2016.10.20.

My involvement in Java studies

I was perhaps destined to be related to Java or Indonesia as during my career as a polymer scientist, I was blessed with many opportunities to visit there and stayed several years for research cooperation.

 

In the planning stage of International Workshop on Green Polymers, held in Bandung-Bogor in 1996, I had thought that the famous travelogue, Journeys to Jagatara (じゃがたら紀行), written by Marquis Tokugawa in 1920s would be useful as a guidebook for participants, were it made readable in English. I made some efforts to translate the book (excluding the chapters on Malaya) into English and the manuscript was printed and delivered in the form of a private book of The Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation entitled Travels around Java in 1920s. The same book was reprinted and presented again at the occasion of the second meeting on the same subject in 2000.

 

The manuscript was totally revised and, adding an introduction by the translator, published as a proper book, Journeys to Java in 2004 from ITB Press (Bandung Institute of Technology Press). In the course of these works, I referred to a number of books and learned about the contemporary history or the modern history of the country when the original book was written. The English book, as well as its Indonesian translation, Perdjalanan moenoedjoe Djawa, elaborated by my Indonesian friends and published from the same press in 2006, has been made readable in this website in the [Journeys to Java (transl.)] section.

   Introduction - About the Author, the Book and the Historical Background (by the translator)

 

After retired from public services, I had determined my mind to seriously study the history and culture of Java that I had glanced during my stay in the county, and acquired knowledge by visiting historical sites, learning from literature and discussing with friends and experts. The results were published in Japanese and English in

 

Guardians of temples and shrines in the [Java History] page of this website is the first supplement for above books written up in July 2015 and revised thenceforth.

 

A Review, “Wayang: Javanese Shadow Play and its Derivatives [Part 1 & 2]” (Japanese language) contributed to the Journal of The Society of Fibre Science and Technology, Japan, Vol. 72, No. 10-11, 2016 and the article's [English Translation] have been added in the new [Cultural Tradition] section (December 2017).

 

   [History of Java] Abstract of Contents