NIHU Establishes Liaison Office in Institute of History and Archaeology, Mongolian Academy of Sciences

On July 29, 2016, the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) launched its first-ever overseas liaison office in the Institute of History and Archaeology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and held an opening ceremony to celebrate the occasion together with the Academy.

The liaison office was set up as part of an Academic Exchange Agreement between the Mongolia Academy of Sciences and NIHU, which was signed on January 22, 2016. The office will serve as a center to strengthen the academic relationship between the two organizations. For the immediate future, the office will provide a foundation for activities conducted by scholars inside and outside of Japan who are taking part in the Northeast Asia, NIHU Area Studies, one of NIHU’s Network-based Projects launched in April 2016. In the future, the office is expected to serve as a center for humanities research for both Mongolia and Japan.

Meanwhile, the National Museum of Ethnology, one of NIHU’s member organizations and a central player in the Northeast Asian, NIHU Area Studies, established an office for its Center for North East Asian Area Studies in January 2016. These two offices will be a place to pursue mutual research exchange between the researchers involved in the North East Asian Area Studies and the two organizations.

Mongolia Academy of Sciences Vice President, Duger Regdel, and Institute of History and Archaeology Director, Sampildondov Chuluun, represented the Academy at the opening ceremony of the NIHU liaison office. NIHU was represented by President, Narifumi Tachimoto, and Executive Director, Yuki Konagaya. Also in attendance were Professor Akihiro Iwashita of Hokkaido University’s Slavic-Eurasian Research Center, Professor Hiroki Oka, Director of the Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, and Dr. Hiroyoshi Karashima, the National Museum of Ethnology. Minister-Counsellor Minoru Kikuchi of the Embassy of Japan in Mongolia was also a guest of honor at the ceremony. Numerous other guests from the Academy also attended, helping to make the opening of the liaison office a celebratory occasion.