Research Activities

　Enjoying a strong track record for attracting competitive research funds, including the government-sponsored Century of Excellence (COE) or “Strategic Research Foundation Grant-aided Project for Private Universities” grants, the Center for Interdisciplinary Study of Monotheistic Religions, Doshisha University, has established itself as a unique research hub with a focus on themes linking US global strategy and monotheistic religions over the past decade. Built on the research outcomes at the Center, this new project aims to explore the significant roles played by religious and social factors in the development of US–Japan relations.

　The project intends to pursue both policy-oriented and history-focused analyses on the following three research topics: 1) social and ethnic influences on US foreign policy, especially toward the Middle East, and their implications for US–Japan relations; 2) activities of religious actors and movements, which now underscore the political significance of ethnic and gender activities as well, impacting domestic politics both in the US and Japan; and 3) the degree of mutual perceptions on those social and religious features in the respective politics. These comprehensive and multifaceted research approaches would help to realize how significantly social, religious, and ethnic components have shaped US–Japan relations.