On October 8, 2016, the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) concluded a Basic Partnership Agreement with the Japan Foundation (JF)’s Japan Cultural Institute in Paris.
Since its establishment, JF’s Paris Institute has played an important role in disseminating information about Japanese culture throughout Europe from its home ground in Paris. Partnering with this Institute will give NIHU the opportunity to establish a base in Europe for communicating its work in Japanese studies to an international audience. NIHU will also promote Japanese cultural exchanges with the Institute by making NIHU’s resources on Japanese studies available, sending scholars to the Institute in Paris, and other activities.
A signing ceremony held at the Japan Cultural Institute in Paris was attended by Institute Director, Tsutomu Sugiura, and Vice Director, Tomoaki Shimane, and other staff of the Institute. In the afternoon, NIHU and the Institute co-hosted a kick-off symposium, titled “Wisdom in the Face of Current Crises.” There were about 100 participants attending the symposium and the participants listened intently to presentations about the latest findings in Japanese studies.
The partnership between the two organizations is expected to facilitate a variety of activities that promote the understanding of Japanese studies in Europe. Examples of such activities are organizing symposiums and exhibitions that make use of NIHU’s research resources, and establishing a NIHU Corner in the Institute in Paris with a bookshelf containing NIHU guidebooks and other publications. These activities already have concrete plans underway.