No.013 - Interview Series『Robert Campbell Director-General, National Institute of Japanese Literature』
Interview Series
Robert Campbell
Director-General, National Institute of Japanese Literature
In April 2017 the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL) welcomed Robert Campbell as its new director-general. He succeeds Yūichiro Imanishi who served as director general for eight years from 2009 until his retirement in 2016. The ten-year “Project to Build an International Collaborative Research Network for Pre-modern Japanese Texts” that commenced in 2014 is well on track as we eagerly anticipate the results.
Narifumi Tachimoto, president of the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) asked the new director-general about his plans for meeting NIJL’s domestic and international expectations amidst the current situation of severe financial constraints.
Interviewer:
Narifumi Tachimoto
President, National Institutes for the Humanities
１．NIJL’s Future Mission and Standards for Performance Evaluations
(Tachimoto) In the monthly magazine, “Gekkan Ecoutezbien” （http://ecoutez.exblog.jp/26799875/), I read an article about the discovery of the “Mario Marega Collection” in the Salesian University library (※1) and learned more about your deep relationship with NIJL. I am delighted that you’ve assumed the position of director-general.
First and foremost, from your viewpoint as the new director-general, I would like to ask you about your thoughts on the institute’s mission, the vital pillar of the NIJL, as well as about measures for performance evaluations; secondly, about globalization of the NIHU and its six constituent institutes, including NIJL; thirdly, about your vision for the way forward for the inter-university research institutes.
(Campbell) Thank you very much. Regarding my relationship with NIJL, during my tenure at Kyushu University, I had the opportunity to partake in NIJL’s research and collection initiative (http://www.nijl.ac.jp/index_e.html). Then in 1995, I joined the NIJL where I was assistant professor for five years before relocating to the University of Tokyo. So this is like coming home to my old haunt.
Records of Japanese literature need to be converted into materials and resources that can be used for research, such that it can be regarded as data, as we do at NIJL. In other words, NIJL is the only institution worldwide that collects and investigates original written records created by previous generations as specimens for research.
(Tachimoto) I see. So NIJL’s mission after the Second World War to become the first archive to collect materials that were in danger of being scattered was very fortunate.
(Campbell) I believe our predecessors probably had a sense of urgency during the War, and thus began preparing for this sort of archiving in the 1960s. Compared to other Northeast Asian countries, for historical and cultural reasons, Japan had a considerable amount of documents preserved on paper. So as soon as the war ended, Japan started to collect documents that had escaped human and natural calamities.
In looking back over the past 50 years, I feel it is extremely fortuitous that NIJL was created as an agency for both preservation and research because that ensures that, no matter what may happen, these materials shall survive as assets of humankind.
If we were to attempt to start something like this now, I think it would probably be very difficult to accomplish. It’s not something that can be done on a short or medium-term project basis. NIJL began as a tiny spec in the continuum of the nation’s long history and it is crucial that the initiative is being sustained.
(Tachimoto) How do you envision the next 50 years of the research institute?
(Campbell) NIJL has a dense forest of cultural resources and a network of people. I feel that our foremost commitment towards society is in the way we use the raw materials for research as well as how they can be applied toward cultural innovations. We must consider how we should organize the materials we currently have so that they can actually serve as vital testimonies of Japan’s literary culture. It is also essential that these materials are available multilingually and accessible not just to academics of Japanese literature, but also to other humanities scholars, and even to young students. The doors should also remain open to those working in other fields.
(Tachimoto) So communication is really about the mutual exchange of ideas. Regarding setting standards for performance evaluations, researchers are faced with external expectations that demonstrate their “achievement” by meeting certain benchmarks. In that regard, an institution like NIJL, that builds literacy in a way that is difficult to see, it may be hard to demonstrate NIJL’s achievements. What are your thoughts about that?
