MPhil applications for 2025/6 are now OPEN. The application deadline to be considered for funding is 3 December 2024.
The taught MPhil in Japanese Studies gives you the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics relating to Japan, past and present. You will apply the skills gained during your undergraduate studies and advance your research expertise, particularly though the study of primary sources. Topics offered relate closely to the research interests of our staff.
We welcome applications from prospective students who have taken Japanese Studies as a major subject in a first degree programme, have acquired Japanese-language ability or have a strong interest and background in other subjects (e.g. history, anthropology, art history, music, classics, politics, international relations etc.) in the Japanese setting, or have professional experience in a Japanese and/or East Asian context.
For specifics on how to apply, requirements, fees and finance, please see the University Postgraduate Admissions pages for this course.
The course entails:
- A 15,000-word research dissertation on a topic of your choice
- A required seminar in Theories and Methodologies in Japanese Studies, which introduces various disciplinary approaches in Japanese Studies.
- Two optional courses providing specialist training in specific aspects of pre-modern, modern and/or contemporary Japanese history, literature, culture and social anthropology. Certain courses may relate to broader East Asian studies, including Korea. It is possible to borrow one course from other faculties, especially if this course relates to your dissertation topic; borrowed courses must be agreed by the Faculty degree committee
Further details of the course elements
Before you apply, we encourage you to contact us to discuss your research interests. Please see the list of Faculty members below. For more general queries about the degree course please contact the Postgraduate Administrator. If possible, please attach a draft research proposal for your MPhil dissertation when contacting us. The proposal should usually be fewer than 1,500 words in length and can later be submitted as part of your formal application.
The course provides an excellent foundation for doctoral research for those interested in continuing their academic careers. Postgraduates have also found employment in a wide range of fields including commerce, international relations, development and charity work, media, the cultural sector and education.
Faculty Members with Research Interests in Japanese Studies
Having supervised graduate students in a range of fields, including premodern and modern Japanese history, premodern literature as well as Buddhism, Professor Adolphson would welcome enquiries from motivated graduate students and young scholars from across the world.
*Professor Kushner will be on sabbatical leave until September of 2026 but welcomes applications for the PhD programme with a start in the fall of 2026. Potential applicants should contact Professor Kushner directly for queries about 2026 admission.*
Prof. Kushner is pleased to supervise graduate students interested in imperial and postwar Japanese history, 20th century Japan-Taiwan, as well as Sino-Japanese relations, the history of the Cold War in East Asia, and history of war crimes in East Asia.
Prof Moretti welcomes graduate students interested in Japanese premodern and early modern literature. She also strongly encourages projects that investigate early modern Japanese culture more broadly, including visual culture and woodblock prints; book history and/or textual scholarship in Japan; Japanese palaeography and calligraphy, and art.. She is also keen to supervise projects that work on issues of adaptation, canon-making, intervisuality, playfulness, humour, satire, metafiction, didactic prose, medicine in popular culture, and transmedia storytelling.
Dr Nilsson-Wright is happy to supervise graduate students who wish to work on East Asian politics, international relations and diplomatic history, particularly with reference to Japan, North and South Korea and US relations with Northeast Asia.
Dr Steger welcomes inquiries from talented young scholars to work under her supervision. She is willing and able to supervise a wide range of topics related to Japanese contemporary society. Please contact her by e-mail prior to application and submit a draft research proposal (ask for guidelines).
Dr Young is pleased to supervise graduate students interested in modern and contemporary Japanese and Okinawan literature, particularly where linked to themes and issues of imperialism, decolonisation, gender and sexuality, multilinguality, and translation.
