"It's been years since Japan, in the eyes of outside observers, entered the phase of "Japan Nothing." This followed an era of "Japan Bashing" during its 1980s economic heyday and then "Japan Passing" in the post-bubble '90s.
Yet between 1995 and 2005, the number of Japan researchers worldwide has grown by 3 percent, to 6,277, while the number of institutions that research Japan has gone up 13 percent, to 1,189, according to Japan Foundation survey findings released this year.
How do scholars who make a living from studying Japan regard all this? The foreign ministry-affiliated foundation, which since its 1972 inception has played a key role in promoting academic interest in Japan around the world, recently invited 16 leading Japan researchers from the world over to discuss the current status of Japanese studies in their respective countries and regions.