Written by Dr Nozomi Uematsu, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, School of East Asian Studies Originally published in The Conversation. Read the original article here As a lecturer in Japanese studies, the first questions I ask my students is “What sort of images come to mind when you think of Japan?”. The answers usually include advanced technologies, red…
Written by Christoph Schimkowsky and Dorothy Finan We are two PhD students at the School of East Asian Studies, and in this blog post we will be taking you through some advice on getting in touch with Japanese companies and organisations for research purposes. Both of us found that we didn’t really know where to…
Written by Sarah Parsons, University Teacher in The School of East Asian Studies The recently signed UK Japan CEPA was the UK’s first post-Brexit trade agreement, which, according to the British Government website, will increase trade with Japan by an estimated £15.2 billion, deliver a £1.5 billion boost to the UK economy and increase UK…
By Hannah Hyun Kyong Chang, Lecturer in Korean Studies, University of Sheffield Today, South Korea is associated with a global explosion in musical creativity from K-Pop artists and others. But for most of its recent history, South Korean governments have kept a tight watch on what could be performed and broadcast. We might be surprised…
Hiroaki Richard Watanabe, University of Sheffield The number of deaths and infections from the global coronavirus pandemic is now larger outside China, where the outbreak began, than inside the country. Italy, Iran and South Korea, China’s neighbour, have been among the countries worst hit by the virus. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Japan…
Article by: Georgia Thomas-Parr PhD Candidate in the School of East Asian Studies The Festival of Social Science is a nationwide event which offers researchers the opportunity to present their research to the public in the format that they wish. Last year’s festival (November 2019) saw the hosting of an exhibition titled, ‘The Secret World…
The School of East Asian Studies was pleased to hold a launch on 10 December 2019 to mark the publication of a new book by Dr Thomas McAuley, The Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds: A Translation and Commentary (2 vols) (Brill, 2020). Dating from 1192-93, the contest, known in Japanese as Roppyakuban uta’awase, contains…
Incremental or Transformational Adaptation to Sea Level Rise? This blog article is a summary of research recently published by The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. To view this research online: Matanle, P., Littler, J. & Slay, O. (2019) Imagining Disasters in the Era of Climate Change: Is Japan’s Seawall a New Maginot Line? The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan…
Dr. Sarah A. Son and Dr. Markus Bell First published in The Diplomat In North Korea, the remains of the executed are not returned to families, leaving no chance for post-death rituals. North Koreans stand together for a portrait next to family member’s grave at a cemetery as they observe Chuseok, the traditional Korean harvest…
By Markus Bell and Geoffrey Fattig First published in NKnews Demanding complete denuclearization has long been a diplomatic dead-end Three months after the breakdown of the Hanoi Summit, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has tested the waters of acquiescence by conducting two rounds of missile tests. In the past, a new…
Written by Dr Thomas McAuley, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, university of Sheffield At about 11:40 a.m. (Japan time) yesterday morning – 1st April 2019 – Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga revealed what has been, perhaps, the most closely guarded secret in Japan over the past several months: the new era name (gengō 元号) under which…
By Dorothy Finan and Chris Schimkowsky PhD students at the University of Sheffield The complexity of urban environments forces researchers to make use of more practical, experiential techniques. How, then, can we, as researchers apply such techniques to better explore urban spaces in contemporary East Asia? A recent workshop by the East Asian Text and…
Written by Jinsik Kim Translated by Corliss Luong (4th Year Korean Studies Student) In the pre-modern era when scientific development was limited, Shamanism governed Korean society. Modern science reveals that past methods were not necessarily unscientific, as they had their own benefits. However, it’s clear that the knowledge and awareness of pre-modern people were very…
Written by Dr Jamie Coates Japan is not usually seen as a place with a high number of migrants, yet new non-Japanese communities are emerging in urban centres, with some areas of Tokyo showing levels of diversity like those found in so-called immigration countries such as the UK and the USA. My recent research film…
By Dr Nicolas Tranter, Lecturer in Japanese Studies As the UK struggles through interminable Brexit woes, Donald Trump’s America threatens global concord on fighting climate change, and authoritarianism is on the rise around the world, spare a thought for Japan. It has not been the best of years there, marked by various natural disasters. So,…
