Regional Differences of the Japanese People and Their Culture

在1991财政年度期间，我们举行了5次座谈会和1次座谈会，阐述了1990年取得的成果。座谈会和座谈会上的讨论积极跨学科进行，不拘泥于学科本位主义。在专题讨论会上，来自每个学科的一名发言者和一名评论员阐明了到目前为止的主要发现，存在争议的问题所在，以及各自研究领域的未来研究前景如何。他们的论述引起了热烈的讨论。我们注意到所有领域都有一个共同的主导趋势：从动态的视角来调查和解释日本人及其文化的地区差异。造成日本文化和社会地域差异的不仅是生态条件，还有政治和文化活动中心的存在。弥生和古方时代日本东西部在边界和内容上的差异是不断变化的。同时，我们认识到，与日本周边地区的人口和文化的比较对于充分阐明日本及其文化的地域性是必不可少的。我们对1991年的结论是认识到迫切需要组织一个多学科和跨学科的大规模研究项目，以调查日本人及其文化的同质性和异质性。

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.