Preface to the Special Issue “Rethinking Gender and Geography in Japanese Contexts”

Abstract

The principal reason for publishing this special issue is to present readers in Japan and around the world with a diverse range of contemporary Japanese research interests relating to gender and geography. Promoting feminist research is of critical importance because, as Yoshida, Murata and Kageyama (2013) raise, the geography of gender is not yet widely broached nor well developed as an area of discussion in Japanese academic circles. Amidst such circumstances, Yoko Yoshida and several colleagues from the field of geography established a new study group for gender and space/place within the Association of Japanese Geographers in March 2011. The study group for gender and space/place has held regular meetings at every bi-annual Association event. Keichi Kumagai also established in 2011 a nationwide research group with members from different universities, including Izumi Morimoto, Akiko Yorifuji, Minako Kuramitsu and Orie Sekimura, with the aim of “constructing a geography of gender and a global network with local sensitivity” through a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. Both of these groups are keen to promote the younger generation of geographers. In fact, we have witnessed a growing number of young geographers joining the Commission on Gender and Geography during both the International Geographical Union’s Kyoto Regional Congress (KRC) and the Nara Pre-conference of Gender and Geography.