The nation’s first contemporary Japan studies center was founded by National Chengchi University (NCCU) yesterday.
The center, funded by Japan’s Interchange Association and the Japan Foundation, is aimed at enhancing academic exchanges between Taiwan and Japan, said Tsai Zheng-jia (蔡增家), director of the new center.
“The center will organize an archive for Japanese studies and serve as Taiwan’s first academic exchange platform [for experts in Japanese studies] by establishing links between experts in Japan studies within and outside NCCU,” university president Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) told a press conference.
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who attended the inauguration, said the center could be seen as an official response from Tokyo to Taiwan’s efforts to make this year a special year for promoting the special partnership between Taipei and Tokyo.
Siew said the government had been dedicated to promoting exchanges between Taiwan and Japan in terms of trade, culture, youth, academics and tourism since early this year.
“Taiwan and Japan have had very close economic and cultural relations despite the absence of diplomatic ties since 1972,” Siew said.
Trade between Taiwan and Japan amounted to US$64 billion last year, Siew said.
Up to 1.08 million Japanese tourists visited Taiwan last year, while 1.3 million Taiwanese tourists traveled to Japan, Siew said.
Despite the close relationship, Taiwanese have a limited understanding of Japan, while Taiwan has very few experts on Japanese studies, Siew said.
Furthermore, Japanese studies in Taiwan usually focus on Japanese history, literature and language, while studies of contemporary Japanese politics and economy are often ignored, Siew said.
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