About the Journal

Mutual Images is an annual, double-blind peer-reviewed and transcultural research journal established in 2016 by the scholarly, non-profit and independent Mutual Images Research Association (MIRA). Registered under the ISSN 2496-1868, it started as semiannual, with its first issue being published in Summer 2016; since 2021, Mutual Images assumes an annual periodicity, and is issued every December.

Mutual Images was founded by Aurore Yamagata-Montoya, Maxime Danesin & Marco Pellitteri, three European researchers from different fields (photography, literature, and sociology), who shared both an interest in the mutual cultural influences between Japan and Europe, and a certain philosophy of research. Both elements are the cornerstones of Mutual Images, which borrows its title from a fitting expression used by Akira Iriye for his publication Mutual Images: Essays in American-Japanese Relations (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1975). Several academics have, since Iriye’s work, focused on explicating those “mutual images”, especially regarding the Japanese-American interactions. If Mutual Images's editorial board has chosen to mainly investigate another area - a Japan-Europe axis -, it has kept the same belief: that is, only through a continuous interrogation of such images, being in constant evolution, it will be possible to overcome the stereotypical images and enable a better understanding of societies.

Given these premises, Mutual Images' the field of interest is the analysis and discussion of the ever-changing, multifaceted relations between Europe and Asia, and between specific European countries or regions and specific Asian countries or regions. A privileged area of investigation concerns the mutual cultural influences between Japan and other national or regional contexts, with a special emphasis on visual domains, media studies, the cultural and creative industries, and popular imagination at large.

As an international journal, Mutual Images uses English as a lingua franca and strives for multi-, inter- and/or trans-disciplinary perspectives. It follows the same principle which is at the very core of Mutual Images Research Association's philosophy: to be at the crossroads, thus allowing for a beneficial information exchange.

As an Open Access Journal, Mutual Images provides immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge.

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Mutual Images mainly hosts contributions from the proceedings of the Mutual Images Research Association's workshops. However, this journal is open to contributions (papers, reviews, interviews etc.) from scholars and researchers interested in the mutual relations between Europe and Asia from the perspective of human and social sciences, regardless of their involvement in our events. For spontaneous submissions, please refer to the rules mentionned on the dedicated page.

As for MIRA's workshops - where we strive to give young researchers and postgraduate students the same opportunities as established scholars -, we strongly encourage contributions from young scholars even in the very initial stages of their careers, confident that inclusion and early attempts at academic publishing are among the best ways to help green researchers grow, acquire confidence, and get used to being published; that is, to undergo the several and sometimes energy-demanding steps of the professional process of review, revision, and editing.

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE & POLICY STATEMENT

Creative Commons License

Mutual Images Journal by MUTUAL IMAGES RESEARCH ASSOCIATION is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Mutual Images uses the digital archiving policy of the PKP Preservation Network (PN).