livestreamed events and new website features supported by a TIFO grant that have helped to boost awareness of NCC’s many information services for the Japan Studies community.

Interview by Susan Rogers Chikuba

Music has the ability to unite us, transcending language, culture and time, and the work undertaken by Columbia University’s Institute for Japanese Cultural Heritage Initiatives in New York bears testimony to this power. Dr. Barbara Ruch is Director of the Institute, as well as Professor Emerita of Japanese Literature and Cultural History at Columbia University. Dr. Ruch shares her insights on the Institute’s Japanese heritage music initiative and how this music is finding new audiences around the world, supported by the Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO).

Interview by Louise George Kittaka

British archaeologist and Sainsbury Institute executive director Simon Kaner speaks with Japan-Insights about a robust Silk Roads curation project supported by TIFO.

Interview by Susan Rogers Chikuba