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Kokugakuin University Visiting Fellows Program (2025-2026)

Kokugakuin University Visiting Fellows Program (2025-2026)

• 1. Qualifications

  1) Applicants for the Visiting Fellows program shall be researchers engaged in a field of study dealing broadly with Japanese culture and society.

  2) The focus of a Visiting Fellow’s research must be one shared with one or more faculty members of Kokugakuin University to allow appropriate collaboration  and optimum provision of assistance to the Visiting Fellow.

  3) In principle, Visiting Fellows must be candidates for the Ph. D. degree (or equivalent), affiliated with a university or research institution located outside of Japan.

  4) Citizenship or nationality is not taken into consideration during the selection Visiting Fellows.

  5) The successful applicant for the Visiting Fellows Program shall possess a sufficient command of the Japanese or English language to allow successful completion of research and academic activities in Japan.

  6) During the term of his or her designation as a Kokugakuin Visiting Fellow, an individual may not receive other fellowships or funding exceeding JPY300,000 (or equivalent) per month, and may not take on any employment not permitted by the conditions of his or her visa.

• 2. Annual Quota

  No specific Visiting Fellows quota  is set, but it is anticipated that a few candidates will be selected each year of the program. 

• 3. Period of Research

  1) Once selected as a Visiting Fellow, an individual shall begin his or her research in Japan between October 1 and December 1, 2025.

  2) An individual shall conclude his or her term of research as a Visiting Fellow on or before September 30, 2026.

  3) The status of Visiting Fellow shall be granted for a period between six and twelve months. In principle, no change in the period of research is permitted once the applicant begins his or her research at Kokugakuin.

• 4. Stipend and Travel Expenses

  1) A Visiting Fellow shall be provided with economy class airline passage between the Fellow’s home country and Tokyo if the Fellow needs to travel to and from Japan; an airline ticket to Tokyo for inbound passage shall be provided at the beginning of the research term and one from Tokyo for outbound passage at the end of the term. The route covered by the tickets shall be reasonable economy and in terms of availability.

  2) Each Visiting Fellow shall be provided with a monthly stipend of JPY300,000 (months where one’s stay is fewer than twenty-five days shall be paid on a per diem basis (JPY10,000 per day). If a Visiting Fellow takes advantage of on-campus residence (single occupancy), the scholarship will be reduced to JPY210,000 (months where one’s stay is fewer than twenty-five days shall be paid on a per diem basis (JPY7,000 per day).

  （Visiting Fellows will be levied taxes on the aforementioned stipend in accordance with Japanese law.）

• 5. Responsibility of Visiting Fellows

  Visiting Fellows shall agree to fulfill the following conditions to promote international research and academic cooperation:

  1) Visiting Fellows shall appear before faculty colloquia to present research plans at the beginning of the research period, and to present the results of research at the conclusion of the research period;

  2) Visiting Fellows shall cooperate with requests for occasional lectures in their area of specialty at Kokugakuin, so far as such requests do not impede research activities;

  3) Before the end of the research period, Visiting Fellows shall present the results of their research to the President, via the Dean of International Affairs;

  4)During their term as Visiting Fellows, individuals shall dedicate themselves to research activities at Kokugakuin and shall publicize the results of their research, one or more times within two years of the completion of their term as Visiting Fellows, via academic paper(s), monograph(s), or presentation(s) at academic conference(s) or symposium(s). If the results of research cannot be published within two years, the researcher must promptly notify Kokugakuin, along with the reason;

  5) Visiting Fellows shall note specifically in each publication that the research was made possible with the support of the Kokugakuin University Visiting Fellows Program, and this responsibility shall be applied not only to the publications within two years after the research period at Kokugakuin but to all works in which Kokugakuin’s support contributes to. Information of the publications must be provided to Kokugakuin;

  6) Unless otherwise specified, Visiting Fellows shall be responsible for all expenses incurred in their research and everyday life. Examples of such expenses may include, among other things, medical fees, taxes and National Health Insurance fees, and expenses for transportation involved in their research.

• 6. Application Procedures

  Applicants shall submit the documents listed in Section 7 by the application deadline, following the instructions noted in 1), 2), and 3) below. The application process shall not be considered complete until Kokugakuin acknowledges receipt of the documents.

