Research

The Cardiff Japanese Studies Centre's mission is to be recognised as a leading centre for research about contemporary Japan, which is used to raise the quality of the teaching within the Centre. The centre is dedicated to: researching and developing a greater understanding of significant areas of Japanese society, politics and business; informing thinking and behaviour through high profile outputs; and developing knowledge through academic and practitioner communications.

Christopher Hood's first book, Japanese Education Reform: Nakasone's Legacy, included one of the first major studies in English of Prime Minister Nakasone, arguably one of the most influential Japanese Prime Ministers in the post war period. At the same time, the study also clearly revealed that, contrary to popular belief amongst Western academics, major reforms are possible in Japan, and that a full understanding of the education system and what Nakasone was aiming to achieve through the reforms is necessary if we are to understand the ideology and workings of future Japanese people and society.

His second book, Shinkansen – From Bullet Train to Symbol of Japan, is a comprehensive account of the history of the shinkansen, from its planning during the Pacific War, to its launch in 1964 and subsequent development. It goes on to analyse the reasons behind its success, and demonstrates how it went from being simply a high-speed rail network to attaining the status of iconic national symbol. It considers the shinkansen's relationship with national and regional politics and economic development, its financial viability, the environmental challenges it must cope with, and the ways in which it reflects and influences important aspects of Japanese society. It concludes by considering whether the bullet train can be successful in other countries developing high-speed railways.

He is currently conducting research about the Japan Airlines flight JL123 crash in August 1985. The research will cover not only the crash itself, but also the aftermath of the disaster and the way in which it impacted the lives of so many people around the world. The study uses the crash as a means to study various aspects of not just Japanese but also global society and looks at why the crash, which remains the largest single plane crash in the world in terms of fatalities, is of such interest over 20 years on. A book on the subject, Dealing with Disaster in Japan: Japanese and Global Responses to the Flight JL123 Crash, will be published by Routledge in English in 2011.

He has also been working on a number of other projects. These have included two translations; the first being Japan – A State Strategy for the Twenty-First Century by Prime Minister Nakasone and translated with Dr Lesley Connors (SOAS, London) and Prof Toshiyuki Nishikawa (Surugadai University); the second, Japanese National Railways: Its Break-up and Privatization by Yoshiyuki Kasai (President of Central Japan Railway Company) and translated with Nozomu Nakaoka (formerly a journalist at the Tÿyÿ Keizai). Dr Hood was also co-editor, with Prof. Geoffrey Bownas and David Powers, of the 2003 book, Doing Business with the Japanese. He was also editor of a four volume collection on Japanese politics, The Politics of Modern Japan, published in 2008.

Maki Umemura's first article was 'The Interplay between Entrepreneurial Initiative and Government Policy: The Shaping of the Japanese Pharmaceutical Industry since 1945', in Business and Economic History On-Line. She has also contributed to several entries in Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World (Sage, forthcoming). Ms Umemura is currently turning her PhD thesis into a book entitled Unrealised Potential: Japan's Post-war Pharmaceutical Industry, 1945-2005. She is interested in the impact of state-industry relations, industrial structure, and culture in Japanese business history. Her current research is on the business of traditional medicines in contemporary Japan.