Current trends and issues in modern Japanese literary studies in Japan

Abstract

This paper reports current trends and issues in modern Japanese literary studies in Japan. First, I discuss the state of universities in Japan amid the current governmental initiative to “reform universities,” addressing the functional differentiation of national universities and the pressures of globalization. Next, I touch on changes in research conditions and the state of publishing, noting an increase in the number of publications based on Ph.D. dissertations by younger researchers and advancements in the digitization of research materials. After addressing current political circumstances that are influencing these matters, I discuss changes in the type of graduate students conducting studies on Japanese literature, new academic trends in modern Japanese literary studies, and insights from the analysis of the JSPS grants (Kakenhi) database.

Keywords

• modern Japanese literature
• literary study
• publication
• Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research
• agendas