The Japan-in-Asia Cultural Studies Program for Graduate Students

The Japan-in-Asia Cultural Studies Graduate Program (JACS) is a two-year Master of Arts (MA) program that allows students to deepen their knowledge and expertise in the complex relationships between Japan and other East Asian countries. JACS MA students focus on one of the three fields of cultural history, cinema and visual culture, and literature, while also taking courses from other fields to gain a broad interdisciplinary perspective on Japanese culture. The program emphasizes interdisciplinary and transnational approaches to exchanges, interactions, and interrelations in East Asia within global historical contexts. JACS MA students collaborate with program faculty to produce original research in their MA thesis, exploring the multifaceted relationships and negotiations that people in East Asia have enacted through history, literature, cinema, and other sociocultural products. The program also offers opportunities to interact with internationally distinguished scholars from different countries at conferences, workshops, and other events held regularly in Nagoya and other locations worldwide.

Ideal candidates for the JACS MA program have a strong foundation in cultural studies, literature, cinema, or history and are enthusiastic about engaging in advanced research and scholarship in their chosen field. Graduates of JACS MA are well-equipped with advanced knowledge and skills to pursue careers in academia, government, international organizations, NGOs, and the private sector, and to make a positive impact in the world. Prospective students interested in applying for the JACS MA program are encouraged to get in touch with program faculty before applying. This will give them an opportunity to learn more about the program and discuss whether their research interests align with the program's goals.

The faculty can provide guidance and advice, helping them determine which program track is the best fit for their goals and interests. If you're considering applying to the JACS MA program, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Examples of Past Graduate Research Topics

• Representations of the Japanese Colonies in Picture Postcards
• From Reconstruction to Restauration: the case of Nagoya Castle
• Nikkei Argentine Intergenerational Discourses of Belonging (1948-72)
• Writing Female Agency and the Supernatural in Enchi Fumiko's Literature
• Negotiating the Agency of Children in Post-Fukushima Literary Dystopias
• Networked Authorship of Japanese Independent Cinema in the Post-studio Era
• Western Cuisine in Public and Private Spaces of Interwar Urban Japan (1920-39)
• Film Festivals and Chinese Softpower
• Queerness and Chinese Web Television
• Chinese Animation Films since the 2010s
• Young Vietnamese Consumption of Manga
• Vegetarianism in Contemporary Urban Japan
• Sono Sion and Post-studio Japanese Cinema
• Postsocialist Nostalgia in Jia Zhangke's Films
• National Trauma in Sinophonic Period Drama Television
• Construction of Masculinity in Contemporary Samurai Film
• Japanese Civilian Experience of WW II in Heisei-Era Manga
• Rethinking Sinophone Wuxia Films in the Twenty-first Century