The Digital, The Local and The Mundane: Three Areas of Potential Change for Research on Asia

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a game-changer for academic research because it has affected all of its aspects, starting from the "where," which influences the "what" and the "how." Given these changes, I would like to suggest a few possibilities for updating the "where," the "what," and the "how" of research on the Asia Pacific region. I will illustrate these possibilities with some of my own strategies developed or reinforced during the pandemic, as a historian of the art and culture of early modern Japan. Three dimensions of the changes guide my suggestions: the digital, the local and the mundane.