Hong Kong Studies in Japan: a pioneer’s life journey and a follower’s reflection

This article draws on an oral history interview with Professor Mariko Tanigaki, a pioneer of Hong Kong Studies in Japan, whose career began in the 1980s and who retired from her university position in 2026. Remarkably, even in the 2020s, the number of scholars in Japan holding university positions specialising in Hong Kong Studies can still be counted on one hand. How, then, did Professor Tanigaki successfully forge her academic career? This short article focuses on Professor Tanigaki’s life experiences, placing particular emphasis on her cultural exchanges with people from Hong Kong and on how these experiences contributed to her academic and educational development. It also offers a glimpse into the challenges and possibilities of Hong Kong Studies in Japan through Professor Tanigaki’s experiences and her mentorship of the author, a Hongkonger conducting Hong Kong-related research in Japan.