Kumamoto University is one of the few institutions in Japan to offer a program in the specialized area of Studies in Contemporary Cultural Resources. Established in April 2019, the program focuses on contemporary culture, both tangible and intangible, and draws on a variety of methodologies from fields as diverse as linguistics, cultural anthropology, folklore studies, media studies and cultural studies, among others. Through covering contemporary cultural phenomena, such as manga, anime, pop music, theater and dialects, students learn not only how to undertake the research of various aspects of contemporary Japanese culture, but also how to generate new cultural resources, making them available nationally as well as internationally, and even to the future generations.