Japan DossierAnyone who wants to know more about Japan - currently the focus of world attention following the earthquake and tsumani - should look to Leiden. The language, the culture, the history and modern Japan are key aspects of both teaching and research in Leiden. The unusually long and close relationship between the Netherlands and Japan make Leiden University one of the oldest and most famous centres for Japanese Studies in the Western World.
Recent articles
On Friday 1 April, the LUC Research Centre and the Modern East Asia Research Centre co-hosted a panel of experts to discuss recent events in Japan, with the intention of disseminating accurate, reliable information, and also to provide opportunity for coordination of some fund-raising activities.
Since the disaster in Japan, professors, staff and students of the department of Japanese Language and Culture at Leiden University have regularly been contacted by the media asking for their opinion about the events taking place there. Ivo Smits and Kasia Cwiertka, Professors of Japanese, give their thoughts on the images portrayed by the media.
Leiden University would like to express our sincere sympathy to students and staff who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. On Tuesday 22 March there is a meeting for Japanese students and staff. Mari Hosho, an exchange student from Japan, studying psychology at Leiden University, reflects on the disaster that has struck her homeland.