APSI joins prestigious Consortium for Global Japanese Studies

Since 1981, APSI has been the focal point of research and teaching on the Asia Pacific region at Duke University, supporting a dynamic group of faculty and students with a broad range of interdisciplinary expertise in the humanities, social sciences and medicine who take scholarly interest in the countries, cultures, and people of East and Southeast Asia. Fostering inter-institutional cooperation is one way in which APSI is able to support scholars of Asia at Duke; to advance this goal, in 2025, APSI became a full international member of the prestigious Consortium for Global Japanese Studies.

The Consortium for Global Japanese Studies is an initiative of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (“Nichibunken”; in Japanese: 国際日本文化研究センター, Kokusai Nihon Bunka Kenkyū Sentā), which itself is among Japan’s premiere research centers, providing a centralized site for the study of Japan among international scholars and encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to collaboration. 

Simon Partner, a professor of history at Duke, conducted a one-year fellowship at Nichibunken (unexpectedly extended to a second year due to Covid) while he was conducting research associated with his 2023 book, Koume’s World: The Life and Work of a Samurai Woman Before and After the Meiji Restoration. He noted that it is a richly rewarding environment for research and collaboration, and for the right scholar, the institute can offer support at every stage of their career. 

In addition to hosting several new visiting researchers annually, the Center also offers opportunities for public conferences and symposia for presenting ongoing research, publishes several peer-reviewed journals, and offers excellent bibliographic support through its collections held within its library. Nichibunken has a stellar library and outstanding librarians, and Partner see potential for deeper ties between the Duke library system, with its outstanding collection of digital and physical materials on Japan, and the libraries at the institute. 

The consortium’s periodic conferences are usually held online, so scholars of Japan at Duke will have the potential to engage with consortium members globally. The hope is that these connections will lead to new ties with scholars at institutions in parts of the world where Duke has not had a strong legacy of engagement.

Nichibunken offers generous fellowships for both faculty and graduate students, and APSI will certainly benefit from building deeper ties that may result in more scholars from Duke, including graduate students and PhD candidates, spending fellowship time there. Researchers who are accepted as fellows should expect a rich and concentrated research tenure with opportunities for additional networking with both Japanese and international scholars. Nestled at the edge of the forested outskirts of Kyoto, the Center provides easy access to the historic city.

_{Matthew Hayes and Simon Partner generously contributed to this article.}