2026 conference in Leiden: minutes

General assembly of the 36th EAJRS conference, Leiden

1. Approval of the minutes of the general assembly of the 35th conference held at Heidelberg

You can find the minutes on the EAJRS website. The minutes are apporved.

2. Next year’s venue

Palacký University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic. 
Dates proposed: mid-September (Tuesday to Saturday).

3. Funding

We are very grateful to the Japan Foundation and the Toshiba International Foundation. Special thanks to the Isaac Alfred Ailion Foundation, and prof. Ivo Smits (Japanese Studies, Leiden), its chairman, for kindly supporting the professional livestreaming and recording of the presentations during the conference.

4. Program booklet

The abstracts, the presentations and/or the text of each presentation will be uploaded on the EAJRS website, if and when the speaker has a agreed to do so. Many speakers have already given their consent. The speakers who did not deliver their file to the secretary Arjan van der Werf and wish it to be uploaded on the EAJRS website, are kindly requested to send it in to him (eajrs@eajrs.net).

5. Format of the next conference

Singular sessions as the main format, and a limited number of poster presentations. The vendors will be consulted about which format they prefer.

6. Deadline for applications for the 2027 Conference

The Board proposes mid-May 2027 as the deadline for the submission of applications of proposals for presentations. End of May, screening of proposals will be completed, and the results will be notified beginning of June. Guidelines will be added to streamline the format of the presentations.

7. Next year’s special topic

To be decided in consultation with the local organizer.

8. Scholarships

Scholarships will depend on the funding we receive. 
Scholarship support is usually limited in time. When we have certainty about the continuation of the funding and the number of scholarships, we will encourage applications.

9. EAJRS cross-talk series 

New project of EAJRS: a platform for open discussion on issues related to Japanese-language metadata and Romanization practices (rules for wakachi-gaki): Chris Dillon (coordinator), Ohtsuka Yasuyo and Kamiya Nobutake. 
There may be other similar initiatives. We encourage pooling and uniting efforts.

10. NIJL memorandum

Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between EAJRS and the National Institute of Japanese Literature, National Institutes for the Humanities
The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding is to promote cooperation in support the preservation, utilization, international dissemination, and research activities related to premodern Japanese texts.

Matters for cooperation:

1. Matters concerning support for cataloguing, digitization, and preservation of premodern Japanese resources
2. Matters concerning the sharing of information on premodern Japanese resources in Europe
3. Matters concerning the promotion of the utilization of premodern Japanese texts in Europe
4. Matters concerning cooperation in research and educational activities
5. Matters concerning other activities that both organizations recognize as necessary for the purpose of this MoU

Specific modalities are being worked out.

11. NDL's Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals

At the request of foreign researchers and institutions, the National Diet Library is looking into opening its "Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals" to users outside Japan. However, it remains difficult to achieve this. The EAJRS supports the requests by other overseas institutions to gain access to this service.

12. Request from Historiographical Institute, Tokyo University

Plans to organize an EAJRS conference in Tokyo, have been postponed until a later date. Difficulties related to timing and funding.
Suggestion: not in place of the annual regular conference, but in addition to it, at a different time of the year.
Attendance from Europe would of necessity be limited. Perhaps a hybrid mode: in person attendance combined with online attendance.

13. Conservation

There is a strong wish to revive the Conservation/Preservation Working Group. NIJL has made the first contributions towards reviving the initiative by giving a lecture on the topic and selecting a related topic for the kotenseki seminar. We believe that the compilation of an English-language manual for restoration and preservation would be extremely useful, since not all persons active in this area have a working command of Japanese.

14. NIHU

Cooperation with EAJRS in the elaboration of the Japanese Studies Resource Guide is continuing and gathering momentum. NIHU also wishes to express its gratitude to Leiden University, in particular Mrs. Nadia Kreeft-Mishkovskyi, for the support in organizing the pre-event.

15. Report from the secretary

The voting on the acceptance of Nadia M. Kreeft-Mishkovskyi as a board member ended Thursday at 14:00.
43 ballots were cast. 42 in favor, 1 against. Meaning Nadia has been accepted with an overwhelming majority. Congratulations!

Attendance:
There were 185 registrations for the conference. 5 people cancelled and 6 people did not show up. 116 people attended the conference in person and 58 people joined online. 

By country

By continent

There were 26 oral presentations and 3 poster presentations. 37 persons involved in these presentations. 15 presentations were in Japanese, 9 in English and 2 were bilingual.

13 resource providers had a promotional booth and 11 made a presentation.

16. Words of gratitude

Professor Luc Sels, President of the Executive Board of Leiden University,
Kurt De Belder, Director of Leiden University Libraries,
Prof. Watanabe Yasuaki and Prof. Joanne Bernardi for the wonderful keynote lectures.

We thank all presenters, for the many excellent presentations. 

Thanks to all resource providers, both public/non-profit institutions and commercial vendors.

Thanks to the members of the board, who have accepted to chair each one or two sessions and their support during the year and the run-up to the conference.

Thanks to my colleague, Arjan van der Werf, who once again put in a great deal of effort and time to prepare the conference. We are much indebted to him.

Above all, we owe a great debt of gratitude to the local organizer, Nadia Kreeft- Mishkovskyi, Subject Librarian and Curator of Japanese and Korean Materials at Leiden University Libraries and Chair of the European Network of Korean Resources Specialists, in a year that was exceptionally busy and demanding. We are deeply grateful to her and to all her colleagues at Leiden University Libraries for their commitment and hospitality.

Thanks to the students and volunteers for the logistical support before and during the conference. Aki, Adam, Florence, Lisa, Luuk, Maarten, and Paola have been very helpful and efficient. They have greatly contributed to the success of this conference.

Thanks also to the staff members of Leiden University who have received and guided us in the various excursion sites yesterday afternoon.