The Japanese Studies Research Cluster was established in Summer 2016 and is home to UCI’s interdisciplinary Japanese Environmental Humanities research. Drawing on the breadth of expertise of Japanese Studies faculty, UCI aims to become a leading global campus in Japan Studies and Japanese Environmental and Sustainability Studies, engaging graduate students and faculty in Japanese Studies, Anthropology, History, Art, Comparative Literature, and more, to research questions regarding Japan’s contemporary and historical environmental issues.
With funding from a Japan Foundation Institutional Support Program grant (2017-2022), the research cluster held three "Sustainable Japan" conferences. US and international scholars presented their research, establishing the UCI School of Humanities as the locus of engagement in groundbreaking research in the new field of Japanese environmental humanities.
