National Diet Library Newsletter
No. 159, February 2008
Japan specialist Dr. Steinhoff gave a lecture at NDL
"Japanese Studies in the U.S.: Past, Present and Future"
Dr. Patricia Steinhoff at lecture
On November 30, 2007, Dr. Patricia Steinhoff, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, was invited to the NDL to give a lecture. She has been playing an active role in the field of research on Japanese society for years. Joining the project of the Japan Foundation, she has conducted a survey on specialists and institutions on Japanese studies in North America.
Based on *the survey results and her experiences, she analyzed historical and social changes and present state of Japanese studies in North America. She also spoke of the future prospects and hopes for the NDL and other institutions which provide helpful information for Japanese studies. The following is a summary of her talk.
"Japanese Studies in the U.S.: Past, Present and Future"
Trends of Japanese studies in postwar U.S.
There are three academic paradigms in Japanese studies in postwar U.S.: (1) Language and Area Studies paradigm, (2) Politic and Economic Competition paradigm after the ’80s, and (3) Cultural Studies paradigm. These three paradigms were born in different epochs with the transition of the U.S interest in Japan.
Language and Area Studies paradigm
This paradigm is based on a part of the U.S. program for foreign affairs and national defense policies in the ’50s and ’60s under the Cold-War structure. In this program, while people learned foreign languages which had rarely been taught before, they also carried interdisciplinary research on the areas where those languages were spoken.
Politic and Economic Competition paradigm
This paradigm was born from economic competitions after the ’80s. People began to pay more and more attention to the economic usefulness of Japanese language and studies. Accordingly practical Japan specialists with knowledge of the business field were produced.
Cultural Studies paradigm
This paradigm is new and became popular after 2000. Specialists here show interest in the humanities and Japanese culture. They study phenomena such as Manga , Anime and games.
Japan Foundation survey
This survey was conducted in 2005 as the third survey by the Japan Foundation following those in 1989 and 1995. This time, the number of specialists and research institutions on Japan had decreased compared with the peak in the ’90s. The major causes of the decrease are as follows: retirement of the first-generation specialists, outflow of practical specialists increased in the Politic and Economic Competition paradigm age and culling of Japanese study programs with problems. However, committed specialists are still working and the number of students with Japanese language skills is increasing. The scale of institutions continuing Japanese studies is expanding and they offer more programs.
Information technology has a great impact on research materials. More than 40% of specialists are using online materials. On the other hand, we can say the significance of libraries which provide information on Japan is still highly recognized because three-quarters of specialists are using the collections of their institutions and other bodies.
IT progress, globalization and libraries’ roles
The most important external change brought about by the IT revolution is that we can access information from anywhere. This is a big change not only for specialists in the U.S. but also for those in the rest of the world. However, when they use new information resources, library specialists’ expertise remains helpful. Librarians are taking more important roles as information specialists.
The needs for materials vary depending on the paradigm. For example, grey literature is needed in the Politic and Economic Competition paradigm while mass magazines, pamphlets and other ephemeral materials are needed in the Cultural Studies paradigm.
It is impossible for libraries to cover all the materials demanded by specialists and they do not expect that, either. Specialists want libraries to understand the changing paradigms and to provide information to obtain materials for new fields of research.
Dr. Steinhoff’s presentation file will be available on the International Cooperation page of the NDL website.
* The research result is included in Directory of Japan Specialists and Japanese Studies Institutions in the United States and Canada: Japanese Studies in the United States. The Japan Foundation, 2007 and Japanese studies in the United States and Canada: continuities and opportunities. The Japan Foundation, 2007.