Developing new library services using AI (2021)

Onuma, Tahee

The Research and Development for Next-Generation Systems Office (R&D Office) at the National Diet Library, Japan (NDL) conducts research and development of practical applications for new library services using machine learning and other advanced information technologies as a means of improving the discoverability of digitized materials. One example of how the R&D Office’s efforts are being put to use is the Next Digital Library, an experimental search and view service for digitized materials.
The Next Digital Library features two search functions: a Keyword Fulltext Search of texts that are generated using optical character recognition (OCR) and an Illustration Search for finding illustrations, photographs, and maps that are extracted automatically from digitized material.

Possibilities and Challenges of Interdisciplinary Collaborative work on Japanese Resources (2021)

Fuse, Rie

This paper aims to present the case of the Special Course Kuzushi-ji Seminar at the University of Helsinki during the 2019–2020 academic period, and discusses its results, contributions and challenges. This course was conducted at the University of Helsinki’s Master Programme of Languages based on the Kuzushi-ji seminar offered by the Nagoya University in autumn 2019.

Japanese native teachers in the Soviet era and their records (2021)

Ogawa, Yoshimi

Japanese studies, which were conducted as part of the Chinese and Japanese departments during the Imperial Russia era, became independent and subdivided during the Soviet era. And it was promoted with a momentum far surpassing other Western countries. That momentum continued during World War II and even after the Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration, with tremendous results. Against the backdrop of the tense relationship between Japan and the Soviet Union at that time, the demand for Japanese studies and Japanese language education increased and became increasingly popular.  

The Multi-database Search System for Historical Chinese Characters (2021)

Hatano, Yoshinori
Baba, Hajime
Shoda, Shinya

From 2018, The Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties has been working on building the collaborative framework for an enhanced cooperative database, in consultation with international and domestic institutions. As a result, we released the online search portal, called “The Multi-database Search System for Historical Chinese Characters”, in October 2021. 

Parallel texts database (Japanese-English-Russian) as a research resource for studying agency in Japanese language (2021)

Strizhak, Uliana

The problem of agency is central to study human identity and personhood. The results of the present study show evidence that human agency could be considered through the linguistic agency even though it is rather difficult to equate social agency with grammatical agency.
The paper employs qualitative and quantitative analysis of parallel texts database to examine how high-agentive and low-agentive semantic roles are used to construct a hierarchy in Japanese language and culture in comparison with English and Russian. 

Printed vs Online Japanese Language Dictionaries and Study Applications (2021)

Ivanova, Tsvetomira Hristova

The present study investigated the process of translating Japanese texts (expressions and words) in Japanese language classes or at University state exams into English and/or Bulgarian language by non-native English speakers - Sofia University Japanese studies BA students, and more precisely the actual recourses used for the process of translation.

Use of digital resources by Japanese Language learners (2021)

Fedianina, Vladlena
Savinskaya, Anna
Bulando, Roman

This paper analyzes the extent to which students use open digital resources dedicated to the Japanese studies during the Japanese language learning and research activities and proposes an organized list of such resources.
When described in this paper, the digital resources are understood as an aggregate of software, information, technical, full-text electronic publications, including audio and video records, illustrations and catalogs of electronic libraries, recorded on the electronic storage media and/or posted on Internet websites, which are used for learning and research. No regulatory and teaching method materials are included.

Hikifuda or what Japanese advertising looked like at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries (2021)

Nikiforova, Nadezhda

Hikifuda are woodcut or lithograph prints that retailers and wholesalers, mercantile agencies, and other organisations in Japan of the Meiji era (1868–1912) used as advertising materials.
Japanese advertising leaflets in the RSAL collection represent an interesting, but still poorly studied layer of urban art in Japan at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries.

Wood-block editions of Seiashō with illustrations (2021)

Toropygina, Maria V.

Seiashō is a text of karon ("on poetry") genre written by a famous poet Ton'a (1289–1372). Now it attracts the attention of researchers primarily by poetic legends placed in the sixth part of the work. The text discusses various problems associated with waka poetry, and cites a large number of waka. 
In Edo period all major karon texts were published, but karon publications with illustrations are rare.

Reflections of Japan in East Yorkshire (2021)

Cox, Helena

Beverley Art Gallery is based in the East Riding of Yorkshire, northern England. Its history is linked to Marcus Huish and British Japonism in the 19th century. As part of the official ‘Japan-UK Season of Culture 2020’, we planned an exhibition of Japanese arts to celebrate the Tokyo Olympics. The pandemic made this impossible – but instead of cancelling the exhibition, we developed an exciting way of reimagining ‘Reflections of Japan in East Yorkshire’ virtually.

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