News

Saturday 26 December 2020

13th Conference of the Japanese Studies Association

 
Тhe 13th Annual Conference of the Japanese Studies Association was held online on December 25th, 2020. Оne of the co-organizers of the Conference was the Center for Japanese Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences).

The conference was attended by scholars of the Japanese culture from the various cities of Russia, including St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Vladivostok, as well as representatives of the Japanese studies community living and working in Japan.

D.V. Streltsov, the Chairman of the Japanese Studies Association, noted in his opening remark that despite the pandemia, the Association had not stopped its publication activities during the year. 

The following works were published under the Association auspices: the journals "Japanese Studies" and “Тhe Russian Japanology Review”, an annual “Japan”, and two collective monographs "Japan in Retrospect of the Change of Generations" and "Japan in the Era of Great Transformations". The open online lecture hall continued working during pandemia. Several scientific forums in the field of Japanese studies were held with the active participation of the Аssociation.

Mr. Toyohisa Kozuki, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Russia, greeted the conference participants. He appreciated the work of the Japanese Studies Association highly. Тhen he, in particular, noted that the awarding of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government this year to four Russian scholars of the Japanese culture, was not only recognition of their personal contribution to the development of the Japanese studies, but also the acknowledgement of the Association significant role in the study of Japan and the popularization of scientific Japanese studies in Russia. Previously these scholars held the posts of the Association chairmen. 

The following people gave speeches at the plenary session:  L.T. Nechayeva, the Chairperson of the Teachers Association, A.N. Panov, the Head of the Department of Diplomacy of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, as well as K.O. Sarkisov, A.N. Meshcheryakov, and I.P. Lebedeva, the former chairmen of the Association, who were honored  by the high award of the Japanese government.