Japanese Studies

About Us

Our teaching is research-led, drawing from staff expertise including anthropology, art history, business, cultural studies, economics, gender studies, history, literature, politics, and sound studies. Academic staff also contribute their research to collaborative projects within and outside the university, working with schools, cinemas, literary festivals, media, international organisations and companies to enhance understanding of the region and expand opportunities for students.

Research Expertise

Our research covers a wide range of disciplines and topics.  We have a number of specialists in visual arts, culture, and literature. Jennifer Coates’ examines Japanese cinema, media, and architecture. Kate Taylor-Jones conducts research on gender and Japanese screen industries. Martyn Smith studies sound and the history of technology in Japan and East Asia. Nozomi Uematsu looks at comparative women’s literature. Thomas McAuley is an expert on premodern Japanese poetry (waka).

Japanese Studies experts at Sheffield also research the experiences of everyday life in Japan. Jamie Coates conducts ethnographies of migration to and from Japan. Mark Pendleton researches memory, history, and queer cultures. Anna-Viktoria Vittinghoff examines feminism, disability and reproductive justice in Japan. Anna Vainio  does work on rural life and disaster recovery.

We also have a strong specialism in Japanese politics and business. Hugo Dobson is an expert on Japan’s international relations. Saori Shibata studies the changing nature of work in Japan’s digital economy. Zoe Zhu works on Japanese multinationals’ policies and workplace behaviours. Fumihito Gotoh examines finance, technology, and economic security in Japan. Karin Narita researches conservative ideologies and Japanese politics.

Research Projects

Japanese Studies researchers at the University of Sheffield lead and collaborate on a diverse array of research projects, both nationally and internationally, and many have won prestigious grants and funding for their projects. These include:

• Women’s Screen Work: Creativity, Care, and Gender in Women’s Screen Work explores the lives of female ‘below the line’ workers in film and media industries in Japan, Hong Kong, and Thailand, funded by the Leverhulme Trust.
• Relational Creativities in East Asia is an international network of researchers working on the creative practices of groups of people, broadly defined, across Japan, China, and South Korea, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
• ‘Japaneseness’ in the UK Built Environment traces the impacts of Japanese arts and cultures on the UK environment, and interrogates ideas about ‘Japaneseness,’ funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).
• Digitalisation and Gender Equality: Lessons from Japan examines the gender implications of digital policy in the case of Japan, where policymakers have sought to harness digitalisation as a tool of gender inclusion but in the context of high levels of gender inequality.
• Prime Ministerial Leadership in Japan and the UK explores the changing nature and role of UK and Japanese prime ministers since the turn of the millennium in light of the global financial crisis, domestic political and economic problems, and rising traditional and non-traditional security threats.
• New Directions in Coal Mining History and Heritage in Japan and the UK has built on existing contacts between researchers of transnational mining history and heritage research in Japan and the UK to develop long-term, sustainable research collaboration.

Staff researching Japan also regularly participate in and have taken leadership roles in academic associations and organisations focused on Japanese Studies including the following:

• British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS) 
• European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) 
• Association for Asian Studies (AAS) 
• Japan Foundation (JF)
• The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
• Japan-British Society

We are also home to the University of Sheffield/Routledge Japanese Studies Series.

Japan on campus

Japanese Studies is well represented on Sheffield’s campus, from our vibrant Japan Society to our regular workshops which bring graduate students from around the UK to our Sheffield campus. Japan Day is held every year in the Spring. We regularly host world-leading international scholars of Japan for research talks and seminars, which complement the rich resources on Japan available at the University Library and online, managed by a dedicated East Asian Studies Librarian. In 2021, sixty cherry blossom trees were planted on campus with funding from the Japan-British Society.