Research Center for Shuichi Kato and the Japanese Contemporary Thoughts
The activities of Research Center for Shuichi Kato and the Japanese Contemporary Thoughts are aimed at researching the enormous number of books and manuscripts housed in the Shuichi Kato Collection, transmission and utilization of the knowledge gained from them to society, and development of international intellectuals. Researchers of the history of political thought, Japanese literary history, cultural anthropology, journalistic theory, and library studies, etc., from both inside and outside the University gather at the Research Center for a full-scale investigation of Shuichi Kato's intellectual world and transmission of the results.
The Kato Shuichi Collection
Shuichi Kato (1919 - 2008)
Shuichi Kato was one of the leading international intellectuals in post-war Japan. Although he graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the Imperial University of Tokyo as a physician specializing in hematology, he was well-versed in French literature and Japanese cultural theory. In "A History of Japanese Literature" (Vol. 1 in 1975 and Vol. 2 in 1980), Kato described the characteristics of Japanese literature in their historical context, making it the textbook for overseas researchers of Japanese culture. He taught at the University of British Columbia, Free University of Berlin, Yale University, University of Geneva, University of Venice, Peking University, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Tokyo, and Ritsumeikan University, among others.
