Paper short abstract:

I will present some translation projects concerning Shinto and Japanese culture. Second, I will discuss the further development of these programs in the age of globalization.

Paper long abstract:

For more than a decade, the Institute for Japanese Culture and Classic (IJCC) at Kokugakuin University has been working through the internet and in real space to raise the global profile of the research undertaken at the Institute on Shinto and Japanese culture.

The IJCC took its first steps in this direction at the turn of the century when Kokugakuin University established its 21st Century Center of Excellence Program under the aegis of the MEXT. We at the Insitute decided its offering under that framework would be to make available online an English translation of Shintō jiten, which the Institute had published in 1994. As editor-in-chief on the project, I had already intended to have the work translated into English. Three chapters were translated by Institute staff members and published in paper form prior to 2002. Following the decision to create an online version of the EOS, the remaining chapters were translated with the assistance of an additional 40 foreign scholars. These six chapters along with the three that had already been published were then made available online for viewing free of charge.

Meanwhile, in the offline world the IJCC since 2002 has been inviting foreign scholars to participate in annual international symposia on various topics related to Shinto and Japanese culture. These fora have helped to establish a network through which we can discuss Shinto and Japanese culture on a global level. Furthermore, the Kokugakuin University Museum in 2014 began preparing guides to its exhibitions in English French, Chinese, and Korean, an effort that has also helped to raise the global profile of the work being done at this higher education institution on Shinto and Japanese culture.

These various programs and endeavors have highlighted the ongoing importance of finding the best ways to translate basic Shinto terms and concepts into foreign languages so as to convey their full meaning. To obtain optimal results will require the further development of studies on Shinto and Japanese culture in both Japan and foreign countries, and it is my hope that an ongoing global exchange of views will help toward achieving that aim.