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Welcome to BAJS
The British Association for Japanese Studies is a UK-based association of scholars and researchers dedicated to the development of Japanese Studies. Our aim is to promote teaching and research on Japan by coordinating events such as academic conferences and circulating information about the field.
Our website is here to inform non-members about the association and its activities, as well as provide BAJS members with an effective and useful method of keeping up to date with Japanese Studies in the UK.
Latest News
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BFI Programme: Seasons in the Sun: The Heyday of Nikkatsu Studios
The Nikkatsu Studios are the oldest in Japan’s film history and BFI Southbank celebrates their centenary with this eclectic season of some of the most popular Japanese films made – by the studios - during the 50s and 60s. The programme encapsulates an era of output that defined a post-war ‘golden age’ of cinema in Japan and reflected the changing landscape of social culture. Season of the Sun (Taiyô no kisetsu, 1956) was a pivotal work in Japanese cinema about love across the social divide, and marked the screen debut of Yujiro Ishihara who would become the Japanese equivalent to James Dean. He also starred as a jazz drummer embroiled in the criminal underworld in Man Who Causes a Storm (aka Stormy Man/ A Man Calles Storm, 1957) and as a pilot on a mercy mission in Crimson Wings (Kurenai no tsubasa, 1958). As the 60s approached the influence of American and European cinema was evident – and bore little relation to contemporary Japan, with mash-ups of genres including musicals, film noir, gangster movies and even American Westerns. Monday Girl (aka Only on Mondays, 1964) is a Nouvelle Vague-style portrait of a young, cosmopolitan woman – think Godard meets Breakfast at Tiffany’s – and cult classics Branded to Kill (Koroshi no rakuin, 1967) and Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter (Noraneko rokku: Sekkusu hanta, 1970) tell tales of a kill-or-be-killed hitman and a delinquent girl-gang, respectively, that have influenced modern directors Wong Kar-wai, John Woo and Quentin Tarantino.
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Japan Forum Editorial Team
Since 2011 Japan Forum, the official journal of the British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS), has been hosted by the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield. The BAJS Council welcomes expressions of interest from any UK-based institution, or partnership of institutions, to host the journal from September 2014 for a period of three years.
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JSAA Conference 2013: Cities, Nature and Landscapes
The 18th Biennial Conference of the Japanese Studies Association of Australia will be held at ANU from 11-18 July 2013. The conference theme of Cities, Nature and Landscapes: from Nara to the Networked City focuses not only on the social impact of disaster, but on learning from past experiences as we move towards the future of living spaces and human communities and on the 'networked cities' of the future.