Sophia Magazine vol.4 / WINTER 2016

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“It turned out that this field was really interesting,” Profes-sor Tabuchi laughs. “And, here, I continue as a social scientist to this day.” Today, his focus is on families and communities coming together in the context of the aforementioned de-population-related framework. Considering his expertise in families as well as communities, we can expect great things to come from him.At Sophia University, the Department of Sociology resides within the Faculty of Human Sciences among other depart-ments, such as the Department of Education and the Depart-ment of Social Service, offering a unique program for learning the theory and practice of social and human sciences by sup-porting and assisting people. The department is small, with eight faculty members. However, the faculty’s combined ex-pertise contributes to interdisciplinary learning, making the department highly responsive to students’ needs. One of the defining features of Professor Tabuchi’s seminars is the cen-trality of fieldwork, encouraging students to think outside of the campus setting, on actual sites.Professor Tabuchi concludes our conversation with some food for thought. “Traditionally, sociological research can dwell too much on analysis of phenomena and status quo, and isn’t ideal for making overtures to society in concrete terms, such as policy proposals. I would like us here at Sophia to give rise to a new kind of sociology that takes action to support and assist others in a greater sense.”“Of course, whether we can generalize to extract takeaways that would prove applicable to other cultures’ societies — that’s something we will have to work on,” Professor Tabuchi emphasizes. “I’m aware this won’t be easy, but as a Japanese, I feel duty-bound to give it a try.”Professor Tabuchi was enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo, quietly struggling with the gap between what he was learning and what he actually wanted to study. It was then that he learned about Max Weber’s social theory in a class offered by a different department.“That was my first encounter with sociological perspective and thought. It was an eye-opening experience. ” Professor Tabuchi reflects.After graduation, he transferred to the Department of So-ciology. Initially interested in how Japanese communities adapt and change amidst overlapping traditional and mod-ern Western influences, he studied mainly the issues faced by farming communities. His advisor took a position at another university just as Professor Tabuchi was about to move on to graduate studies, however, forcing him to switch to family sociology, where he could continue to utilize the traditional-modern perspective.It is Time for Sociologists to Take ActionFieldwork with seminar students1 and 2: Showa Village, Fukushima Prefecture 3: Takeno-cho, Toyooka City, Hyogo Prefecture12315Research

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