Aiden Fraser

I'm a BA Japanese Studies graduate who has moved to Norwich for my MA Interdisciplinary Japanese Studies at UEA, in collaboration with the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. My enthusiam lies in all aspects of learning and researching at university, with a particular affinity for anthropology, sociology and literature. Throughout this degree and archival experiences I have determined that archiving is the path for me. 

By trade I am a bartender, however I have multiple experiences with archiving that make me an ideal candidate.

ARC Research Assistant for Digitisation of UK Japanese Collections:

Art Research Centre (ARC) at Ritsumeikan University

This assistantship was a week-long placement in both the British Museum and the V&A, working on creating an online database of Japanese visual arts. The research project is undertaken jointly by the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures (SISJAC) and the Art Research Centre (ARC) at Ritsumeikan University.
Throughout this time I assisted with sophisticated digital photography, worked on digital data management, and cataloguing of a collection of over seven hundred titles of ehon or Japanese illustrated books in the Victoria and Albert Museum, and painting scrolls and albums in the British Museum, London.

Volunteer Archivist:

East Anglia Film Institute, Norwich Record Office

For the month of July I worked part time in the East Anglia Film Archive to help digitalise the collection of film and video. Using recording software and spreadsheets was a huge aspect of my work, so I became rather fluent at image quality handling and data management.

BA (Hons) Japanese Studies at Oxford Brookes - 2:1, 3.44 GPA

MA Interdisciplinary Japanese Studies at University of East Anglia - Course ending September

Throughout my Masters degree, I have not just used archives for research but have actively worked in them, which has given me much hands-on educational experience.