Department of Regional Studies／Department of Comparative Studies

Department of Regional Studies

Basic Policy

The Department of Regional Studies provides education and research on cultures of people living in the Asian, African, European, American and Oceanian regions. Considering the characteristics and history of each region, you aim to state cultures, clarify structure, and grasp changes based on the ethnographical methodology. Personnel who are capable of analyzing the data obtained through fieldwork for theorization, as well as of making academic contributions and practical suggestions, are fostered.

Diploma Policy

The Department of Regional Studies aims to foster personnel who are capable of making academic contributions and offering practical suggestions based on the outcomes of cultural studies and researches in the Asian, African, European, American and Oceanian regions in accordance with the methodologies in cultural anthropology, ethnology, or adjacent sciences. The students of this Department are required to acquire the knowledge and capabilities stated below, study in the Department for the prescribed years or more under the required research guidance, get the prescribed credits or more, and pass the doctoral thesis examination and test.

• Capability to voluntarily pursue original research on cultural aspects in specific regions with advanced technical knowledge in cultural anthropology, ethnology, or adjacent sciences
• Capability to acquire study and research approaches in cultural anthropology, ethnology, or adjacent sciences, to collect, organize and analyze data in accordance with those approaches, and to present and release the outcomes with clarity and cogency in the form of books, exhibitions, and audiovisual works
• Capability to raise cutting-edge issues, and to proceed with the development of new research approaches while referring to preceding cultural research for target regions and having interest in transdisciplinary socio-cultural changes that cross or subsume the regions
• Capability to tackle modern issues which people of the target regions face, and to propose or implement solutions based on the sophisticated expertise on cultures in the target regions
• Capability to widely disseminate the research outcomes to Japan and the world with sufficient research competency by international standards, and to have discussions with foreign researchers, as well as communicativity and leadership to lead the research

Curriculum Policy

Students of the Department of Regional Studies acquire cultural expertise on the target regions by attending the lectures and seminars on cultures in the Asian, African, European, American and Oceanian regions. At the same time, attending the lectures and seminars delivered by the Department of Comparative Studies which exists in the same institution also enables the students to acquire perspectives to compare cultures of diverse regions and consider the universality and particularity of human beings.
In the seminars, each student acquires a capability to voluntarily envisage and implement his/her own research, and to present the outcomes. Under the Basic Seminar I・II (Regional Studies) (First-Year Seminar) in the first year, each student aims to acquire the capability to deepen his/her interest and willingly formulate plans, as well as to learn how to conduct fieldwork and bibliographic surveys. Under the Seminar I・II (Regional Studies) (Thesis Seminar) in the second year and thereafter, each student cultivates a capability to develop multidirectional and unique discussions by presenting the outcomes step by step while organizing and analyzing data after the surveys, aiming at the completion of his/her doctoral thesis.
The National Museum of Ethnology, Japan, to which the Department belong, attracts numerous researchers from outside and inside Japan. Joint research meetings and symposiums are frequently held, and activities such as exhibitions and lectures are also offered to citizens. Active involvement in these activities has allowed the students of this Department to foster an international and interdisciplinary research ability, leadership, and practical social skills.
Each student receives detailed guidance from his/her doctoral advisor and deputy advisor in all processes from admission to the attainment of a doctorate according to his/her individual targets, interest and quality.

Curriculum Model (in Japanese only)

Admission Policy

Required Students

• Students who have much interest in cultures of diverse regions in the world, and are capable of pursuing research activities with high motivation for basic research in cultural anthropology and ethnology in particular
• Students who have the basic methodological knowledge and language skills required for surveys to collect data on cultures of target regions, as well as who are capable of pursuing surveys
• Students who are eager to study and research transdisciplinary socio-cultural changes that cross or subsume the specific region from an expanded perspective
• Students who are willing to be involved in modern issues which people living in various regions of the world face
• Students who are capable of sufficiently reading academic papers and have a basic thesis-writing ability

Basic Concept for Screening

In the first screening process (documentary examination), your master thesis or any other academic paper is evaluated based on the items of originality, grasp of research history, validity, and logicality. Additionally, your research content (overview of research activities, summary of research implemented so far, and research to be conducted from now) is assessed based on the items of adequacy of planning, concreteness of planning, academic significance, and evolvability.
In the second screening process (interview), your discussion skills, linguistic ability, research motivation, and other aspects are evaluated through an oral examination on your research implemented so far, content of your master thesis, and research to be conducted from now.
Whether you pass or fail will be determined comprehensively based on the evaluation of each item in the documentary and interview screening processes.

