On Wednesday 3 September 2025 Yu Ai successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of the Leiden University Medical Center with Nagasaki University.

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of Leiden University’s Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs with Fukushima University.

This study aims to examine how South Korea (hereafter, Korea) and Japan, two neighboring countries in Northeast Asia, have been responding to and mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

In this chapter, Kohei Suzuki aims to provide a brief overview of Japan’s local government system.

Rebecca Tompkins defended her thesis on 21 March 2019

Ruobin Han defended her thesis on 21 March 2017

Loneliness and social isolation have become a significant problem in contemporary Japan. The financial burden associated with an ageing population has severely constrained the ability of local authorities to address the problem. As a result, policymakers have sought cost‐effective methods of tackling…

Leiden-Yale collaboration uncovers a tale of samurai same-sex love in a library manuscript.

Japan's Occupation of Java in the Second World War draws upon written and oral Japanese, Indonesian, Dutch and English-language sources to narrate the Japanese occupation of Java as a transnational intersection between two complex Asian societies, placing this narrative in a larger wartime context of…

On 1 September 2022 Afke van Ewijk successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

A delegation from Leiden University will be visiting several Japanese universities and research institutions from 18 to 26 November to discuss research and teaching collaborations.

One of the ways of understanding another culture better is to examine what people experience when they read a text, or look at an image. Leiden experts have a lot of knowledge in this field, for example on culture in ancient Japan.

Andrew Littlejohn published the article 'Ruins for the future: Critical allegory and disaster governance in post-tsunami Japan' in American Ethnologist about the ruins left by Japan's 2011 tsunami.

On the 28th of September Go Hirasawa successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

Power and Legitimacy in Kingship, Religion, and the Arts Volume 87 in the series Religion and Society

Japan's Occupation of Java in the Second World War draws upon written and oral Japanese, Indonesian, Dutch and English-language sources to narrate the Japanese occupation of Java as a transnational intersection between two complex Asian societies, placing this narrative in a larger wartime context of…

Attitudes towards cultural heritage have long been characterised by an ‘endangerment sensibility’ concerned with preventing losses. Recently, however, critical heritage scholars have argued that loss can be generative, facilitating the formation of new values and attachments. Their arguments have focused…

In 1968 Japan was shocked by student protests and even today, exactly fifty years later, their effects can still be felt. An interdisciplinary group of researchers recently met to discuss them at Leiden University.

Since the disaster in Japan, professors, staff and students of the department of Japanese Language and Culture at Leiden University have regularly been contacted by the media asking for their opinion about the events taking place there. Ivo Smits and Kasia Cwiertka, Professors of Japanese, give their…

Bas Verberk defended his thesis on 6 September 2016

President Akio Yuki and his delegation were welcomed to Leiden by Vice-Rector Prof. Rietje van Dam-Mieras, Prof. Ivo Smits, Prof. Kasia Cwiertka and Dr Rogier Busser on Friday 13 May 2011.

‘There is no such thing as a timeless Japanese soul,’ says newly appointed Professor in Modern Japan Studies Katarzyna Cwiertka. The first month of her professorship turned out to be a crucial test: Japan was hit by a destructive earthquake and tsunami, and Cwiertka had to keep her head in the midst…

Leiden University’s two-year MA Japanese Studies offers a unique opportunity to conduct graduate-level research on various aspects of modern and pre-modern Japan, and to spend a full academic year in Japan.

Of the 29 students who are still in Japan, the remaining four students in Tokyo have been advised to leave the area affected by the disaster.

The master’s in East Asian Studies, a specialisation within the master's of Asian Studies, combines an exceptional range of courses with advanced language training and outstanding resources and expertise.

The Hague Diplomacy Podcast aims at bringing the themes of the journal's research off the page, and onto the discussion table. Each episode will feature a guest who will share their insights and personal experience within their practice of or research on diplomacy. Available via SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts…

Nichiran kankei-shi o yomitoku [Revisiting the History of Dutch-Japanese Relations] is a new, two-volume Japanese publication with a chapter written by Wulan Remmelink. Both volumes offer a new look on the historical relations between Japan and The Netherlands during the Edo period by examining various…

Friday 25 April 2025 | Leiden University Institute of Security and Global Affairs – The Hague

The Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) is devoted to the study of places in the human world from antiquity to the present time in a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective.

In the Bachelor's programme Japanese Studies at Leiden University you will study the rich history and age-old traditions of Japan. Discover the fascinating country of haiku, samurai, geishas and manga.

Dividing Worlds: Tsunamis, Seawalls, and Ontological Politics in Northeast Japan

Do you want to go for a full academic programme? In that case, the next step after obtaining your bachelor’s is a master’s degree (MSc or MA) at a Dutch or international university. You will find that the Science for Sustainable Societies bachelor’s programme qualifies you for many master’s programm…

On the 8th of September Yun-An Olivia Dung successfully defended a doctoral thesis and graduated.

This study examines recovery planning committees across Japan's Tohoku region.

Andrea Giolai defended his thesis on 3 May 2017.

LIAS aims to advance the globally conscious vision of area studies, both within and outside the academic community. Focusing on Asia and the Middle East, the institute is a meeting place of multiple fields of inquiry, theories and methods, historical periods, and areas.

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On October 23rd, dr. Bart Custers, associate professor and head of research of eLaw, the Center for Law and Digital Technologies at Leiden Universitty, delivers a keynote address on the big data and law at the International Conference on Big Data Research (ICBDR 2017) in Osaka, Japan