NIHU Magazine Back Issues1

https:/ /www.nihu.jp/en/publication/nihu_magazine Back Issues 1 ： Vol.000 ～ Vol.010 Vol. 000 Siebold - The Pioneer of Japanism Vol. 001 Grief of Local People Vol. 002 Challenges to the Northeast Asia Regional Studies Vol. 003 Dutch eyewitness accounts of the Siege of Osaka Vol. 004 Niche of Yōkai Vol. 005 Constructing Integrated Studies of Cultural and Research Resources, and Renovating Sharing Infrastructures of Research Resources in Japanese History and Culture Vol. 006 NIHU Northeast Asia Area Studies Project University of Shimane NEAR Center Project “Formation of Modern Spaces and their Impact” 1st International Symposium 2016 Northeast Asia: The Embryonic Stage Vol. 007 Reformation of Local Community through Recordings and Researches of Dialect Vol. 008 Eco-health Colloquium 2016 Vol. 009 Sustainable Use of Resources in Northeast Asia Vol. 010 Renewal of the Advanced Collaboration/Integrated Search System “nihuINT” Vol. 000 Siebold - The Pioneer of Japanism During the second half of the 19th century, at a time when a boom in Japanism (in French, Japonisme) was sweeping Europe, René Lalique published a number of works with motifs of Japanese garden plants, such as the Lilium longiflorum (White Trumpet Lily). Lalique had never been to Japan. How did he learn about this plants of Japanese origin? Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold, a German doctor who had lived in Japan twice, late in the Edo period (from 1823 to 1829 and then again from 1859 to 1862), brought enormous collections of Japanese arts and crafts, as well as plants, to the Netherlands. We were able to view his collections at the National Museum of Ethnology (Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde) in Leiden, and at the Museum Five Continents (Museum Fünf Kontinente) in Munich, among other places. The plants he had brought back were transported to various parts of Europe and triggered a boom in gardening using plants of Japanese origin. Meanwhile, Japanese art was attracting public attention in Europe, resulting in a boom in Japanism. The plants Siebold brought back from Japan provided artistic stimulation to some artists of the Art Nouveau movement, such as Émile Gallé and René Lalique. On January 30, 2016, the National Institutes for the Humanities, Japan (NIHU) held a symposium in Tokyo titled ”Siebold’s Introduction of Japanese Culture: Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of His Death.” The symposium summarized the results of a research project ”Study of the Siebold Family Collection and Other Materials Collected in Japan and Taken Overseas in the Nineteenth Century” (Hub research center: National Museum of Japanese History, Japan, REKIHAKU) that NIHU has been conducting in the researching and studying Project which is about foreign materials related to Japan. At the symposium, Josef Kleiner, Professor Emeritus of the University of Bonn and Visiting Researcher of Hosei University Research Center for International Japanese Studies, Hideaki Oba, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, and Yoko Matsui, Professor of the Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo, provided a history of the introduction of Japanese culture to Europe and its reception there, and spoke about the plants that Siebold had taken back to Europe and their subsequent influence on Japanism. This research project will provide an image-attached database with approximately 6,000 items of the Siebold Collection of the Museum Five Continents in Munich on the REKIHAKU website from March, 2016 (Database REKIHAKU) In addition, it plans to hold a Special Exhibition about Siebold at REKIHAKU from July 12, 2016. In the Botanical Garden of Everyday Life, REKIHAKU, several species of the plants known as Siebold’s Children*, donated by the Leiden University Botanical Garden, have been cultivated, and we can view these plants there. *Siebold’s Children: Seedlings that people have cultivated from the seeds of Siebold’s plants. NIHU symposium “Siebold’s Introduction of Japanese Study of Japanese artifacts at the Museum Five Continents in Munich Culture: Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of His Death”[January 30, 2016,TOKYO] Vol. 001 Grief of Local People When series of major earthquakes first struck Kumamoto Prefecture, I was in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. I was there to speak about the Northeast Asia Area Study project, which the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) began promoting in April 2016, and encourage participation in joint global research. I believe that local researchers must be engaged to proactively participate in research. Because I had been requested by Inner Mongolia University to lecture, I took the opportunity to speak about the introduction of the NIHU project in one of my lectures. The research project features a system, in which five institutes addressing different issues all work together. The National Museum of Ethnology (MINPAKU), one of institutes that make up the NIHU, acts as the center base. The specific area of research it focuses on is peo ple, goods , and syst na