(Campbell) I don’t think that’s difficult at all. NIJL has collected pre-modern texts related to Japan from all over the world that have been preserved as original specimens or in the form of photographs that are then shared for research. These are used by researchers from various disciplines as well as by creators who inspire, revitalize and synergize communities leading to cultural innovations. For example, we have acquired a great deal of wisdom from classical texts on how societies overcame devastations by calamities and crises. As in the still waters deep in the ocean, through the cooperation by many for nearly half a century, we can say that the wealth of NIJL is the culmination of all the nourishment deposited by all those contributors. And NIJL will continue its endeavors. All that may be difficult to show concretely, but we can make their achievements visible.
There was a newspaper article published in March 2017 about the joint research on auroras by the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and NIJL. Meigetsuki, the diary of the 13th century poet Fujiwara no Teika, is a classic among classics. In it there is a mention of sekki, red vapor, visible around Fujiwara’s mountain villa, Ogurasansō (※2). The scene is described as “dreadful because the red vapor looked like fire blazing the mountains.”
It had been speculated that comets caused the phenomenon but when we integrated the research by our researchers and that by NIPR, we learned that the appearance was actually caused by an aurora. At that time the solar winds and terrestrial magnetism behaved differently from how they behave today and that is why an aurora was visible in the sky in 13th century Japan.
Our understanding of expressions in poems from the Kamakura period depicting arrays of colors and light, religion, worship, the sense of salvation and physical sensations may need to shift with our new knowledge that the society at that time shared the experience of observing this aurora.
In order to support the uncovering of such materials, to organize and make them accessible to the public, NIJL has deftly sewn the seeds so that rich flowers can bloom between the dandelions without excessive weeding. Those are the achievements that are most visible to me.
(Tachimoto) Returning to the topic of performance evaluations, in order to expand the appreciation of the humanities in our society, we have started a program to train liberal arts communicators who promote the understanding of the humanities. These communicators will reach out to society and raise the visibility of humanities research. It seems that the literary interpreters that you’ve discussed may also be related to assessments. What are your thoughts about that?
(Campbell) In the past, Japanese literature was viewed as an academic subject that provided various ideas and skills demanded by society, but by the 1990’s many Japanese universities started eliminating literature departments. Today there are a much smaller number of institutions that offer full-fledged literature programs. Because of this, young academics can no longer spend an entire career teaching only the Tale of Genji or Natsume Soseki. However, these people are essential in supporting Japan’s potential and its culture. I believe that it’s necessary to expand skills that can be evaluated for work in universities, museums, municipalities and the media.
In the field of non-Japanese literature, those fluent in foreign languages translate novels and philosophical texts and these are counted as scholarly activities. However, in Japanese literature, despite needing a range of skills such as being able to decipher words written in cursive form, revise and annotate the text and then interpret the text into modern language--skills that are beyond what is needed to translate a work from one language to another--those skills are not appreciated in Japan.
I would like young scholars to develop skills that enable them to examine the plethora of Japanese classical literature, uncover what’s there, convert relevant material into a form that is accessible to contemporary society, collaborate with others from various disciplines and be involved in endeavors that lead to the birth of new ideas and creations.
(Tachimoto) So a liberal arts communicator and a literary interpreter are similar. I think the only way that NIHU’s six constituent institutes will be appreciated is by making the resources accessible to contemporary society and then disseminating them.
(Campbell) I think the idea of literary interpreters should permeate into various academic societies in Japan. I also think that it’s necessary for universities and other educational institutions to create programs that accredit literary interpretation as a qualification. If we are able to achieve this, that would be one way that shows the academic value of humanities research. We have an obligation to see to it that we will have literary interpreters equipped to make new discoveries and salvage materials from a nearly inexhaustible mine of Japanese classical knowledge and be prepared to tackle new challenges.
2. Globalization of NIHU and its Constituent Institutes
(Tachimoto) Literary interpretation and cross-cultural understanding bring us to the topic of globalization. Currently there are external assessment benchmarks that have been set to measure globalization. What does it mean when we talk about globalization of Japanese literature and culture? From the perspective of the outside world, what needs to be globalized? What is the direction that needs to be taken?
