Japanese Geographers’ Contribution to East and Southeast Asian Studies since the 1980s

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review some research trends in investigations of matters pertaining to East Asia and Southeast Asia by Japanese geographers since the 1980s. It considers large-scale interdisciplinary research projects, research institutes/centers founded, and also a study group on Asia established under the Human Geographical Society of Japan. With the advent of economic and political globalization, Japanese geographers have now been able to visit formerly closed-door countries such as China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and some parts of Myanmar to do joint research with the collaboration of local scholars and other local people. With regard to China and Vietnam, the research environment has drastically changed in recent years. While these two countries have a large amount of material written on them in Chinese characters, making it accessible to Japanese geographers, these Japanese researchers had great difficulty organizing field studies because of political barriers. Nowadays, going through formal channels, we can conduct field studies individually or in groups, in both urban and rural areas. Various kinds of scientific grants, including JSPS （the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science） grants as well as grants by private companies and non-profit foundations, have supported us in conducting studies abroad. This review will trace the history and prospects of these spheres of human geography from the perspective of new research trends such as transformation of rural/ urban areas, appearance of new landscapes due to globalization, man-environment systems, resource utilization, alternative tourism, post-colonial dimensions of cities, and interregional exchange.