  1) Applicants shall submit the required documents by registered mail, trackable courier service, or by PDF file attachment to email.

  2) Deadline for arrival of all documents at the International Exchange Programs Office is December 12, 2024, Japan Standard Time.

  3) The International Exchange Programs Office at Kokugakuin will send the applicant acknowledgement of receipt of documents within three days. If the applicant does not receive acknowledgement, he/she should contact the International Exchange Programs Office without delay.

• 7. Application Documents

  Applicants shall submit the following documents, completed in either Japanese or English. If documents are submitted in other languages,
  they must be accompanied by an accurate translation in Japanese or English.
  1) Application form (Form 1)
  

  2) Research proposal
  

  3) Recommendation letter from the head of the applicant’s affiliated department / home institution or equivalent.
  

  4) Recommendation letter from a researcher who can attest to the research abilities of the applicant
  ※In the event the authors of letters 3) and 4) are the same person, the two letters may be combined in a single document.
  

  5) Document certifying the status of the applicant as a student or employee of the home institution
  

  6) Curriculum vitae, including the applicant’s academic record, career record, published research, membership in academic societies, and relevant social activity
  

  7) Health certificate (issued by the home institution or other medical authority) certifying the applicant’s health is sufficient to conduct research during the period as a Visiting Fellow.)
  

  8) Recommendation letter from a tenured faculty member of Kokugakuin University (Form 2) agreeing to act as cooperating academic advisor to the applicant in the event the applicant is selected as Visiting Fellow. The letter may also be submitted to the International Exchange Programs Office directly by the recommending Kokugakuin faculty member.
  

  In some cases, Kokugakuin University may request the applicant for further information and/or documentation from the applicant. The applicant may be rejected if any false statements or data is found in the submitted documents. The submitted application documents will not be returned to the applicant.

  Application Form

• 8. Notification of selection

  Successful applicants will be notified of their selection by March 31, 2025. During the screening process, applicants may be asked to attend an interview session using a videoconferencing platform.

  Successful applicants will be sent an official letter of invitation from the President of Kokugakuin University accordingly. In the case that the applicant is not approved to enter Japan for research activities, the nomination as a Kokugakuin University Visiting Fellow will be cancelled.

• 9. For applications forms or further information, contact:

  International Exchange Programs Office, Kokugakuin University
  4-10-28 Higashi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8840 Japan
  TEL +81-3-5778-7061    FAX +81-3-5778-7062
  Attention:  Akihiko Ishiyama (Mr.) 
  E-mail:  kokusai “a” kokugakuin.ac.jp     (Please change “a” into @ to send emails.)

Current and past Visiting Research Fellows

• 2024-2025
  • CAMPAGNOLA, Francesco
    

    Latest Career and Achievements:

    https://cful.letras.ulisboa.pt/people/francesco-campagnola/

    Affiliation and status at time of Visiting Research :

    Lisbon University, Centre of Philosophy, Associate Professor

    Period as Research Fellow：

    December 2024 – April 2025

    Research Topic:

    Machiavelli and reception of Realism in Japan

    Research Collaborators (Affiliation and title as of the time of Visiting Research):

    Professor Genta OKAMOTO, Faculty of Letters

  • CARPINTERI, Mariangela
    

    Latest Career and Achievements:

    https://www.religion.ucsb.edu/people/student/mariangela-carpinteri/

    Affiliation and status at time of Visiting Research:

    University of California, Santa Barbara, PhD Candidate in Religious Studies

    Period as Research Fellow：

    October 2024 – July 2025

    Research Topic:

    The historical evolution of the purification ritual called Ōharae

    Research Collaborators (Affiliation and title as of the time of Visiting Research):

    Professor Kikuko HIRAFUJI, Faculty of Shinto Studies

  • MCCLORY, Megan
    

    Latest Career and Achievements:

    https://history.unc.edu/graduate-student/megan-mcclory/

    Affiliation and status at time of Visiting Research:

    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, PhD Candidate

    Period as Research Fellow：

    October 2024 – July 2025

    Research Topic:

