Currently, foreign persons with high level Japanese language ability are frequently encountered as active figures in Japanese society. On the other hand, overseas, there are more than 360 million people learning Japanese (2015 Japan Foundation survey), and Japanese learners have increased about 30-fold in 36 years. In Japan and abroad, I wonder with what kind of goal in mind Japanese is being studied. First of all, I wonder from when, and what kind of people began learning Japanese. Since the dawn of history, I wonder if there was ever a time when, negotiating with Japan, foreign people used Japanese? Focusing on language, and taking another look at Japan's foreign exchanges, various questions have bubbled to the surface. If we say that such is a thread of the history of Japanese language learning, we encounter historical facts that supersede modern guesses, catch a glimpse of a scene where the same issues are struggled with as present–day language learning, and by following the footsteps of our predecessors, realise a new world is unfolding.

        This website was established with the goal of introducing this field to people interested in Japanese language education and international exchange, through research themes and related materials.

        Well, we have heard of "Japanese learning and education history," but what subject of study does that suggest? As it is the history of language education, there are probably many people who hold the image of textbooks and teaching methods, and teachers as the subject, or the Japanese language education that took place pre-war in Japan's colonies and occupied territories as the main theme.

        This website, so as to support the majority of people's interest, is created with the following as its scope:

        Beginning with people, dictionaries, and study books, we will focus on unnamed teachers, as well as the social background that created the demand for language education for topics. Concerning the period, Japanese language learning records remain from antiquity to the modern and present day, concering regions, including the long history of language research Europe has, this is covered as broadly as possible, such as the many scholars of the Pacific Rim region, with a focus on Asia and Oceana. In addition, tracing the history of Japanese language education, work following subject countries' exchanges with regards to Japan and Japan's foreign exchanges becomes necessary. I will be happy if, by widely establishing topics, periods, and regions, it gains the interest of many people.

        Well, at institutions that have rare materials and artifacts such as libraries and museums around the world, publication of collections on the web is proceeding rapidly.. Moreover, in addition to warehouse catalogue searches, precious documents and rare books are scanned page by page, and full texts can be browsed online. As the digitization of official documents possessed by archives progresses, they are becoming accessible from anywhere in the world.

        This result, along with drastic reduction in the work for data collection, has made it easy for anyone to use a greater number of materials. This site, in the environment that developed such a step, is aimed at the development of this field, and to convey the charm of this field to various interested people.

        The administrator of the website, Yoshimi Ogawa has until now been engaged in Japanese language teaching within and outside the country, in addition to lecturing on the themes of Japanese language education and international exchange. There are new discoveries everyday in the field of Japanese language education, and it is overflowing with issues that should be tackled. Along with coming to grips with Japanese language organisations and teaching methods, she has been conducting research on the modern history of Japanese language education. In particular, the history of the Japanese language education is full of abundant cases to be the subject of discussion. She believes that the work of tracing history is an important process in the advancement of research related to Japanese language education.

・小川誉子美、新聞が報じた日本語教育―日露戦争前後の極東ロシア―、ことばと文字、第2号、2014、pp.27-33、2014

・小川誉子美、ラムステッドと日本語学者たち―フィンランド側の資料をもとに―、ユーラシア都市文化叢書2　沿バルト海の都市－ヘルシンキ、サンクト・ペテルブルグ、ベルリン－、pp.3-18、2014

・小川誉子美、漢字知識の活かし方―草創期来日外国人の漢字使用―、総合学術学会誌、第13号、pp.3-9、2014

・小川誉子美・重盛千香子、ウィーン領事養成学校の日本語講師Do Cyong-Ho　について―フィンランドと日本の資料による新解釈―、日本語・日本語教育の研究 ―その今、その歴史、pp.215-226、2013

・小川誉子美、日本語講師北山淳友の事績―戦間期の対独時代を中心に―、日本学刊、14号、香港日本語教育研究会、 pp.4-15、2011

・小川誉子美、黎明期日本語講座の目的―ヨーロッパ・中東における事例から―、Cairo Symposium on Japan Studies 2010、 pp．20-28、2011

・小川誉子美、欧州における戦前の日本語講座―実態と背景、風間書房、 2010

・Yoshimi OGAWA, Research Sources on Language Teaching and Politics: Japanese language education in Pre-war Europe,　Research and Study Possibilities in and on Japan,　University of Helsinki, Finland, 2015

http://www.jsps-sto.com/newsletter.aspx

・小川誉子美、西洋人の日本語研究と中国、大連理工大学日本語学科講演会、2014

・Yoshimi OGAWA, Japanese Teachers in Prewar Italy and  France: Insights  from Various Materials，European　Association of Japanese Resource Specialists（EAJRS）2013 Paris Conference，Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations (BULAC) France,2013 

・YoshimiOGAWA,　Chikako SHIGEMORI BUČAR，Do Cyong-Ho as Lecturer for Japanese Language in Vienna: Materials from Finland and　Japan New findings on early informal exchange and personal relations between Koreans and citizens or either the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy or its　Successor-states,　University of Vienna, Austria，2012

・YoshimiOGAWA,　Chikako SHIGEMORI　BUČAR，The Japanese language instruction in Germany and Austria before 1945: knowledge and information obtained by multifaceted research，EAJRS 2012, European， Association of Japanese Resource Specialists, Bridging the gaps past and present Japanese resources in the digital age, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Germany，2012

See Details of a Researcher for father information.

        A scientific research grant has been recieved from JSPS for the purpose of constructing this site,JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP24520572, and JP16K02806.

        If you have any questions or comments about this site, please feel free to contact us. We strive to make it convenient and easy to use for those people interested in the field.

©2014 Yoshimi OGAWA