Border restrictions turn foreign scholars and students away from Japanese studies

According to an online survey of about 300 foreign academics and students of Japanese studies in the U.S., Europe and Asia, 186 respondents said there was less scholarly interest in Japan in their countries; 162 said there were fewer scholars specializing in Japan because of the border restrictions.

"These responses clearly demonstrate how this is leading to the decline of interest in Japan as well as distrust of Japan at large," said Tomoyuki Sasaki, an associate professor of Japanese studies at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, who conducted the survey. [...] But Sasaki said that researchers need to come to Japan for fieldwork and archival research — activities that won't have a sponsor, meaning they are not able to visit. Complex visa procedures are also discouraging them from coming to Japan, he said. "Academics well-versed in Japan have been influencing their countries' policies on Japan and contributed to the understanding of Japan in international society," he said in an email. "The fact that they are losing interest in Japan and fewer researchers are being nurtured is not in line with Japan's national interests." About 97% said Japan's border restrictions have either "strongly" or "somewhat" affected their current and future research. Among the respondents, 228 said they were unable to conduct archival research in Japan, while 180 said they were unable to conduct fieldwork.

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Shooting yourself in the foot so you can compete in the paralympics.

I'd be the last person to defend Japan's COVID policies, as I am personally connected to both (1) izakaya and restaurant owners who have been devastated by the meaningless restrictions on opening hours and the serving of alcohol, and (2) my own father, who has been reluctant to come over to see his new granddaughter due to overly strict quarantine policies (now pretty much lifted, especially for the immediate family of permanent residents), but to be perfectly honest, this just strikes me as some holier-than-thou bullshit.

If your interest in Japan as a country and Japanese culture is so fragile and tenuous that it can be shaken to the core or negated entirely by a couple of years of misguided COVID-inspired border restrictions, then maybe you didn't care so much about Japan to begin with? Besides the fact that the (again, mistaken and misguided) policies are the responsibility of the ruling political party and have literally nothing at all to do with millions of average Japanese citizens, authors, scholars, scientists, and whatever, this whole attitude just strikes me as privileged nonsense. "Oh, boo hoo, Japan won't let me visit!? I was never interested in your stupid country anyway!"

Either you're interested in Japan or you're not. There are plenty of actual Japanese citizens who disagree with and are actively suffering from their own government's policies. If you're going to throw them all under the bus and reconsider/abandon your interest in the entire country just because "Japan" (as if it were some monolithic entity or hivemind entirely defined by its national policy) "didn't let me in", then maybe you didn't care so much about Japan to begin with.

There's no doubt that the travel restrictions caused many international students a lot of hardship: until February 2022, 140,000 students could not take up their places. Some of them - literally - had their suitcases packed when they were "grounded". Someone posted this one before:


Losing one or two semesters to travel bans is not trivial to a student. As mentioned in the article, one cannot blame those with scholarships and college places for feeling deeply frustrated or opting to go to South Korea.

In a multiple-choice question, 80 students and academics said they had to suspend or give up their research topic because of the restrictions, while 190 had to delay finishing their research.

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Besides, a survey of just 300 academics, scholars, and students isn't really representative in the first place.

I'm not trying to minimize their experiences, but my sympathy only goes so far. Due to financial and personal reasons, I was forced to do most of my Japanese language study in the United States at a time when access to classes, native-language materials, native speakers, etc. etc. was infinitely more limited than it is now with the wonders of the modern internet. It was also at a time when Japan was rapidly losing status as a major economic power, etc. etc.

I stuck it out and pursued my Japanese study because I had a genuine interest in many aspects of Japan, Japanese authors and musicians, and so on and so forth. I'm not "blaming" anyone, but yes, if someone's interest in Japan is at a level that they would just choose to go to a completely different country with a completely different language and culture (e.g. South Korea) just because they can't physically go to Japan -- when a lot of people who are genuinely interested in Japan lack the resources to travel there in the first place -- then yes, I will suggest that their interest maybe was a bit superficial in the first place.

