The Japan Academy

International Cooperation

Cooperative Research Activities with Union Académique Internationale

The Japan Academy has been participating in the UAI program since it became a member in 1919. As a core institution, the Academy takes part in the planning and implementation of collective research projects. One such project, "Historical Documents Relating to Japan in Foreign Countries," was started in 1922 to locate and duplicate unpublished historical documents on Japan held abroad. When the 89th General Assembly of the UAI was held in Japan in 2017, lectures in the thematic session related to the above project were given to the public.


Unpublished Historical Documents Relating to Japan in Foreign Countries

This project was initiated in 1922 as the seventh project of the Union Académique Internationale. Its aim is to research historical documents relating to Japan in overseas archives primarily from the 16th to 19th centuries .  Historiographical Institute at the University of Tokyo has been commissioned to carry out this project: to collect and keep the microfilms and to make them available to researchers.  Among such documents, the “Diaries kept by the Head of the English Factory in Japan”, “Diaries kept by the Heads of the Dutch Factory in Japan” and “Jesuit Letters Concerning Japan” have been published by the Institute as “Nihon Kankei Kaigai Shiryo (Historical Documents in Foreign Languages Relating to Japan) ” in both original texts and Japanese translation series.

Unpublished Historical Documents Relating to Japan in Foreign Countries（project information available on the website of the UAI）

Nihon Kankei Kaigai Shiryo (Historical Documents in Foreign Languages Relating to Japan)

Japanese Ancient Coinage

This project was initiated in 2019 as the 94th project of the Union Académique Internationale. Its aim is to publish an English catalogue of pre-Edo period Japanese coins housed in museums and other institutions, both domestically and internationally. The first volume, “JAPANESE ANCIENT COINAGE I: A Catalogue of William Bramsen’s Collection in the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, ” was published in 2023 (Publisher: ARM, ISBN: 978-486333-196-9).

Japanese Ancient Coinage（project information available on the website of the UAI）

Exchanges with Overseas Academies

Through agreements concluded with eleven institutions in ten countries mutual visits of members and information exchanges are conducted and joint research is carried out to promote scientific collaboration.

Counterpart Institutions

Institution Date Agreement Signed
Royal Society of London March 26, 1971
British Academy October 19, 1972
Romanian Academy October 12, 1976
Hungarian Academy of Sciences November 17, 1976
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences April 23, 1980
Bulgarian Academy of Sciences October 22, 1980
Academy of Sciences, Institute of France October 5, 1994
Royal Society of Canada May 17, 1995
National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Korea November 5, 1998
Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities August 25, 2005
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Italy) May 12, 2011

Japan-Korea Science Forum

From 2006, the Japan Academy and the National Academy of Science, Republic of Korea, have been holding a joint forum. Its venue alternates every year between Japan and Korea. At the forum, members of the two academies give presentations on a selected theme of common interest and engage each other in discussions. The 15th Forum was held in Tokyo in September 2023.

Cooperation in the Edition of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae

The Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL) is a monumental dictionary of Latin, which comprehensively documents the Latin vocabulary up until around 600 AD, along with usage examples with the relevant context. The project was initiated at the end of the 19th century as a joint effort of five academies in Germany and Austria, with a special institute established in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (Munich). After World War II, it became a project with international cooperation under the supervision of the International Thesaurus-Committee. By now it is more than two-thirds complete.

The Japan Academy has been cooperating in the project since 1987, participating in the International Thesaurus-Committee, providing a financial contribution, and facilitating the dispatch of researchers.

(Reference Links)

Project: Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (badw.de) (In English)
Das Projekt: Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (badw.de) (In German)

Guide to the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (Project Introduction in Japanese, published in 1989)

Starting from 2019, the dictionary is accessible through open access (accessible through the links below).

TLL Open Access: Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (badw.de) (In English)
TLL Open Access: Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (badw.de) (In German)
Please note that public access becomes available three years after the publication of each respective fascicle.