    The Sword Hunt: The Tokugawa Peace through Weapons

    Research Collaborators (Affiliation and title as of the time of Visiting Research):

    Professor Kentaro YABE, Faculty of Letters

• 2023-2024
  • TSOY, Maria
• 2022-2023
  • LAMBERT, Karras James
    

    Latest Career and Achievements:

    https://economics.gmu.edu/people/klamber7

    Affiliation and status at time of Visiting Research:

    George Mason University, PhD Student

    Current Affiliation and status:

    Adjunct Faculty, George Mason University

    Lecturer, Universidad de las Hespérides

    Period as Research Fellow：　

    October 2022 – May 2023

    Research Topic:

    Theory and History of Military Keynesianism after World War II: The Case of the United States and Japan

    Research Collaborators (Affiliation and title as of the time of Visiting Research):

    Professor Hiroyuki OKON, Faculty of Economics

    Achievements that reflect Research conducted at Kokugakuin University:

    Lambert, Karras James. (2023). Three Essays on Economic Order and Intervention.

    https://mars.gmu.edu/entities/publication/ba339d0b-555c-43fc-b450-c98ffd09382a/full　

  • RUEGG, Jonas
  • SOMMEN, Lieven
• 2020-2021
  • RICHARDSON, Drew
    

    Latest Career and Achievements: https://history.ucsc.edu/graduate/Graduate%20Student%20Directory/index.php?uid=dkrichar

    Affiliation and status at time of Visiting Research:

    Department of History, University of California, Santa Cruz, Ph.D. Candidate

    Current Home University and Status:

    Lecturer, Cowell College and Dept. of History at the University of California Santa Cruz

    Period as Research Fellow：

    October 2020 – September 2021

    Research Topic:

    The Intersection of Minzokugaku and Media Studies

    Research Collaborators (Affiliation and title as of the time of Visiting Research):

    Associate Professor Yoshiyuki IIKURA, Faculty of Letters

    Achievements that reflect Research conducted at Kokugakuin University:

    Richardson, D. K. (2024). Mediating Monsters and Provincial Place-Making: Folklore, Local Identity, and the Supernatural in Modern Japan. UC Santa Cruz.

    Abstract: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0nk0b9h1

• 2019-2020
  • GAO, Ming
    

    Latest Career and Achievements:

    https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/michael-gao

    Affiliation and status at time of Visiting Research:

    Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore, Ph.D. Candidate

    Current Affiliation and status:

    Research Fellow at Lund University, Sweden;

    Affiliated researcher at Monash University and Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Australia

    Period as Research Fellow：　

    October 2019 – December 2020

    Research Topic:

    The Construction of Modernity in Japanese Manchuria, 1905-1945

    Research Collaborators (Affiliation and title as of the time of Visiting Research):

    Professor Hidemi HIGUCHI, Faculty of Letters

    Achievements that reflect Research conducted at Kokugakuin University:

    Ming Gao (Forthcoming). Narcotics in the Japanese Empire: Legal Regimes in the Lives of Japanese, Chinese and Koreans, 1900-1945. Routledge.

  • SWOBODA, Julia Maria
• 2018-2019
  • JASNY, Aaron Paul
    

    Affiliation and status at time of Visiting Research:

    Washington University in Saint Louis, Ph.D. Candidate

    Current Affiliation and status:

    Overseas Collegiate Associate Professor, at University of Maryland Global Campus Asia

    Period as Research Fellow：

    December 2018 – September 2019

    Research Topic:

    In Praise of the Peaks: Science, Art and Nature in Kojima Usui’s Mountain Literature

    Research Collaborators (Affiliation and title as of the time of Visiting Research):

    Professor Norio ISHIKAWA, Faculty of Letters

    Achievements that reflect Research conducted at Kokugakuin University:

    Dissertation: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/art_sci_etds/1914/ 　

    Article based on dissertation chapter:　

    Jasny, Aaron Paul. (2019) In Praise of the Peaks: Science, Art, and Nature in Kojima Usui’s Mountain Literature. Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations.

    https://muse.jhu.edu/article/918584 　

  • WAKE, Caroline Akiko
• 2017-2018
  • SMITH, Timothy James