Introduction to Special Issue: Teaching and Researching Japan Through the Pandemic and Beyond

Abstract

ABSTRACT This special issue of Japanese Studies provides a snapshot of the teaching and researching of Japan through the initial years of the pandemic. It records experiences and reflections by scholars of Japan in South Korea, Australia, England, and Kazakhstan grappling with the challenges and potential of online learning and digital resources in the context of academic precarity and global uncertainty. The articles reflect on pedagogy, research methods, interdisciplinary focus, and the intersections of premodern, modern, and contemporary Japan with global politics, society, health, environment, and culture. They identify key challenges facing Japanese Studies, especially the corporatisation of institutions and the undervaluing of language and contextual studies, and consider how the lessons of the pandemic can lead to a transformation of Japanese Studies that strengthens its relevance and possibilities both in and outside the academy.