Oriental Studies – Japanese Studies

Full-time undergraduate and graduate studies, and part-time undergraduate studies.

The program in Oriental Studies – Japanese Studies is highly interdisciplinary, although the leading discipline is cultural and religious studies. This unique educational program is offered exclusively at the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Warsaw, which boasts almost 90 years of experience in teaching about Oriental/African cultures and languages, including Japanese. This experience is evidenced by the creation of the unique program in Oriental Studies – Japanese Studies. The curriculum is based on years of experience and practice in teaching and researching issues related to Japanese culture and language. The lecturers are specialists, in most cases the only ones in Poland, in matters related to this geographical and cultural area, conducting advanced research supported by numerous publications in both Polish and foreign publishing houses. Language classes are conducted by native speakers. Additionally, to enhance their qualifications and language skills, students have the opportunity to apply for a language or scientific internship in Japan.

The intended learning outcomes have a dual nature: they guarantee the acquisition of extensive knowledge in various aspects of Japanese culture and the ability to use the Japanese language. The studies provide broad knowledge in literature, history, philosophy, religion, and the art of the cultural world of Japan and ensure the acquisition of advanced language skills and competencies through intensive learning of the Japanese language.

The comprehensive education provided by the program in Oriental Studies – Japanese Studies, which also encompasses broadly understood humanities, allows for future interdisciplinary research and understanding the roots of contemporary world issues and attempts to find solutions to them. It provides students with a wide horizon necessary for understanding today’s problems and conflicts arising from civilizational differences. The program also enables the training of new personnel in the field of cultural and religious studies and other scientific disciplines. Implementing the program in Oriental Studies – Japanese Studies allows for achieving cognitive synergy and shaping a new trend of thinking and social awareness, comprising the much-needed understanding, openness, and tolerance towards others, and recognizing the value of one’s own culture and ethical attitudes stemming from the European and Japanese circles.

The acquired knowledge will allow graduates of the Oriental Studies – Japanese Studies program to navigate the general issues concerning the theory and practice of Japanese culture. Graduates will understand the diversity of cultures and civilizations, enabling them to participate in the process of intercultural communication and cooperation. They will have a foundation for theoretical reflection on Japanese culture. Graduates will be able to analyze fundamental phenomena related to Japanese culture, using sound language preparation and methodological preparation in cultural and religious studies, linguistics, philosophy, history, literary studies, and art studies as tools for analysis.

Graduates will be ready to work in cultural promotion institutions, media, editorial offices, and public administration. The increasingly intensive economic contacts with Japan create a demand in the job market for experts familiar with the language and cultural-social realities of this country. Political and diplomatic contacts with Japan require the employment of specialists in Japanese language and culture, who are graduates of the Oriental Studies – Japanese Studies program. Moreover, graduates will be prepared to pursue graduate studies.

Japanese studies in Poland date back in their origins to July 1919, when Bogdan Richter, a graduate of Oriental Studies at the University of Leipzig, organized a Japanese language course at the University of Warsaw just a few months after Poland regained independence. In 1922, he established the Department of Far Eastern Culture at the Faculty of Philosophy, where he lectured on China and Japan. The first Japanese native speaker to teach Japanese at the University was Umeda Ryochu (1926-1928). In the academic year 1933/1934, Baron Mitsui Takaharu, on a visit to Poland with his wife, made a generous donation to the University. It enabled the Institute of Oriental Studies to fund a seminar on Chinese studies which included some Japanology courses. The supervisor of the seminar was Jan Jaworski, with Witold Jablonski as his assistant. One of their students was Wieslaw Kotanski – the future pioneer of Japanese studies in Warsaw and Poland, tutor of several generations of Japanologists, outstanding specialist in many aspects of Japanese culture, especially Japanese language and religions.

Prof. Kotanski created an independent Section of Japanese Studies in 1956, at first a unit of the Department of Chinese Studies, then of the Department of the Far East (1975-1990) and finally, starting from 1990, of the Department of Japanese and Korean Studies (since 2015, Chair of Japanese Studies).

There are more than 200 students at the Chair of Japanese Studies at present, enrolled in three-year first-cycle courses (stationary and non-stationary) and in two-year second­ cycle courses (stationary and non-stationary). Outstanding students can apply for scholarships in Japan, granted on the basis of several exchange programmes with Japanese universities. The first exchange agreement was signed with the renowned University of Tokyo in 1979.

With the help of donations from the Japanese government, public and private institutions and numerous individual donors the library of the Section was greatly expanded. A donation made by the late Takashima Koichi, former president of Kyoei Steel, led to the establishment of the Takashima Foundation in 1993. The Foundation supports the development of Japanese studies at the University of Warsaw. Thanks to Mr. Takashima and his sister Mrs. Kazuko, the Section installed a fine traditional tea ceremony room in the Library of the University of Warsaw, honoured in 2007 and 2010 by visits and lectures of Sen Genshitsu, the 15th Grand Master of Urasenke- one of the main schools of Japanese tea ceremony.

Japanese institutions have repeatedly acknowledged the contribution made by the Warsaw University Section of Japanese studies to research and fostering the awareness of the Japanese culture in Poland, more notably by presenting us with the Japan Foundation Award and the diploma of the Foreign Minister of Japan.

The most memorable and important event in the history of the Chair of Japanese Studies was the gracious visit of Their Majesties the Emperor and the Empress of Japan, who met with our staff and students in July 2002.

The Chair of Japanese Studies conducts research in the following fields:

• Japanese literature
• History of Japan
• Japanese traditional and popular culture
• Japanese culinary culture
• Japanese religion and philosophy
• Aesthetics and art of Japan
• Japanese language and linguistics
• Classical Japanese language
• Japanese theatre
• History of Polish-Japanese relations
• Political and social issues of Japan

More detailed information about the study program and the major can be found on the website: japonistyka.orient.uw.edu.pl