ems. Research is carried out with cooperationture and with c the National Museum of Japanese History (REKIHAKU), another museum in the NIHU. The Slavic-Eurasian Research Center of Hokkaidoivilization University is in charge of international politics as seen t hrough th e moveme and tackles research on nt and exc hange of int ernational Research Institute for Humanity and Naturerelation s(RIHN) w of NIHU, the Center for Northeast Asian Studies of Tohoku University hich aim to establish a conducts research on n inter-reg ional coop cu eration str ltures and ucture. Cooperating with the Studies of Toyama University is in charge polici eofs r elated to environme re ntal issues sources, with the aim of achieving sustainabler eeconomics development. Focusing and on re historicalgio identities, the Institute for North earch on th nal resou e evolution rces. The Center for Far Eastern East Asian Research of the University of Shimane Prefecture conducts researchof interna on the tional spec ialization a nd the sust in cooperation with the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (NICHIBUNKEN) of NIHU. As describedainable us eabove, of natural this is a program in which the five institutes collaborate and promote comprehensive area study by sharing and addressing creation o f modern s specific issues, such as international relations, economic cooperation, environmental issues, cultural complexes,pac eand and historicalit s infl uence perceptions. In accordance with their interests, local researchers will be able to appear their research results as international members of the teams of each institute. Likewise, by setting out research issues in an organized manner, local researchers will be able to cooperate with research as one of the bases of the international network. One example is the comprehensive research of Huhutog. Huhutog means “blue flag” and was the name of the Mongolian newspaper published in Manchukuo (the “puppet state of Manchuria” in China). It is known that Japanese people were also heavily involved in editing the newspaper. In Japan, researchers create digital copies of the newspaper and examine the details of its foundation and other matters primarily through official documents, while local researchers are able to share and read articles related to various subjects, including agriculture and livestock farming and literature. By focusing on a group of particular documents, a variety of research fields come to the surface, and this enables Japan and local areas to cooperate with each other. After careful discussion, a specific example of this research has emerged. Jilin University also hosted an academic exchange where modern social history researchers gathered from various universities in the northeastern part of China. At this academic exchange, I introduced articles from my previous research results that was related to modern social history, and once again highlighted the NIHU program. Changchun city, where Jilin University is located, was once called Shinkyo and served as the capital of the puppet state of Manchuria. As a result, cooperation with Japanese researchers might be essential in conducting research on modern social history of this area. I felt the great expectations local researchers held for assistance from Japan. There is no real need to provide funds to China, a country whose GNP has surpassed Japan’s and now ranks as the world’s second largest economy. What is essential is the sharing of information. Incidentally, one student asked me a question after I introduced the program in Hohhot. He asked how he would able to deal with the environmental issues his hometown faced in the wake of regional development. The environmental destruction of the grass reminds me of a demonstration that took place in 2011. Nomads started an opposition movement because they were no longer able to graze as a result of the severe deterioration of the natural environment in areas near where the mines were developed. One of the trucks trying to control the protesters ran over members of the crowd and killed one pastoralist. The news of this incident triggered demonstrations in Hohhot and even Beijing. Since then, the Chinese government’s surveillance of research on environmental issues has become incredibly tight, and research must now be conducted with extreme care. As a person who lives outside China, I must refrain from recklessly instigating students. These demonstrations have been quelled, but similar incidents are taking place in other places. In fact, during my visit a series of scenes from skirmishes taking place in Jarud Banner unexpectedly appeared on people’s mobile phones. Jarud Banner is a region in the northwest of Tong Liao city in which people were forcibly relocated due to the development of coal mines in Holingol. When I visited there in 2013, the smog in the surrounding areas was really bad. However, the impact of pollution is only not limited to the air, and unfortunately has many damaging and serious consequences. There have been cases in which naked lambs without any hair and goats with one eye being born.

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