Gakushuin University in Tokyo has launched Japan's first graduate course for archival studies with the aim of training experts to maintain past as well as contemporary documents and hand them down through the generations.
The 12 students in the inaugural class — eight for master's degrees and four for doctorates — are expected to contribute to developments of archival systems, whose formulation in Japan is considered behind other nations.
"It's the mission of archivists to create a truly democratic society through protecting records on social, economic or cultural activities, and relaying them for posterity," said Masahito Ando, director of the Graduate Course in Archival Science. "I hope we can educate those who will assume this significant role."