In this panel, representatives of Japanese Studies regional networks around the world will share their means and insights in order to encourage and support junior scholars and researchers. The discussion that ensues should focus on how those networks can collectively maximize opportunities for career development across regions and disciplines.
Moderator
Professor Tsutomu Tomotsune is Director of the International Center for Japanese Studies, Institute of Japan Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. His research fields are area studies and the history of thought. He specializes in Japanese intellectual history, the modern history of buraku, and religion and traditional performances. He hosted the annual conference of the East Asian Consortium of Japanese Studies at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 2023, with the aim of providing a forum for scholars in East Asia and other countries to discuss Japanese studies, and to contribute to the development of Japanese studies and international exchange among Japanese-studies scholars
Panelist
Professor Andrej Bekeš was born in Celje, Slovenia. He holds a Master’s in Japanese linguistics (Osaka University of Foreign Studies, 1981), and a PhD in linguistics (University of Tsukuba, 1986). After researching and teaching in Slovenia and Japan (1986-95), founded Japanese Studies at the University of Ljubljana (1995), was Professor there. He taught as a Professor at the University of Tsukuba (2010-13) and served as president of the EAJS (2017-20). He is interested in Japanese linguistics and the didactics of Japanese, and his main publications include: Tekusuto to shintakusu (Text and syntax, 1987), Text and Boundary (2008).
He was decorated with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette (2008), and received Japan Foundation Award (2017).
Kitti Prasirtsuk (Ph.D. UC Berkeley; M.A. Keio) is Professor of Political Science at Thammasat University and a steering committee at the Japanese Studies Association of Southeast Asia (JSA-ASEAN). His writings include Japan-Southeast Asia relations, soft power, US-Thai security alliance, and ASEAN. He is a non-resident fellow at the Center on Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California, and serves as editorial board of Global Studies Quarterly. His work experiences include Vice Rector (International Affairs) and Director at the Institute of East Studies at Thammasat University. Kitti is taking up a JF fellowship, researching on “local/regional revitalization” in Japan for a year.
Associate Professor Thang Leng Leng is a socio-cultural anthropologist with the Department of Japanese Studies at the National University of Singapore. She is the former head of the department, and is actively involved with the development of Japanese Studies in Southeast Asia. She obtained a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has research interests in aging, intergenerational approaches, family, migration, and gender. She has numerous publications in these areas, with recent publications on Japan including themes such as Japanese women’s engagements in Southeast Asia, community support of aging in Japan’s neighborhoods, and active aging among older Japanese.
This Panel is organized by the Japan Foundation
