Paper short abstract:

The project aimed at a comparative research of management culture in the UK and Japan, focusing on religion and museum in the UK. Japanese anthropologists from Japan and Japan anthropologists based in Oxford collaborated for mutual understanding of other culture and own culture, respectively.

Paper long abstract:

The research project was formed by Japanese anthropologists of administration and Japan anthropologists based in Oxford to compare management culture of UK and Japan, focusing on Religion and Museum from 2001 to 2003. A series of Inter-University Research Projects of Minpaku on the anthropology of administration which has begun in 1993 paved way to this research. It has focused on corporate museums and religious dimension of company culture such as corporate funeral and company shrine in Japan. Hirochika Nakamaki's stay in Oxford in 2000 was functional in preparing a joint research project with mutual collaboration.

The project was funded by JSPS and consisted of 7 Japanese scholars and 4 Japan anthropologists in Oxford. Europe-Japan Centre of Oxford Brookes University, with its director Joy Hendry, facilitated meeting rooms and accommodation. We visited several places together, including Cadbury's chocolate factory in Birmingham and Wedgwood Visitor Centre in Stoke-on-Trent. In addition, Nakamaki and William Kelly worked jointly on pottery and beer museums on the Trent River. Noriya Sumihara and Mitchell Sedgwick visited whisky museums together in Scotland. Yuko Shioji and Louella Matsunaga worked together for the publication of Japanese and English version of their papers.

A research report was published in both Japanese and English. Some papers reappeared in other commercial publications in Japanese and will be published in English. Complementary relation through collaboration worked very well in this project, studying other culture by Japanese anthropologists and own culture by Japan anthropologists, respectively, in the U.K.