Prospective Students

In the Graduate School of Education I supervise postgraduate research on topics relating to Japanese history and society. Here is a list of my current or past thesis supervisions.

Current Students

2011 - present (Research student): Comparative study of Chinese and Japanese history textbooks
2010 - present (MA Thesis): Representations of China in the Japanese Media 
2008 - present (PhD Thesis): Historical Reconciliation and Civil Society in Japan
 

Completed Theses

2009-10 (MA Thesis): War memories in Hokkaido and Okinawa
2007-9 (MA Thesis): International Education and Volunteer Work in Japanese High Schools

Prospective Students

I welcome enquiries from prospective students who would be interested in undertaking postgraduate research under my supervision at Hokkaido University. I supervise in the areas of modern Japanese history and society, historical memory, and the Japanese media. Before considering accepting any students I need to see: i) a CV, including evidence of Japanese language ability, ii) a research plan, and iii) the type of course you wish to apply for (see below). I will not finally accept students without an interview by telephone or skype. Please note that for the purposes of postgraduate teaching I am in the Faculty of Education, not the Research Faculty of Media and Communication. Apologies if this seems confusing. It relates to the organization of postgraduate courses here at Hokudai (the best analogy I can give is that I am like a footballer playing "on loan" with another club).

There are four main ways to enter Hokudai as a postgraduate under my supervision:
1) MA course in the Faculty of Education, Kokusai Tagen Bunka Kyoikuron Koza (International and Multicultural Education Course).
2) PhD course in the Faculty of Education, Kokusai Tagen Bunka Kyoikuron Koza (International and Multicultural Education Course).
3) PhD Course in a faculty other than the Faculty of Education (e.g. Law, Media and Communication, Literature etc.). It is possible to enter another faculty and request that I am your second or third supervisor. However, this requires finding another supervisor and then negotiating my role with that supervisor.
4) Research student/kenkyusei: For people wanting time to prepare for entry to a postgraduate course, or for those wanting to spend time at Hokudai while not officially enrolled on a course (for example, doing fieldwork while being enrolled on a PhD programme elsewhere), there is always the possibility of being a kenkyusei, research student.

For all postgraduate courses it is mandatory to have sufficient Japanese to cope with postgraduate level research and department administration in Japanese. A pass at level 2 of the Japanese proficiency test (Nihongo Noryoku Shiken) is effectively the minimum Japanese language ability you will need. Even people with level 1 have failed the university entrance exams in the past. The language requirement is less strict if you are applying to do a PhD on a topic that can be researched using English-language literature only and you are planning to write the thesis in English. Both MA and PhD theses may be written in English.

Other Information

The Japanese government offers generous scholarships. Please contact the Japanese embassy in your country for details. As part of the application pack you will receive a document to be signed by a supervisor at a Japanese university. The final decision is made via a competitive application process in each country. It is also possible to be a self-funding research student.   Finally, for undergraduate students interested in studying more about War History and Memory in Japan, I teach a course on the HUSTEP programme (Hokkaido University Short Term Exchange Programme). For more general information about admissions, please see the webpage of the International Student Center, Hokkaido University.