Regional Differences of the Japanese People and Their Culture

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We have held 5 colloquia and one symposium during the fiscal year 1991 elaborating the results obtained in 1990. The discussion in the colloquia and the symposium has actively been carried out interdisciplinarily, not sticking to the departmentalism of disciplines. In the symposium, among others, a speaker and a commentator from each discipline made clear what the major findings up to present were, where controvertial issues lied, how the prospect for future research looked like in their fields of study. Their expositions were followed by heated discussion.We observe a leading trend common to all the fields : dynamic angle of view to investigate and interpret regional differences in the Japanese people and their culture. Not merely ecological conditions but also the existence of the centers of political and cultural activities have been responsible for the regional differences of Japanese culture and society. The difference between eastern and western Japan during Yayoi and Kofun Ages in the antiquity was ever-changing in terms of the boundary and contents.At the same time we have realized that compareions with the populations and cultures of the areas surrounding Japan are indispensable for full elucidation of the regionality in the Japanese and their culture.Our conclusion for the year 1991 is the recognition of urgent need for organizing a multi-and interdisciplinary research project of an extended scale for investigating the homogeneity and heterogeneity in the Japanese and their culture.