Collaborative Research Center for Theatre and Film Arts,
Theatre Museum,Waseda University

早稲田大学演劇博物館 演劇映像学連携研究拠点

Center Outline

Between 2009 and 2013, the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University, was included in a scheme by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to “promote the maintenance of joint research centers within the humanities and social sciences” (renamed in 2010 as the scheme to “promote the maintenance of distinguished joint research centers” ). The Museum was granted the status of a “Joint Usage and Research Center” and labeled “the Collaborative Research Center for Theatre and Film Arts.” This status was rescinded on March 31, 2013, but re-granted from April 1, 2014, until March 31, 2020, by the Minister for Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Since the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum was founded in 1928 as Asia’s only museum specializing in theatre, it has collected more than a million theatre-related articles. Fully utilizing the enormous range of those materials, our research center publicizes a list of unpublished materials held by the Theatre Museum, makes nationwide appeals for collaborative research themes using these materials, recruits collaborative research teams made up of multiple researchers from across Japan, and provides valuable research materials. In addition, in 2016, the museum received the grant “Scheme to Promote the Maintenance of Distinguished Joint Research Centers: Support for Enhancing Function” from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and is working to facilitate international academic exchange and cultivate young, outstanding researchers.
The Collaborative Research Center for Theatre and Film Arts seeks to further the social benefits and effective applications of research assets accumulated by the Theatre Museum, as well as to promote open and mutual exchange of research in cooperation with associated researchers and research institutions in the fields of theatre and film studies.


In collaboration with both internal and external researchers and research institutions, the Museum will continue to contribute to theatre studies, film studies, and other related fields through the utilization of the Center's resources.

  1. The center also seeks to contribute to the advancement of academic research as a leader in theatre and film studies both in Japan and abroad whilst ensuring that the benefits of research are spread widely throughout society.
  2. By publicizing a list of unpublished materials held by the Theatre Museum, and by recruiting collaborative research teams from around Japan to perform professional interdisciplinary research on these materials, we invigorate theatre and film studies and facilitate open, mutually beneficial research collaboration.
  3. Boldly promote the communal use of research materials by actively publishing its archives, and further the unique research of the Center through its association with the only theatre museum in Asia to house a collection numbering over one million items.