Publications

Japan Forum

Japan Forum is the official journal of the British Association for Japanese Studies. Its primary objective is to publish original research in the field of Japanese Studies, making available scholarship on Japan to an international readership of specialists and non-specialists. From 1996 Japan Forum has been published by Taylor and Francis, a major publisher in the area of Japanese Studies.

Japan Forum is multidisciplinary, publishing contributions from across the Arts and Humanities and Social Sciences. Articles range from archaeology, language, literature, philosophy and culture to history, economics, politics, international relations and law. Submissions from younger researchers as well as from established scholars are welcome, as are submissions that cross disciplinary boundaries or do not otherwise match the subject areas listed above. All submissions are independently refereed.

Notes for contributors and submission instructions are available for logged in members on the Taylor and Francis website.

Japan Forum is included in the Thomson Reuters Emerging Sources Citation Index.

What is the Emerging Sources Citation Index?
The Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) is an additional Web of Science database launched by Thomson Reuters in autumn 2015. At launch it contained around 3,000 titles and will continue to grow in the future. Indexing in the ESCI is identical to the other core databases in Web of Science, but journals will not receive an Impact Factor. However this will increase the discoverability of content and allow us to conduct more in-depth citation analysis on journals included in the database.

Thomson describe this as extending the universe of publications in Web of Science to include high-quality, peer-reviewed publications of regional importance and in emerging scientific fields. The database will currently be offered free to existing Web of Science subscribers

What are the requirements for indexing?
•        Must be peer reviewed,
•        follow ethical publishing practices,
•        meet technical requirements,
•        have English language bibliographic information
•        be recommended or requested by a scholarly audience of Web of Science users.
All journals submitted for evaluation to the core Web of Science databases (the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Science Citation Index, and the Arts & Humanities Citation Index) will now initially be evaluated for the ESCI, and if successful, indexed in the ESCI while undergoing the more in-depth editorial review.

What are the benefits?
Indexing in the ESCI will improve the visibility of a journal, provides a mark of quality and is good for authors. We have already seen examples of institutions and funders suggesting publication in an ESCI listed journal, similar to what already takes places with other Web of Science databases.

Japan Forum Podcasts

Japan Forum Podcasts can be found here

Membership and Council

The Association admits individuals supporting its aims, and has a membership of over five hundred. It is administered by a Council, which is elected at the BAJS Conference. It is funded by an annual subscription from the membership, and all activities (including the Conference) are self-financing. The Council keeps abreast of opinion on the development of and activity within Japanese Studies in UK and represents members’ opinions to outside bodies.

Japan Forum prize – The Ian Nish Prize

Awarded by the British Association for Japanese Studies. Professor Ian Hill Nish CBE was Professor Emeritus of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science where he served from 1962 to 1991. His main fields of interest and research were Japan’s foreign relations and in particular Japan-China relations over the twentieth century.

This prize was launched in 2001 as the Daiwa Japan Forum prize and is awarded for the best article submitted to Japan Forum during the year by an early career scholar. The prize consists of £400 and a one-year membership to BAJS.

We are pleased to announce that the 2023 Ian Nish Prize was won by Irit Weinberg for her article “Suzuki Izumi’s Escape from the World of Women”.

Previous Winners:

2022 Warren Stanislaus (2021) “From Cool Japan to Cold Japan: grime cyborgs in Black Britain”, Japan Forum, 35(3), 271–294.
2021 Mark Player (2021) “UtoPia: An early history of Pia and its role in Japan’s ‘self-made’ film culture“, Japan Forum, March 2021.
2020 Kumiko Endo (2019) “Singlehood in ‘precarious Japan’: examining new gender tropes and inter-gender communication in a culture of uncertainty“, Japan Forum, 31(2): 165-186.
2017 Christopher Smith (2017) ‘Who said that? Textuality in eighteenth century kibyōshi‘, Japan Forum, 29(2): 279-298.
2016 Thomas Baudinette (2016) ‘Ethnosexual frontiers in queer Tokyo: the production of racialised desire in Japan’, Japan Forum, 28(4): 465-485.
2015 Erin l. Brightwell (2015) ‘Refracted axis: Kitayama Jun’yū and writing a German Japan’, Japan Forum, 27(4): 431-453.
2014 Josh Petitto (2014) ‘The Meiji oceanic imaginary and the paintings of Aoki Shigeru’, Japan Forum, 25(4): 458-484.
2013 Tin Tin Htun (2012) ‘Social identities of minority others in Japan: listening to the narratives of Ainu, Buraku and Zainichi Koreans’, Japan Forum, 24(1): 1-22.
2012 Tuukka Toivonen (2011) ‘Don’t let your child become a NEET!’ The strategic foundations of a Japanese youth scare‘, Japan Forum, 23(3): 407-429.
2011 Scot Hislop (2010) ‘The pedagogical value of tsukinami haikai: learning cultural associations‘, Japan Forum, 22(3-4): 263-280.
2010 Ryan Holmberg (2009) ‘Hear no, speak no: Sasaki Maki manga and nansensu, circa 1970‘, Japan Forum, 21(1): 115-141.
2009 Ekaterina Hertog (2008) ‘The Worst Abuse against a Child is Absence of a Parent: How Unwed Mothers Evaluate their Decision to Have a Child outside Wedlock‘, Japan Forum, 20 (2): 193-217.
2008 Robert Tierney (2007) ‘Ethnography, Borders, and Violence: Reading Between the Lines in Sato Haruo’s Demon Bird‘, Japan Forum, 19 (1): 89-110.
2007 Simon Avenell (2006) ‘Regional Egoism as the Public Good: Residents’ Movements in Japan During the 1960s and 1970s‘, Japan Forum, 18 (1): 89-113.
2006 Philip Seaton (2005) ‘Reporting the 2001 Textbook and Yasukuni Shrine Controversies: Japanese War Memory and Commemoration in the British Media’, Japan Forum, 17 (3): 287-309.
2005 Michael Fisch (2004) ‘In Search of the Real: Technology, Shock and Language in Murakami Haruki’s Sputnik Sweetheart‘, Japan Forum, 16 (2): 363-81.
2004 Mikiko Ashikari (2003) ‘The Memory of the Women’s White Faces: Japaneseness and the Ideal Image of Women‘, Japan Forum, 15 (1): 55-79.
2003 Christopher Jones (2002) ‘Politicizing Travel and Climatizing Philosophy: Watsuji, Montesquieu and the European tour‘, Japan Forum, 14 (1): 41-62.
2002 Charles Weathers (2001) ‘The Last Gasp of Labor’s Dual Strategy? Japan’s 1997 ‘, Japan Forum, 13 (2): 215-32.
2001 David Rosenfeld (2000) ‘Counter-Orientalism and Textual Play in Akutagawa’s ‘The Ball‘, Japan Forum, 12 (1): 53-64.