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Division of Economic and Political Dynamics
Professor
SHIMIZU, Hiromu
Cultural Anthropology, Phillipine Studies
B.A. in Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1974
D. Soc., The University of Tokyo, 1987

Research Interests

Since 1997 I have conducted two to three weeks fieldwork almost every year in Hapao village and its neighboring areas in Ifugao province, northern Luzon. Hapao is located at the center of Municipality of Hungduan, where General Tomofumi Yamashita and the main-force units of Japanese army withdrew to and fortified against the US armed forces at the end of the World War II. Magnificent rice terraces in Hapao were inscribed in 1995 as a UNESCO World Heritage (the Living Cultural Heritage). My research topics cover memories of the war and Japanese troops, reforestation and environmental preservation project, woodcarving industry and socio-economic development, influences of globalization, out-migration to Baguio, Manila and overseas, and cultural revitalization, etc. I hope to write a monograph of the life and culture Hapao Ifugaos within a year.
　As a member of JSPS Kaken Project “Aging Society and Transnational Movement of People: Focusing on Southeast Asia and Oceania,” one of my current research topics is the transmigration and/or long-stay of Japanese elderly citizens in the Philippines. My research focuses on discrepancy between reasons why they were attracted by the Philippines (warm climate during the winter, comparatively cheap costs of care-giving services, hospitability of the people, English etc.) and their present perception of the reality, as well as on re-figuration of their consciousness of being Japanese which was shaped through understanding/misunderstanding of and adjustment/maladjustment to the Philippine culture.

Research Activities in 2005 Fiscal Year

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