(Campbell) First of all, it’s vital that the environment is prepared for globalization. It’s not something that is either decided or dictated as to what needs to be done at every stage. It is similar to translations. Several years ago in Japan, there was a project led by the Japanese government to translate Japanese literature, publish a large number of works and disseminate them in a very short period of time.
At that time, a committee decided which novels would be translated. I don’t think that works. In different regions of the world, the demands of each of the cultural spheres are distinct. So I have some reservation using the term “transmit” because transmissions originate from within our own conceptual framework. We need to consider what demands exist as well as about how and where those demands connect to a society. We need to think about a format that would allow us to share the resources and then selectively translate the materials into many languages. This isn’t about translating an entire work but creating a bibliography and summaries of many works in less than 800 words and translating them into many languages. We would not be unilaterally deciding what to transmit but mutually making those decisions while putting into consideration the demands by various cultures as well as by the time period. These are decisions that need to be made as we build our inventory of the works.
3. The Future of the Inter-University Research Institutes
(Tachimoto) I too believe that’s the steadiest path. NIJL was created 45 years ago as an inter-university research institute. According to the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, inter-university research institutes are very unique research organizations. Do you agree?
(Campbell) Yes I do. This institute is open to all students and members of the faculty and staff of every university in Japan. We try not to impose what we think is constructive for universities, but rather track the research goals in each of the universities to help us determine the programs to be sponsored. By collaborating with various disciplines and research facilities, we endeavor to make Japanese universities stronger and I believe that is our mission.
I, for one, as an interested party, think that one of NIJL’s greatest accomplishments is its creation of the research and collection initiative. Scholars in a particular field working in the same region collaborate beyond the walls of their institutions to investigate and research materials available in that region. As a result, they are able to accomplish something that would not be possible within the confines of one university. The researchers and educators involved in the collaborative efforts are then able to utilize what they gained in insights, experiences, and human networks and further enhance their own work. I am quite aware that my own work experience as an investigator in northern Kyushu for nearly ten years raised my value and abilities as an educator at Kyushu University. I don’t know of any other program like this anywhere else in the world. I think we need to look into the value of this program in a more positive way and see how they connect to the creation of new academic fields.
(Tachimoto) I think pioneering into new territories is the raison d’être of the inter-university research institutes and, in that regard, NIJL has already established solid cooperative relationships. Moreover, it sounds as though NIJL’s initiatives are well known among the community of researchers.
(Campbell) Yes. It’s known by overseas communities too. There are tremendous opportunities that lie ahead. We are now immersed in the midst of what was solidly built by our predecessors. My hope is for many citizens, taxpayers, children and their parents to become aware of this, and to participate in our projects.
In Japanese academic societies, the research community and general public are normally addressed as two discrete groups, but I think creating this dichotomy has negative effects and is counterproductive. Today, right here, I am considered an expert of Japanese literature, but if the angle were to turn 30 degrees, to turn to historical research and geographical research, let alone polar research, I would be considered just another member of the general public, a complete layperson. New academic fields will not emerge out of the mere ten degrees I turn as an expert. By incorporating the gradations of diverse needs of the general public, the layperson may gain something from picking up and reading publications or viewing captivating images and texts on the website. It’s important that we also publicize our research workshops and carry on with more of these outreach activities.
(Tachimoto) Professor Campbell, thank you very much for allowing me to interview you today.
※ 1 The official name is Biblioteca Don Bosco, Università Pontificia Salesiana (http://biblioteca.unisal.it/) located in the suburbs of Rome. It is a library of Japanese classics collected by Father Mario Marega.
※ 2 Court noble and poet in the early Kamakura period. Fujiwara Sadaie’s mountain villa was said to be located at the foot of Mount Ogura in Saga, Ukyo-ku of Kyoto city.