About us
Our Institute is working towards establishing an organisational framework to promote teaching excellence, innovative research, and cultural activities, with the aim of putting the University of Central Lancashire on the map of internationally recognised centres for Japanese Studies. We have around 30 partner universities in Japan and are located in the North West of England as a Hub for Japanese Studies events.
The Institute for Japanese Studies (IJS) is part of the Institute for the Study of the Asia Pacific (ISAP) which unites all Asia Pacific research institutes at the UCLan.
Scholarships
We support and encourage our students to apply for postgraduate scholarships such as:
- Japanese Government (MEXT) Postgraduate Studentship
- DAIWA Scholarship in Japanese Studies
- Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Postgraduate Studentship in Japanese Studies.
Please visit our ISAP Page for a full list of scholarship and research opportunities.
Exchange
With around 30 partner universities from Hokkaido to Okinawa, our students have the opportunity to spend up to a year abroad during their undergraduate degree.
We are also proud to announce our partnership with Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS), which offers our students the incredible opportunity to obtain a second degree while studying in Japan.
Research
The research expertise of our staff ranges from language and linguistics to culture, history and anthropology. Our current research projects include:
• Dr Mareike Hamann: “Trade and cultural exchange links between North England and Japan.”
• Dr Chisa Matsukawa: “Testing the waters?: A contrastive pragmatics study of invitations in British English and Japanese.”
• Dr Chisa Matsukawa and Dr Mareike Hamann: “Onomatopoeic expressions in formal speech situations from a cross-cultural perspective.”
News and events
2021 UCLan APS Scholarship Discussion
The Asia Pacific Institutes under ISAP joined the 2021 UCLan APS Scholarship Discussion on the 17 February to discuss what scholarships, study abroad opportunities and work placements are available to students of UCLan.
Join us on the 17th February 2021 for our UCLan API Scholarship Discussion. In this you will hear from funders and previous recipients of scholarships, study abroad opportunities and work placements available to students of UCLan. Co-director of IJS and Lecturer in Japanese, Dr Mareike Hamann and Senior Lecturer in Japanese, Dr Robert Kasza spoke on the Japanese Government Scholarship (MEXT) and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Postgraduate Studentships.
The Institute for the Study of the Asia Pacific Amabie
Ms Amie Kirk, Affiliate Research Fellow at the Institute of Japanese Studies (IJS) within the Institute for the Study of the Asia Pacific (ISAP) designed and produced an Amabie illustration for ISAP.
Amabie is a Japanese Yokai which can stave off the disease through illustration of its image. Amabie was featured in a kawara-ban newspaper of the Edo era, and prophesized ‘Good harvest will continue for six years from the current year; if an epidemic ever spreads, draw a picture of me and show it to everyone’.
A chimeric being from Kyushu, Japan: Amabie's revival during Covid-19
On 20 January 2021, the Institute for Japanese Studies welcomed a guest talk with Dr Claudia Merli, 'A chimeric being from Kyushu, Japan: Amabie's revival during Covid-19'. The talk explored how the resurgence of Amabie, a Japanese Yokai, from the Japanese history of disasters and epidemics intersects with some central ecological and political discourses in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. Especially those associated with culinary practices, human rights and relations with other historical epidemics.