REGION Japan, Hong Kong, Asia Pacific.

TEAM Bruce White, Joy Hendry, Gordon Mattews.

PARTNERS Europe Japan Research Center, Oxford Brookes University.

DISSEMINATION Warsaw conference panel. 8/2003. Journal publications. Possible book. This internet site.

Thank you to all those people who have participated in this research in Tokyo, Nagoya, Hiroshima and Kyushu!

Read the Report (.pdf)
Read the Report (word doc)

UPDATE: This research has recently expanded and now involves ten international researchers. An edited book entitled "Japan's Possible Futures: Emerging Generations, Idenitites and Worldviews" is due in late 2008.

In a time of perhaps unprecedented communication and interaction within East Asia, this project attempts to understand the possibilities for a breakdown of cultural nationalisms that have characterized this region for the last three generations.

Young people are at the forefront of cross-Asian interaction and exchange, and Japan is at the forefront of helping to define a common popular culture throughout the region. There are several threads to the overall project, (see the EAJS conference panel details for a detailed description) one of which is the following:

Japanese travellers in neighbouring Asia are perceived in a variety of ways, positive and negative. With a decline in traditional Japanese tour-group travel and an increased interest in backpacking and “meeting the locals”, how is a new wave of predominantly younger Japanese people being received by some of their Asian counterparts? This research examines the experiences of several Japanese travellers and asks how immediate and acceptable the idea of a common Asia is to them and their other-Asian hosts. Are old cultural nationalisms a barrier to these cross-cultural interactions, or do new transnational youth identities suggest changed worldviews and future possibilities?

The Organisation for Intra-Cultural Development (OICD)