(1) The International regional alliances education program focusing

    on historical findings from the Japan-Holland cultural exchange

    The "Nagasaki University International Student Center Japanese Language Program for Exchange Students" , consisting mainly of students from Leiden University, was organized as a three-party collaborative project of Nagasaki University, University Leiden of the Netherlands, and Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture (Nagasaki Prefecture and Nagasaki City), and opened in April, 2004.

    This program consists of lectures on the history of cultural exchange, with its main focus on "Nagasaki Rangaku (Western Studies)" of the Edo period, and training exercises on investigative researching of old materials gathered from Dutch and Japanese writings. Japanese students of the Faculty of Education, Information Technology and Cultural Studies Division' s Cross Culture Course, also participate in the program to learn together, work jointly on the investigation of old data, and to hold seminars.

    This is an extremely distinctive effort that is based on the history and society of Nagasaki, and contributes to the fostering of cosmopolitan minds that will promote friendship between Japan and the Netherlands as well as open a new frontier in "Nagasaki Rangaku" . With the fact that no other Japanese university has a Department of Dutch Language, Nagasaki University hopes to become a pioneer in Dutch Studies.