The National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) is a research center for ethnology and cultural anthropology.

Individual Research Projects

Directors-General
  • YOSHIDA Kenji:Study of creation, transmission, and representation of culture: a museum-anthropological approach
Department of Advanced Human Sciences
  • IIZUMI Naoko:Implementing Curricula for Training Academic Sign Language Interpreters and Their Evaluation
  • OKADA Emi:Traditional Polyphony and Singing Culture of Naga Tribes in Northeast India
  • KAWASE Itsushi:Exploring Anthropological Films that Mediate and Promote Communication
  • KIKUSAWA Ritsuko:Application of the Geographic Information System (GIS) to the Historical Analyses of Fijian Languages
  • SAGARA Keiko:Historical Semantic Change in Japanese Sign Language, Taiwan Sign Language and Korean Sign language
  • SUEMORI Kaoru:Development of Optical Survey Methods for Museum 
  • SONODA Naoko:Integrated collection management of ethnological collection
  • DEGUCHI Masayuki :1.Transformative Researches on the Third Sector 2.Fieldwork to cyberspace in an era of the new coronavirus
  • HIDAKA Shingo:Rediscovery of regional culture and construction of the representational system
  • FUKUOKA Shota:A Study on Influences of Audiovisual Media on Traditional Performing Arts
  • MARUKAWA Yuzo:Research of Information Service for Cultural Assets based on Informatics of Association
  • YOSHIOKA Noboru:Descriptive Linguistics for Northern Pakistan Languages
Department of Cross-Field Research
  • UDAGAWA Taeko:Reconsideration and Reconstruction of the Public and the Intimate
  • OTA Shimpei:Integration and variation of socio-cultures in Korea
  • KASHINAGA Masao:Scripts and Texts of the Tai Dam in Vietnam
  • HAN Min:Anthropological Research on Society, History and Symbols
  • SHIMAMURA Ippei:The Interdisciplinary Research on the Glocal Practices of Mongolian Buddhism
  • SHINMEN Mitsuhiro:The Thought and Strategy of Constantin Noica and his Influence
  • SUGASE Akiko:Representation of Religious Identity among the East Mediterranean Arabs
  • NARA Masashi:An Anthropological Study of Religions and Mobilities: A Case Study of Hui Muslims in Contemporary China
  • HAYASHI Isao:Mediums in Recollecting Disaster Experience:Remains, Monuments, Narratives
  • MATTHEWS,Peter J.:1.Mapping Genetic Diversity in Taro to Test Domestication Theories  2.Plant genetic resources and related traditional knowledge in semi-autonomous ethnic minority areas with political and geographic isolation 3.The Archaeology of Boundaries supported by Toshiba International Foundation (TIFO)
  • MATSUO Mizuho:Social history of Mixed Race in South Asia
Department of Modern Society and Civilization
  • IIDA Taku:Franco-Japanese Academic Relations in the Interwar Period with Special Focus on Anthropology, Ethnology, and Folklore Studies
  • IKEYA Kazunobu:Historical Anthropology of the Relationships between Hunter-gatherers and Neighbors
  • UEBA Yoko:A Comparative Study of Handicraft Culture
  • UDA Shuhei:A comparative study of cormorant fishing culture
  • ONO Rintaro:Human migration, island adaptation, and maritime culture in Maritime Asia and  Oceania
  • SAITO Akira:A Comprehensive Study of the Viceroy Toledo’s General Resettlement in the Colonial Andes
  • SUZUKI Motoi:Comparative Study of Museum Exhibition of Latin American Indigenous Cultures
  • SEKI Yuji:Studies on the Formation of Power in the Ancient Andes
  • TERAMURA Hirofumi:Research on the Formation of Ancient Silk Road Cities and East-West Exchange of People and Cultures
  • FUJIMOTO Toko:Anthropological Study on Society, Religion, and Traditional Medicine in Kazakhstan
Department of Globalization and Humanity
  • AISHIMA Hatsuki:Aesthetics and Body Culture in Contemporary Egypt
  • KAWAI Hironao:1.Anthropological Studies on Landscape and Foodscape 2.Multi-sited Ethnographies on the Hakka and Hakka Cultures in the Pacific Rim 3.Reevaluation of Anthropological Theories in the Realm of Chinese Studies:
  • SUZUKI Nanami:Aging-friendly Communities in Super Aged Societies: Exploring Diverse Interaction for Aging in Place
  • SUZUKI Hideaki:Global History on Abolition of Slavery and Slave Trade with focusing on the Indian Ocean
  • NISHIO Tetsuo:Globalization and popular cultures in the Middle East
  • NOBUTA Toshihiro:1.An Anthropological Study on Indigenous Peoples in Malaysia  2.An Anthropological Study on Inclusive Society
  • HIRAI Kyonosuke:An Anthropological Study of the Genesis of ‘Negative Heritage’ in the Post-Conflict Era of Minamata City
  • HIROSE Koujirou:Projects  An Anthropological Study of the Concept of ‶ Barrier-Free″
  • MIO Minoru:Anthropological Study on Transformation of Religion and Culture in Western India
  • MISHIMA Teiko:A Theoretical Study on the Plural Significance of Ethnic Culture-From the Transformation of Merchant Migrants society
  • MORI Akiko:An anthropological study on the meaning of the social and its universality across cultures
Center for Cultural Resource Studies
  • ITO Atsunori:Research on the Collaborative Management of Native American Collections in Japanese Museums
  • OISHI Yuka:Changes in human-animal relations during the modernization of the fur industry
  • KISHIGAMI Nobuhiro:An Ethnological Study of Cultural Changes among Northwest Coast Peoples in North America
  • SAITO Reiko:The movements and interchanges of people and things in the Ainu and their neighbors
  • SASAHARA Ryoji:Relations between Variety of Festivals and Performing Arts and the History in Amami Islands
  • CHE Sohee:Social change and the transformation of postpartum folk illness
  • NIWA Norio:The Anthropology of Support
  • NOBAYASHI Atsushi:Anthropology of technology for getting ecological resources
  • MINAMI Makito:Locality image of the post COVID-19 in Nepal rural villages, where migrant labor has been normalized
  • YAGI Yuriko:A study on the offering and religiosity of contemporary Andean people
  • YAMANAKA Yuriko:Comparative Study of Marvels and the Uncanny: Human Imagination and the Natural World