Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies

About Us

The Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies is one of the world’s leading centres for the study of Japan. Established in 1981 by a generous endowment from Nissan Motor Company Ltd., the institute is home to over 20 faculty affiliates specialising in Japan across various disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. As part of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies, the Nissan Institute offers MSc and MPhil programmes in Japanese Studies, which enable students to choose course options ranging from politics, economics, and anthropology to history, linguistics, and literature. Faculty at the Nissan Institute also supervise doctoral students and contribute to undergraduate teaching in their departments and in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.

The Nissan Institute has a vibrant intellectual community. Each week, renowned scholars of Japanese studies are invited to present their research at the Nissan Seminar in Japanese Studies, which is open to the public. It also hosts the Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies Series, which is the largest academic book series on Japan in the world, with more than 100 volumes published to date. The Nissan Institute is located within the grounds of St Antony’s College in a standalone building whose construction was made possible by a second endowment from Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. in the early 1990s. This building includes offices for academic staff and visitors, teaching rooms, and a 150-seat lecture theatre, and it houses the Bodleian Japanese Library, which opened to readers in 1993 and holds one of the principal research and teaching collections for Japanese Studies in the United Kingdom. Read more about the history of the Nissan Institute.