Restructuring of "Japan in the World"
In and after the Meiji era, Japan learned much from other countries in order to catch up to Western Europe. We encountered some hardships in that process, and Japan came to be on a par with the developed western countries by the end of the 20th century in various areas including economic strength, production ability, and technological ability. Japan had even surpassed those countries in some areas. There has been increased interest recently in how Japanese people think about the world and the traditional culture and modern culture behind those ways of thinking as people wonder why Japan could leap to such a leading position in the world in such a short time. "Cool Japan" is a typical example of this.
Turning our attention to future developments, however, we see that emerging markets, particularly countries neighboring Japan in Asia, are developing their economies rapidly. At the same time, Japan has become a society with a declining population, something never-before experienced, due to the simultaneous aging of the population and decline in birth rates. This will cause a variety of effects on the social systems and sense of value that are predicated on previous soaring growth. Moreover, due to the progress of globalization, the world’s relationships of mutual dependence have become closer.
Given this context, we ourselves must reaffirm the place of Japan, "Japan in the world," from an international perspective. Moreover, we must advance exchanges with other countries in a variety of fields and actively build relationships of mutual dependence. The Graduate School of Global Japanese Studies is engaged in research based on precisely this awareness of the issues. Specifically, this graduate school focuses on deeply understanding the diverse cultures and social systems of the world as well as understanding Japan. Furthermore, we build on these understandings to engage in research on methods for precisely expressing and communicating our own intentions through language and a variety of media.
Dean, Graduate School of Global Japanese Studies
Doctor of Engineering
HASEGAWA, Fumio
