The NTNU Japan Program was established in 1998, based on strong research ties in science and enginee
The Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU) Japan Program promotes education and state-of-the-art knowledge about Japan and student and researcher exchanges between NTNU and Japanese universities and research institutes. It sponsors an annual NTNU Japan Seminar as a venue for world class cutting-edge research and intellectual exchange on Japanese politics, economics, society, scienc
Osaka versus Tokyo dialects.
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How to order ramen in Japanese.
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Japan and Korea: Distant Politically, close linguistically.
Standard versus Gen Z Japanese popular phrases
25/11/2025
My interview with Pravda in Slovakia (In other words: "Pre Pravdu to vysvetlil profesor medzinárodných vzťahov Paul Midford z Meiji Gakuin University v Jokohame.") about Prime Minister Takaichi's controversial statement about a Taiwan crisis and China's reaction.
Čína a Japonsko sa zasekli vo vojne slov o Taiwan. Hrozí aj skutočný konflikt? Čo by urobilo Japonsko, keby sa Čína pokúsila ovládnuť Taiwan silou? Tokio by to mohlo priviesť až k vojne s Pekingom.
Here is a video of my book talk yesterday at Hope College: The Senkaku Islands Confrontation and the Transformation of Japan's Defense (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025). 昨日ホープ・カレッジで行ったブックトークのビデオはこちらです。『尖閣諸島の対立と日本の防衛の変革』（パルグレイブ・マクミラン、2025年）
23/10/2025
Upcoming book talk on The Senkaku Islands Confrontation and the Transformation of Japan's Defense. 尖閣諸島対立と日本の防衛の変革に関するブックトークを開催します。
The Senkaku Islands Confrontation and the Transformation of Japan’s Defense" Dr. Paul Midford In his book, Dr. Midford explains the dramatic and well reported shifts in Japanese defense policy at the end of 2022, offers a distinct interpretation of the trajectory of Japan's defense strategy over the past decade and argues that it is driven by a renewed focus on territorial defense and de fac...
24/09/2025
Meshida's English language comedy videos sometimes provide insightful social commentary. This one touches on two stereotypes of foreign tourists that I believe really do anger many Japanese, especially using torii gates as exercise bars (never do that!). Of course, these are very rare incidents (like a leading politician's claim the other day that foreign tourists sometimes kick deer in Nara), but they produce a visceral reaction (especially the torii gate case). Also, when I first saw "Foreigners-Only Train Cars" caption for a split second I believed it was real. That seems like something the Japanese government (or railway companies) might actually do.
Foreigners-Only Train Cars: Coming to Japan? Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
20/09/2025
The history of LDP Presidential Elections since 1955.
History of Presidential Election of the Liberal Democratic Party | Liberal Democratic Party of Japan An introduction to the political activities of the Liberal Democratic Party. Here you will find information about press conferences held by the President of the LDP, the Vice-President, the Secretary-General and the Chairman of the Policy Research Council, as well as news about Diet member activitie...
20/09/2025
About Japan's relatively new Official Security Assistance (OSA), a complement to its decades old Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Japan to donate ships, drones to Malaysia under security assistance program Move is part of Tokyo's efforts to counter Chinese activity in South China Sea