The Network for Education and Research on Asia (commonly known as ASNET) voluntarily began taking initiatives in 2001 as a loosely-connected group of researchers with some form of interests in Asia. Even after the network of researchers expanded and increased activities progressively and the we, as institution, became a public organization, the voluntary will of participating researchers continues to be the backbone of the ASNET.
You might think based on the name that the ASNET is a humanities and social science-related network. However, with a pile of various issues like infrastructure, environment, agriculture, and population, Asia is considered a region that is becoming increasingly important year by year in this age when we became acutely aware of the earth being finite. Therefore, the ASNET is also participated by many natural science-related researchers dealing with these issues. If you look at the syllabus of the cross-departmental program “Japan and Asian Studies,” which is the core educational activities by the ASNET, you should be able to get a glimpse of the breadth of the areas it covers.
Tackling various issues and themes in Asia in collaboration with researchers and students in Asia sometimes leads to a new discovery that the conventional academic systems and the knowledge accumulated around Europe and the United States couldn’t have. We intend to work hard in the hope to contribute as much as possible as a catalyst to promote exchanges between researchers and students who look at Asia from various angles.
Director, Network for Education and Researches on Asia
ISHIDA Takafumi
Professor, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo