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About us

欧日研究会

The Europe Japan Research Centre (EJRC) was launched in 2001 and, since then, has brought over 200 academics, artists and other performers from around the world to Oxford Brookes University for scholarly talks and other public events. In addition to this seminar series, the EJRC has hosted research conferences, supported visiting researchers, and published occasional papers. At the postgraduate level, we support students working on various aspects of Japanese Studies through the Japanese by Research MA degree as well as through independent Mphil/PhD research.

EJRC has become a home for researchers in Japanese Studies across the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences with a wide range of research expertise, including Japanese cinema, linguistics, language pedagogy, religions of Japan, modern Japanese history, and contemporary Japanese culture.

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EJRC is pround to be supported through generous funding from The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundationseeks to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between the UK and Japan through financial support for activities in a number of fields, from arts and culture to humanities and social issues, from Japanese language to sport and education, from science and technology to medicine and health.

Research impact

EJRC is committed to strengthening collaboration and exchange between the UK and Japan and raising interest and awareness in the cultural, artistic and historical influence of Japan in the world.\ Our research makes an impact on the social policy environments related to the aging society, contemporary religious organizations, and criminal justice. It also impacts the way artists, linguists and historians appreciate Japan's unique contributions in these fields through the development of educational resources and though hosting a variety of demonstrations, performances, symposia and other public engagement activities.

Leadership

Dr Alexander Jacoby

alexanderjacoby@brookes.ac.uk

Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies and Director of Europe Japan Research Centre

View profile for Alexander Jacoby

Membership

Staff members Research students Collaborators

Staff
Students
Collaborators

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Staff

Name	Role	Email
Dr Jason Danely	Associate Professor of Anthropology	jdanely@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Alice Freeman	Lecturer in Modern Japanese History	afreeman@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Hanako Fujino	Senior Lecturer in Japanese Language and Linguistics	hfujino@brookes.ac.uk
Professor Joy Hendry	Emeritus Professor of Anthropology	jhendry@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Alexander Jacoby	Senior Lecturer in Japanese Studies and Director of Europe Japan Research Centre	alexanderjacoby@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Laurence Mann	Senior Lecturer in Japanese and Korean, Director of BrookesEDGE	lmann@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Louella Matsunaga	Research Associate	lmatsunaga@brookes.ac.uk
Yumiko Ishiwata O'Meara	Lecturer in Japanese	yishiwata@brookes.ac.uk
Dr Kerri Russell	Senior Lecturer in Japanese Language and Linguistics	kerri.russell@brookes.ac.uk

Projects

Active projects Completed projects

Active projects
Completed projects

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Active projects

Project title and description	Investigator(s)	Funder(s)	Dates
Brokenness and Repair: sharing practices and perspectives between Japan and the UK A multidisciplinary and multimodal exploration of the aesthetics of care in collaboration with Oxford Brookes Professors Dan O'Brien and Beverly Clack.	Dr Jason Danely	Sasakawa Foundation	From: April 2025

Let's Read Japanese

One of the most frustrating problems for students learning Japanese is the relative absence of good reading material which allows them to both practice the language at different levels, and also learn about Japanese history and society. The Let’s Read Japanese series fulfils this need by providing graded, engaging stories for all learners of Japanese.

The books include famous stories from Japan and other parts of the world - re-tellings of traditional stories, classic tales, Japanese legends and poems, as well as some newly-commissioned stories - all designed to introduce particular aspects of Japanese culture and society. The stories complement any textbook being used by a learner of Japanese anywhere in the world; the books are ideal for those learning in language schools or through self-study.

Find out more about Let's Read Japanese

Podcasts