Institute for Japanese Studies at Seoul National University

IJS at SNU sketches out the future of humanity through the investigation of Japan’s past and the present. We will continue our research efforts, not only on Japan but above all on all humanity, until we reach the goal of constructing the “global base for the research on the life world of contemporary Japan” that the world recognizes. IJS has launched the Japanese Area Studies that contributes to the fulfillment of the communality and human dignity.IJS at SNU, with the participation and cooperation by many, has searched for the vision as a research organization and has constructed the structure that would enable us to carry out such goal. In 2008, IJS was selected as an Overseas Area Studies Organization for Humanities Korea (HK) by Korea Research Foundation under the designated agenda of .We have been blessed with the opportunity to create a new framework of area studies with a long-term vision. Today we have Japanese specialists including both HK professors and the research professors, who participate in the collaborative research projects from in and outside of the university. Also, a number of graduate students in a variety of fields of interest within the Japanese Studies participate in the HK projects, as the next generation that will assume future academia.
We are currently pursuing our researches through following methods: (1) focus on the contemporary Japanese society as the main research objective as we value the understandings in historical and ideological contexts; (2) theorization and universalization of the research outcomes as we invest in the experimental researches; (3) to capture in details the structural changes on macro-level as well as the dynamics of subjective actions within the specific venue of “life”; (4) to widen the global and regional context as we aim for the synthetic and profound researches on Japan.IJS promotes a variety of academic exchanges, and has launched the Japanese Studies that contributes to the fulfillment of the communality and human dignity that transcends national interests.