It is my distinct pleasure to assume the post of Center Director from October 1st, 2024. It has already been one year since the Center’s inception, and organizational work continues to progress as we welcome our new full-time and cross-appointed faculty members.

At our Center, we have maintained a focus on broad-based interdisciplinary research while striving to deepen the basic fields representative of Japanese Studies, particularly those focused on Japanese society, politics, economy, history, culture, and language. By doing so, we establish a position for Japanese studies that finds universal significance throughout the world for Japan’s uniqueness and create new value for the field. It is our objective to create an ‘integrated Japanese studies’ by incorporating two types of ‘integration’: one bringing together different research methodologies, and one integrating a humanities- and social sciences-based approach with data-driven science.

The foundations of this initiative are the Hasekura League, an international academic network formed in October of 2015, and the Tohoku University Digital Archives, which was opened to the public in April 2024. The Hasekura League is a Japanese Studies network that connects Tohoku University with other associated universities, currently totaling 30 member institutions in more than 18 countries, mainly in Europe and North America. The League hosts a general symposium each year, as well as facilitating and overseeing the exchange of students, academic staff members, and academic skills and knowledge. The Tohoku University Digital Archive is a digital database that matches international standards and hosts digital information on the university’s proud academic resources, including two items designated as National Treasures, and disseminates it to the world. Through the use of our university’s worldwide Japan studies network and our large-scale digital archive, we aim to establish ‘integrated Japanese studies’ and go on to bring about innovation in the fields of humanities and social sciences.

In a world that grows ever more uncertain, we at the Center hope, through these activities, to engage in the co-creation of international value and work toward a prosperous future for humanity. But the work of this Center has just begun. We humbly ask all of you, both in Japan and overseas and inside and outside the university for support and guidance.