Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Premodern Japanese Literature and Culture, The University of British Columbia
The Japan Foundation is a crucial source of support for graduate students carrying out their research and I am eager to see it continue to foster a strong group of scholars from Canadian institutions to conduct research in Japan.
In 2002-03, Professor Laffin went to the Historiographical Institute at University of Tokyo for her Japan Foundation fellowship.
I worked with a historian in researching travel memoirs produced by women in 13th and 14th century Japan. Without the opportunity to collaborate with scholars based in Japan I would not have gained the broad perspective and experiences I am now able to share with others.
Without the support of the Japan Foundation, I would not have been able to complete my Ph.D. dissertation on women and travel in medieval Japan. Carrying out my doctoral research in a timely manner enabled me to secure a job in Canada and to spend the past decade and a half working with students and teaching about premodern Japan. I have worked with graduate students and the community of Amacho in the Oki Islands on exhibits featuring the cultural heritage of the islands. Most recently I am producing a series of videos for the public and scholars exploring premodern Japan.
The Japan Foundation is a crucial source of support for graduate students carrying out their research and I am eager to see it continue to foster a strong group of scholars from Canadian institutions to conduct research in Japan.