Department of Comparative Studies

Basic Policy

The Department of Comparative Studies, which provides education and research in six fields of comparative society, comparative religion, comparative technology, comparative language, comparative art, and cultural resources, aims at the discovery of the universality underlying each culture through comparative research for each culture, as well as at theoretical interpretation.　The Department fosters personnel having sophisticated research capability who proactively proceed with the development of new approaches by introducing the achievements in adjacent sciences such as informatics, in addition to the existing methodology in cultural anthropology.

Diploma Policy

The Department of Comparative Studies aims to foster personnel who are capable of making academic contributions and offering practical suggestions based on the outcomes of discovery of the universality underlying each culture through comparative research in accordance with the methodologies in cultural anthropology, ethnology, or adjacent sciences, as well as of theoretical interpretation. The students of this Department are required to acquire the knowledge and capabilities stated below, study in the Department for the prescribed years or more under the required research guidance, get the prescribed credits or more, and pass the doctoral thesis examination and test.

• Capability to voluntarily pursue original research through comparison of human cultures with advanced technical knowledge in cultural anthropology, ethnology, or adjacent sciences
• Capability to acquire study and research approaches in cultural anthropology, ethnology, or adjacent sciences, to collect, organize and analyze data in accordance with those approaches, and to present and release the outcomes with clarity and cogency in the form of books, exhibitions, and audiovisual works
• Capability to explore a cutting-edge field from cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives based on the sophisticated expertise, and to proceed with the development of new research approaches by introducing and applying the achievements in adjacent sciences such as informatics
• Capability to tackle practical issues in response to social demand, and to find solutions while multidirectionally researching the issues of global modern society becoming complex with much interest
• Capability to widely disseminate the research outcomes to Japan and the world with sufficient research competency by international standards, and to have discussions with foreign researchers, as well as communicativity and leadership to lead the research

Curriculum Policy

The Department of Comparative Studies, which aims at the discovery of the universality underlying each culture through comparative research for each culture, as well as at theoretical interpretation, sets a series of academic disciplines of comparative society, comparative religion, comparative technology, comparative language, and comparative art. Through a series of disciplines on cultural resources, you can learn organization, analysis and management of materials, as well as achievements in informatics. Additionally, attending the lectures and seminars delivered by the Department of Regional Studies which exists in the same institution enables the students to learn individual diverse cultures.
In the seminars, each student acquires a capability to voluntarily envisage and implement his/her own research, and to present the outcomes. Under the Basic Seminar I・II (Comparative Studies) (First-Year Seminar) in the first year, each student aims to acquire the capability to deepen his/her interest and willingly formulate plans, as well as to learn how to conduct fieldwork and bibliographic surveys. Under the Seminar I・II (Comparative Studies) (Thesis Seminar) in the second year and thereafter, each student cultivates a capability to develop multidirectional and unique discussions by presenting the outcomes step by step while organizing and analyzing data after the surveys, aiming at the completion of his/her doctoral thesis.
The National Museum of Ethnology, Japan, to which the Department belong, attracts numerous researchers from outside and inside Japan. Joint research meetings and symposiums are frequently held, and activities such as exhibitions and lectures are also offered to citizens. Active involvement in these activities has allowed the students of this Department to foster an international and interdisciplinary research ability, leadership, and practical social skills.
Each student receives detailed guidance from his/her doctoral advisor and deputy advisor in all processes from admission to the attainment of a doctorate according to his/her individual targets, interest and quality.

Curriculum Model (in Japanese only)

Admission Policy

Required Students

• Students who have much interest in human cultures, and are capable of pursuing research activities with high motivation for academic theorization and its social application in particular
• Students who have the basic methodological knowledge and language skills required for surveys to collect data on target cultures, as well as who are capable of pursuing surveys
• Students who are eager to explore a cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary field with much interest not only in cultural anthropology and ethnology but also in adjacent sciences
• Students who are willing to be involved in the issues of global modern society becoming complex
• Students who are capable of sufficiently reading academic papers and have a basic thesis-writing ability

Basic Concept for Screening

In the first screening process (documentary examination), your master thesis or any other academic paper is evaluated based on the items of originality, grasp of research history, validity, and logicality. Additionally, your research content (overview of research activities, summary of research implemented so far, and research to be conducted from now) is assessed based on the items of adequacy of planning, concreteness of planning, academic significance, and evolvability.
In the second screening process (interview), your discussion skills, linguistic ability, research motivation, and other aspects are evaluated through an oral examination on your research implemented so far, content of your master thesis, and research to be conducted from now.
Whether you pass or fail will be determined comprehensively based on the evaluation of each item in the documentary and interview screening processes.