I had plenty of teachers encourage me to switch to Korean or Chinese studies because those countries would be more "relevant" in the future, but I didn't do so -- even when I had no means to go to Japan -- because I wasn't interested in Korea or China. I was interested in Japan.

Sorry, I guess I'm kind of soapboxing here, but I really don't understand this attitude of "Oh, Japan won't let me in...guess I'd better just switch the entire focus of my academic study to the nearest East Asian country that will."

@bentenmusume I agree with you in general. However I think @thomas has a point about the students as it is likely that a lot of them just don't have the luxury of that much flexibility in their plans. Thinking back to when I was that age I don't think I would have had enough flexibility to be able to do that. There are a lot of things that both depend on and are dependent on your situation and everything needs to work together in order to make the plan viable.

I do think a lot of college kids are just whiny, overly angsty (if that is a word), and unrealistic though.

Thanks for the cordial reply, @Petaris, and likewise, I don't want to give the sense that I don't understand where you and @thomas -- or the students in question -- are coming from at all.

I'm a bit confused by the idea of "flexibility", though. All I'm saying is that if someone has a true interest in Japan, it's possible to study the language, culture, history -- whatever you're interested in -- without physically being in Japan at this exact moment.

So I'm a bit confused. They -- and their colleges/scholarships/programs -- have the "flexibility" to switch to apply to a different college/study program in a different country with an entirely different academic focus, but not to allow them to continue to study the Japanese language and culture back home until COVID protocols are relaxed a bit (which they already gradually are)? How is the idea of delaying one's study abroad trip to Japan for a semester or even a year (and, for example, substituting it with intensive Japanese study at home in the meantime) requiring more flexibility and more sacrifice from the students/universities/scholarship programs than literally abandoning their academic focus for the study of a completely different culture/language, applying to another completely separate institution in a whole different country with different visa requirements, etc.? The latter seems like more of a "luxury" than just saying "Okay, I'm interested in Japan but I'm just going to keep studying here at home (using the nearly infinite resources now available without physically requiring the student to be there)."

I know that I personally would have had no interest in abandoning my study of Japan/Japanese to study Korean just because I wasn't able to go to Japan precisely when I wanted to -- which is why I get more of a sense of entitlement from this than some genuinely deep trauma born out of not being able to their beloved Japan.

But I'll grant that I may be being a bit judgmental. I'm sure there are students out there that run the full spectrum from angsty (pretty sure that it's a word, or should be) entitled, brats, to those who do have very legitimate and sympathetic concerns/issues.

I want to add a brief thought: as far as international students are concerned, I believe it's more about "opportunity" than "flexibility".

I doubt those specialising in Japanese studies will switch to Korean studies. Those with other majors, however, like science, humanities, politics, etc., will be more likely to look elsewhere. I have friends who spent a year at Riken or in scientific programs at Tsukuba University. Not all of them enrol in Ancient Japanese literature.

bentenmusume said:

I'm a bit confused by the idea of "flexibility", though. All I'm saying is that if someone has a true interest in Japan, it's possible to study the language, culture, history -- whatever you're interested in -- without physically being in Japan at this exact moment.

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Speaking from a specifically US viewpoint on college, its usually the early years that are easier to accomplish a year abroad as its mainly general classes, not specific to your major. I agree that you can study Japanese anywhere, though I think also being immersed in a Japanese speaking environment probably greatly helps with progression in learning the language.

I also was thinking more along the lines of what @thomas mentioned, that these are students who's major didn't have anything to do with Japan specifically, like science, technology, etc.

thomas said:

I want to add a brief thought: as far as international students are concerned, I believe it's more about "opportunity" than "flexibility".

I doubt those specialising in Japanese studies will switch to Korean studies. Those with other majors, however, like science, humanities, politics, etc., will be more likely to look elsewhere. I have friends who spent a year at Riken or in scientific programs at Tsukuba University. Not all of them enrol in Ancient Japanese literature.

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I was going to bring that up as well. Most of the students going to Japan for these research and study opportunities are not primarily focused on Japan itself, judging on the various queries that come up in the MEXT threads. The people who are majoring in "Japanese Studies" are relatively rare.