Japan Center for Asian Historical Records

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Symposium Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records

2021.12.28

　On Tuesday November 2, the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) hosted a two-hour long online symposium (via Zoom) to commemorate its 20th anniversary. With the Symposium’s topic of discussion set as, “Advances in Digital Archives and the Teaching and Research of History,” more than 240 people took part in the event.

Representing the event’s organizer, National Archives of Japan President KAMATA Kaoru delivered opening remarks to kick off the event. This was followed by a keynote speech by JACAR Director-General HATANO Sumio on the JACAR’s achievement and the issues it faces.

　The second half of the Symposium consisted of panel discussion among three Japanese scholars and three historians of East Asia. Their talks focused on the role that digital archives play in research and education of history, and the role that JACAR plays for fostering mutual understanding internationally about history. The speakers were unanimous in their praise for the work that JACAR has accomplished to date, while also addressing the issues faced in Japanese studies both at JACAR and around the world. For further details about the Symposium, we encourage you to view the video of the event that has been posted to the JACAR YouTube channel (see below).

　The Symposium was the first public event to be held by JACAR in ten years. Unlike the previous one held to mark the Center’s 10th anniversary, it was a historic event for JACAR since the online event enabled broad participation by members of the general public in addition to experts and users of JACAR around the world.

　The Symposium served as an opportunity not only to share JACAR’s work and the issues it faces with both users and members of the public at home and abroad, but also for JACAR staff to give further thought about the Center’s mission. We hope to use the fruits of this Symposium as a guide for future work. We would like to take this opportunity once again to express our gratitude to everyone who took part in the Symposium.

REFERENCE
●Program of the JACAR 20th Anniversary Symposium

Opening Remarks: KAMATA Kaoru, President, National Archives of Japan
Keynote Speech: HATANO Sumio, Director-General, Japan Center for Asian Historical Records
Panel Discussion

＜Moderator＞
HAYAKAWA Osamu, Deputy Director-General, Japan Center for Asian Historical Records

＜Panelists＞
UEDA Kaoru, Curator, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
AKAGI Kanji, Professor Emeritus, Keio University
GOTO Makoto, Associate Professor, National Museum of Japanese History

＜Commentators＞
Lee Seong-Whan, Professor, Keimyung University
Song Zhi-Yong, Professor, Japan Institute, Nankai University
Huang Tzu-chin, Researcher, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica
Q&A

●Release of Video of the JACAR 20th Anniversary Symposium

Video of the Symposium is available at following URL.

Symposium Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (Japanese only)〈https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD03LWaQJ7M〉

●Issuance of a Commemorative Publication

As part of our 20th anniversary activities, we published, JACAR: Twenty Years of History. Please visit following URL as well.