Presidential Message

Welcome to the EAJS! We are an association of scholars and researchers focusing on Japan. Japanese studies is now well established as a field of research and an academic discipline, but for many years researchers in Europe did their work in more or less splendid isolation, separated by linguistic or national barriers or by academic conventions and traditions. While this rich heritage of differences has been a source of constant stimulation and inspiration, we have strongly felt the need to form contacts and exchange information, and it was for that purpose that the European Association for Japanese Studies was formed in 1973. As an active member since the 1980s, I can affirm that the EAJS has had a very important impact on the academic and scholarly careers of many of us, for it opened new horizons by offering a new platform for international exchange at a time when there were far fewer chances than now to travel to Japan or to attend international conferences, and when the Internet and the information society were on the distant horizon.

The general aims of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) are stimulating interest in and encouraging research in Japanese studies in all the countries of Europe as well as USA and Japan, promoting the flow of information and communication in this particular field of studies through its triennial international conference, but also through symposia and workshops. Furthermore, the EAJS aims at a further increase of its membership. EAJS is open especially to the gradually developing Japanese studies community in Eastern Europe, and tries to integrate and support younger scholars in the field of Japanese studies. Bearing in mind European unification and increasing globalisation, EAJS wishes to strengthen its links to and its co-operation with the national associations for Japanese studies in Europe as well as organizations in Japan, rest of Asia and in the United States. In addition to its scholarly purposes, the EAJS also acts as the representative of European researchers on Japan to safeguard their interests vis-a-vis transnational organizations and their bodies responsible for the funding and direction of research at a European level.

The EAJS also encourages and, whenever possible, supports the formation of national associations for Japanese Studies, most of which were formed much later than EAJS itself, acknowledging that there are purposes, scholarly and political, which can better be served within the smaller unit of a national association.

At the same time, however, the EAJS has been sympathetic to the formation of discipline-oriented sub-groups, which often hold their meetings in conjunction with EAJS conferences. We obviously need both - a trans-disciplinary dialogue for which the EAJS forms an ideal platform, and a deepening of discussions within the discipline, for which the individual conference sections supply a very suitable basis.

The further aim of the EAJS is to help to provide a response to the need to formulate language policies to promote the language-education of Japanese in a stronger manner. This activity is being organized in analysis of current language education policies in Europe and networking with European and Japanese Institutions for the implementation of the Common European Framework not only inside language education (AJE) but also in other education contexts as intercultural education.

With the support of the Japan Foundation, the EAJS set up a PhD database on the internet in 2000. The database is accessible online. Its aim is to achieve an early and comprehensive Europe-wide exchange of information on PhD research topics and PhD publications. The database will also help to bring students working on related topics in contact with each other. In the ideal case, such contacts are then further deepened at EAJS conferences or PhD workshops.

As we feel that it is in the interest of all scholars working on Japan, we have recently made an effort to intensify networking and have come to an arrangement of joint membership with the Association for Asian Studies. I am convinced that this will help to link up European scholarship with our colleagues across the Atlantic and beyond.

The EAJS issues a triannual Bulletin.

Our international conferences are a good chance to meet colleagues from all over Europe and the rest of the world, and I cordially invite you to take part in them and get to know the activities of the EAJS from a close distance.

Viktoria Eschbach-Szabo, EAJS President
Tübingen, Germany