Japanese Humanities Research in Situ — IMAP・IDOC

Professors Weiss and Yang with the students at Sefa-Utaki, in Nanjo, Okinawa (2023)

This two-year course combines research and fieldwork through regular excursions each semester. The course is highlighted by an extended trip (5-7 days) with a special topic in Japanese humanities. Destinations for single- and multi-day excursions include surrounding Kyushu, Kyoto and Nara, Takamatsu, Korea, and encompass historical and cultural sites, including burial mounds, castle ruins, pottery kiln towns, early settlements, maritime trade centers, temples, shrines, memorials, art museums, art exhibitions, architecture, and theater performances.

In 2018, first-year students spent a week in the Kansai region, with half the time spent visiting sites in Kyoto and the other half exploring pilgrimage routes, temples, and shrines in the mountains of Kumano (Kii peninsula).

In 2019, the extended trip circuited temples, shrines, museums, and burial mounds throughout Kyushu.

2019 Trip Journal (From One Student)

In 2022, the in-situ trip visited art historical and architectural sites in Kyoto and Nara.

In 2023, the In-situ trip visited various sites related to the colonial history and war memory in Okinawa.

In 2025, the in-situ trip visited 2025 Setouchi Triennale in Seto Inland Sea.

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2025 Seitouchi Triennale

Photos: 2023 Okinawa In-situ Trip

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IMAP・IDOC

News & Upcoming Events

Crafting the Tokugawa's Image: Strategies of Outward Representation and Mechanisms of Memory Preservation graduate conference will be held on July 23th, 2026.

Congratulations to Kurtis Hanlon (IMAP alumnus, 2015; PhD UBC, 2024)!

After a year teaching at Yale University, Kurtis Hanlon just finished his first semester as an assistant professor in the Asian Studies department of Palacký University in Olomouc (Czech Republic). He is the literature specialist in the Japan section, and has already brought his research on premodern Japanese games and play into the classroom and beyond. He looks forward to getting to know the Moravian countryside and appearing at academic conferences and anime conventions around central Europe.

On June 25th, the IMAP & IDOC in Japanese Humanities at Kyushu University and the Shinto Studies Chair, University of California, Santa Barbara are honored to announce a commemorative symposium celebrating the scholarly contributions, mentorship, and legacy of the late Professor Allan Grapard (1944–2025).

Alumna (2018) Budoor Steele received the Minister’s Award from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for her work promoting Japanese tea culture (sadō). She also was granted an Associate Professor (junkyōju) certificate in the arts of tea.

Artists and curators at the exhibition “Interwoven Coasts: Art as Dialogue in the East Asian Mediterranean (交差する海、響きあう文化ー東アジア地中海の芸術的対話),” held from December 9 to 24 at the Fujii Gallery of Kyushu University. The exhibition has been reported by newspapers 琉球新報 and 沖縄タイムズ.

We are pleased to announce the exhibition Interwoven Coasts: Art as Dialogue in the East Asian Mediterranean (交差する海、響きあう文化ー東アジア地中海の芸術的対話). Curated by Gloria Yu Yang and Anton Schweizer, this is the capstone event of the Getty-sponsored project Shared Coasts, Divided Historiographies. The exhibition is open at Kyushu University’s Fujii Gallery from December 9 to 24. Artworks by four artists—Uehara Michiko, Nema Satoko, Taira Yuki, and Komiya Yukina—explore artistic dialogues across the East Asian Mediterranean.

An interview with the IMAP faculty Gloria Yu Yang about her research has been published on the main website of Kyushu University

Congratulations to IMAP&IDOC faculty member Ellen Van Goethem who was promoted to full professor this month!

Professor Carter has been awarded a Harvard-Yenching Visiting Scholar’s Fellowship for the 2024-25 academic year to continue his research on mountaineering, religiosity, and modernity.

Professors Schweizer and Yang have been awarded a major grant from the Getty. Their project "Shared Coasts, Divided Historiographies Mobilizing People, Ideas, and Artifacts in the East Asian Mediterranean" will build a young academics' network in the East Asian Mediterranean.