Related Activities

Professor Mark Williams

- President, British Association for Japanese Studies
- Member , Japan Foundation Endowment Committee
- Associate Research Fellow, Meiji Gakuin University

- Adjunct Professor of the East Asia Seminar, Freie Universitat Berlin
-Editor-in-Chief of the publication series Occasional Papers of the East Asia Institute, Freie Universitat Berlin

Japan Societies/Club Activities

The Department of East Asian Studies boasts a lively student body that participates enthusiastically in events organised by staff and students. There are two Japan-related student-run societies - the East Asian Research Society (EARS) and JapSoc. A variety of exciting events are run throughout the year, including seminars with guest speakers, film screenings, meals and sporting events.

Future Developments

National Institute of Japanese Studies

Programmes and syllabus

The kinds and number of modules on offer change in response to staff expertise and research interests and student needs, but the overall focus of Japanese studies at Leeds is on a combination of social science and humanities disciplines, as well as language teaching from ab initio to advanced. The University is committed to the development of Japanese studies and we are expecting to recruit about seventy students per annum in the mid-term. Under the NIJS, we will also be part of postgraduate training in (Advanced) Japanese Language and Studies. The joint programme with Sheffield will be taught using face-to-face interaction as well as by online learning technologies. The programme includes Japanese language training, training in knowledge of the country, and training in research methodology for students to conduct research in Japan . The budget plan for the Department is determined in consultation with the Faculty of Arts and, despite concerns occasionally expressed at the expense of intensive language provision, our success in establishing the NIJS means that our future is secure.

The longer term perspective for Japanese Studies (and of East Asian Studies in general) at the University of Leeds will remain within the context of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures. This enables us to plan our budget, as well our teaching provision and research direction, in the context of broader School-wide initiatives - and, in recent years, this has led, inter alia, to the introduction of modules on Japanese translation and interpreting (as part of our Centre for Translation Studies), on Japanese business (as part of our long-standing collaboration with the Leeds University Business School's Centre for International Business, University of Leeds (CIBUL)) and on Japanese Cinema (as part of our Centre for World Cinemas), etc.

Within the Department, the emphasis is on the study of Japan in its East Asian context - and, in this, courses draw on the considerable expertise available in Chinese Studies and in South East Asian Studies (the latter following the recent arrival of six posts arising out of the merger, in 2003, with the Centre for South East Asian Studies at the University of Hull). Staff expertise and research interests within the Japanese Section are equally split between the social sciences and the humanities, but in all cases, the emphasis is on the study of twentieth century and contemporary Japan . All students on our Japanese Studies degrees follow an intensive programme of study of the language, and all our graduates are expected to reach a level sufficient to make them eligible for the CIR status on the JET programme. (Indeed several of our recent graduates have secured 'ikkyu' level on the Japanese language proficiency test, and two recent graduates have won the annual Japanese language Speech contest).

Future student numbers are not easy to predict - but it is clear that, for the foreseeable future, there will remain a pool of students with an interest in the study of Japanese government, business and wider society, in addition to learning the language. Market analysis conducted by the University of Leeds indicates that Japanese applications are predicted to increase by 6% over the next 2-3 years.

The trend in the UK in area studies is for consolidation of the necessary provision at a small number of ‘Centres' and, as a core member of the newly established Centre of Excellence in Japanese Studies, the University of Leeds would envisage continuing to play an integral role in this process. To this end, we envisage strengthening our ties to our exchange partners in Japan (currently numbering 11 HEIs) with a view to greater cooperation on research projects, co-teaching, etc.

Problems

Although the increase in student numbers witnessed over the last few years, and predicted to continue in the short term at least, is to be welcomed, it has posed challenges in terms of staffing levels, especially with respect to Language Teaching Fellow staff. The Department of East Asian Studies has been able to increase the number of full-time Language Teaching Fellows from two to three in the last few years. Due to changes in our upper level language programme structure and expansion plans at MA level, we envisage the need for a further member of staff in the next year or two to ensure that we maintain our excellent pedagogical standards (for example, small group teaching is essential in language and something we are committed to). Funding for this is to be discussed at School level.