A full room of scholars and stakeholders gathered in Vancouver to hear a diverse panel of six Japan scholars offer their views on the state of, and prospects for, Japan studies in Canada. Noriko Yamamoto (Executive Director) and Ayeshwini Lama (Program Officer) at the Japan Foundation Toronto both organized the session and compiled the 2025 Directory for Japan Studies in Canada, which spurred it.
The sustainability of Japan studies in Canada’s post-secondary “market” requires strong student demand for courses and programs, and a supply of productive scholars and researchers to deliver them. The latter relies both on decision-makers’ hiring and funding decisions, and the availability of well-trained individuals who qualify for these roles. Though the panelists represent a broad range of social science and humanities disciplines, their observations were consistent. Particularly there was unequivocal consensus that robust programs require both Japanese language and area studies courses.
The panel Chair, James Tiessen (Toronto Metropolitan University, President Japan Studies Association of Canada) started with an overview of the landscape. The Directory identified a total of 726 Japan studies or language courses offered across the 40 participating universities. Just over half of these courses (53%) are in the humanities, and 37% are in languages or linguistics. Social sciences or other topics comprised the other 10%. The number of specialists, 258, is nearly 75% higher than that in the previous (2013) Directory. However, the new number includes several specialists, particularly many sessional lecturers, not included in the previous count. (The Directory provides more detailed analyses).
Demand for Japan studies
Student demand for Japanese language and area studies courses remains quite strong. As Mika Kimura (Victoria, President Canadian Association for Japanese Language Studies) noted, “language serves as an entry point, while content courses deepen engagement.” Anne Commons (premodern Japanese literature, Alberta) and others noted that retirements are reducing the capacity to deliver pre-modern content. However, modern Japanese cultural topics, including anime and manga, attract significant student interest. Jérémie Pelletier-Gagnon (digital culture, Université de l’Ontario français) said that Japanese game studies is very well established in Canada and popular with students. Phillip Lipscy (political science, Toronto) and Vincent Mirza (anthropology, Ottawa) both reported that social science courses on contemporary Japan at their institutions are well subscribed. As Dr. Lipscy has written, Japan is interesting as a “harbinger state”, particularly because of the challenges it faces due to its rapidly aging population, its situation in a dynamic and politically charged region of the world.
Supply of Japan teachers and researchers
There is shared concern that, overall, Canadian universities are not as committed to Japan studies as they were in the past. Budget pressures, in concert with lower administrative support for area studies and humanities, have limited the number of tenured Japan-related positions. As Kimura noted, this is especially a concern for language programs which are largely staffed by contingent instructors vulnerable to cutbacks.
Nonetheless, there are well-entrenched language and studies programs in at least five universities: British Columbia, Toronto, Alberta, Victoria and the Université de Montréal. Four of these feature Japan-focused research centres and/or research chairs. It is not certain that Japan experts at other institutions will be replaced when they retire.
Ways forward
Two approaches to sustaining Japan studies were proposed. First, panelists emphasized the need to develop a “pipeline” of scholars who apply their Japan interests in their respective academic disciplines and are able to compete for precious tenure-track positions. This will require interdisciplinary approaches to understanding what we can learn from Japan. An example is exploring the societal and cultural implications of AI which are widely relevant. Fostering research centres and chairs at more universities would marshal these efforts.
The second, related set of initiatives would be to strengthen collaborative networks of Japan-oriented scholars and teachers, such as the CAJLE and JSAC, together with the key research centres. Initiatives could include sharing courses, and creating joint programs between Canadian and/or Japanese schools. These networks would also create platforms to effectively communicate the importance of Japan to Canada and the need to support mutual understanding.
The active discussion following the panelists’ remarks showed that issues associated with Japan studies are not unique to Canada. People from American, European, English and Japanese universities weighed in with comments highlighting similar concerns and prospects. It is up to those committed to Japan studies to recognize the current state and act together to create a sustainable future. The panel was a significant step in that direction.
James Tiessen
Associate Professor, Global Management Studies
Toronto Metropolitan University
President: Japan Studies Association of Canada
