KU-EPOCJ Kick off Symposium - The Fourth Annual Conference the Forum for Leaders of Japanese Studies was held

KU-EPOCJ Kick off Symposium - The Fourth Annual Conference the Forum for Leaders of Japanese Studies co-organized by KU-EPOCJ, the Center for Asian Academic Collaboration and the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) was held on September 23, 2016.

Moderated by Professor YUI Kiyomitsu (Adviser to the President in Charge of International Collaboration), Professor INOUE Noriyuki (Executive Vice President in Charge of International Collaboration, Director of the Institute for Promoting International Partnerships) made the opening speech. Following this, the overview and the vision for the Kobe University Educational Program on Current Japan (KU-EPOCJ) was introduced by Professor YUI.

As the keynote speech, Professor BEN-ARI Eyal (Director of the Kinneret Center on Peace, Security and Society, Kinneret Academic College) presented a speech titled “Japanese Studies in Comparative Perspective: How are Area/Regional Studies Constructed?”.

After this speech the Fourth Annual Conference the Forum for Leaders of Japanese Studies began, moderated by Professor OGATA Yasushi (Director of the Center of Asian Academic Collaboration). This conference was organized into three breakout sessions on “Japanese Studies as Public Goods” presented by six leading researchers in Japanese studies from major Asian universities.

Finally, a roundtable by eight researchers from KU-EPOCJ, the Forum for Leaders of Japanese Studies and EAJS was held on the theme of “Japanese Studies as Public Goods” moderated by Professor SEKINE Yuki (Graduate School of Law, Kobe University). Participants showed a keen interest in this topic and actively engaged in the question and answer sessions.

The Kobe University Educational Program on Current Japan is an English-taught course and is open to exchange students at both undergraduate and graduate (Master's) levels. This course focuses on current issues in Japan covering a broad range of disciplines, including social sciences, humanities, and cross-disciplinary areas related to natural sciences. This English-taught program can be combined with students' own special field at each Faculty and Japanese language classes at the Kobe University Center for International Education. Certification will be provided based on credit acquisition. The program was newly established in April 2016 and officially begins its courses in October 2016.

(Program Coordination Section, International Exchange Division)