Research Overview

Our research focuses on modern Japan in a global context. We decide our research agenda independently, with the support of our Academic Advisory Council. Our portfolio of research projects reflects the disciplinary background and interests of our senior researchers and changes together with the composition of our team.

Our research programme Risks and Opportunities in Japan – Challenges in the Face of an Increasingly Uncertain Future is implemented through three institute-wide research foci studying the Future of Local Communities, Digital Transformation in Japan, and Methods and Methodologies. Special projects on the Tokyo Olympics and on the impact of COVID-19 as well as various individual projects conducted outside of the three research foci complement the programme.

In addition, the DIJ has incorporated Japan’s transnational and transregional connections into its research focus. Japan in transregional perspective is reflected in two multi-institutional research collaborations on Borders, Mobility and New Infrastructures and Interaction and Knowledge in the Pacific Region: Entanglements and Disentanglements as well as in several individual research projects that study Japan within a regional and global context.