Victoria University masters student Thomas Vink left for Japan last week to attend a regional invitation programme as an ambassador for New Zealand.
Selected as one of twenty graduate students from East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, Vink will spend the next seven weeks participating in academic coursework, cultural activities and individual fieldwork. Vink will study at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies in Kyoto and Sophia University.
At Victoria, Vink’s master’s thesis examines monuments and memorials and the role these sites play in representing various groups’ understanding of East Asian history.
“Ultimately, the significance of my research is to promote an increased understanding of the many different varieties of individuals and groups, in East Asia, that acquire meaning from the past.”
Much of Vink’s fieldwork will involve visiting these ‘sites of memory’, which will in turn form part of his thesis. Vink will also present these findings at a conference in Tokyo with the other scholars.
The programme is funded by the Japanese Government as part of the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange of Students and Youth Programme, which will see 6000 young people travel to Japan over the next five years.