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Japanese studies or Japan studies (Japanese: 日本学, Hepburn: Nihongaku), sometimes known as Japanology in Europe, is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese language, history, culture, literature, philosophy, art, music, cinema, and science.
The historical roots of Western Japanese studies may be traced back to the Dutch traders based at Dejima, Nagasaki during the Edo period (1603–1867). The foundation of the Asiatic Society of Japan at Yokohama in 1872 by Western scholars such as Ernest Satow and Frederick Victor Dickins was an important event in the development of Japanese studies as an academic discipline.