Centre for Japanese Studies (CJS)  

The Centre for Japanese Studies (CJS) was established at GIBS in January 2011 as a legacy project of the 2010 Japan South Africa Centenary Celebrations. The CJS, the first of its kind to be established in South Africa, is expected to become a centre for business and academic interactions and to contribute to promoting human networks and mutual understanding between the two countries.

Japan and South Africa are strategic partners. Throughout the one hundred years of official relations between the two countries, trade relations have been the anchor of our relations. Japan has been a stable and major trading partner for South Africa for decades. South Africa enjoys a healthy surplus in its trade with Japan through its exports of minerals and automobiles. More than one hundred Japanese companies have representatives in South Africa. Japan’s direct investment to South Africa is also on the rise as evidenced by the recent acquisition of Dimension Data by NTT. (See History of Japanese-South African Relations for more about the bilateral relations.)

The CJS is expected to enhance knowledge about Japan with a focus on, but not limited to, the business community. It will without doubt contribute to further enhancing the bilateral economic and other interactions between our two countries. An elective MBA lecture course on Japan is planned and a number of GIBS Forums, conferences and seminars with prominent Japanese businessmen and scholars will be held under the auspices of the CJS.

Prof Seiichiro Yonekura, Director of the Institute of Innovation Research at Hitotsubashi University and Dean of Nippon Genki-juki at Roppongi Academy Hills serves as Academic Director while Dr Masako Osada is in charge of day-to-day operation as Programme Director.

The establishment of the Centre has been made possible through the financial support of the University of Pretoria, the South African and Japanese business communities and private funders.

Contact: Masako Osada, osadam@gibs.co.za

Professor Seiichiro Yonekura
Academic Director