The research and teaching focus of Department 09 of Universität Frankfurt – Japanese Studies – focuses on pre-modern and modern/contemporary Japan. The department’s teaching is based on a solid repertoire of philology, literature, cultural history and the history of ideas, all of which emphasises the linguistic components and forms the foundation for thorough research into Japan. The canon of classical research into philology, literature and the history of ideas is complemented by the contemporary spectrum of cultural sciences. Reflections on the temporal aspects of research approaches and precise reasons for the establishment of a new theoretical analysis toolbox for each of the relevant themes form part of the basic training in Japanese studies in Frankfurt.

The literary focus covers traditional modern (kindai bungaku) and present-day literature (gendai bungaku) up to the latest trends in Japan’s contemporary literary scene. In addition to individual authors, the programme also focuses on issues relating to the canonisation, the significance of Japanese literature (Nihon bungaku / Nihongo bungaku) within the literary world, the history of research, the development of theories in Japanese literary studies, the interpretation of literature and translation theory and practice. References between literary topics and contemporary cultural discourse are also looked at; here, discourse areas like “precarity” or “loneliness” will be examined and evaluated. Literary history has many links to the history of ideas that open up interdisciplinary fields such as “childhood in Japanese history”.

The “Global Challenges and Cultural Perspectives” Master’s programme offers in-depth insights into the fascinating literary and intellectual worlds of Japan.

The study programme uses historical and modern texts that reflect central topics of the Japanese culture, among them Japanese religious ideas and ideologies, aesthetical systems and intellectual rhetoric, concepts of man, value systems, ideological orientations, identity discourses, Japanese criticism of the Modern Age and the Japanese vision of the future in the 21st century.

The Masters` programme enables students to carry out research activities independently and at a high level, practicing scientific language and methodology. The methods taught in the Bachelor’s programme will be reflected on critically and theoretical concepts will be analysed and related to generally discussed theories and research developments. The Masters’ programme enables students to specialise in Japanese literature as well as cultural history and the history of ideas. Since 2017, quantifying and qualifying text-technological methods (keyword “Digital Humanities”) have been used as part of our cultural history research.

The Frankfurt study programme offers a rich academic life with lectures, excursions and the possibility to talk with experts from the cultural and literary scenes and from the creative industries.