Ishiyama Laboratory

The Ishiyama Laboratory (Ishiyama Seminar) is a research group led by Professor Nobutaka Ishiyama at the Institute of Regional Development, Hosei University, Tokyo. Since 2013, working adults from their 20s to their 70s have studied human resource management and organizational behavior here while continuing their careers.

About the laboratory

Most members of the laboratory are working adults who attend classes on weekday evenings and Saturdays. They write master's and doctoral theses, present their work at academic conferences, and publish in peer-reviewed journals. Many alumni stay involved through study groups and events such as the Cross-Boundary Open Lab (Ekkyo Open Lab), where current students, alumni, and people from outside the seminar discuss research together.

We see research as “a gift for someone.” A good research theme is useful to someone, meaningful to the researcher, and achievable with effort. The professor accompanies each student in developing the theme they have chosen.

Recent achievements of students and alumni are listed on our page in Japanese.

Professor Nobutaka Ishiyama

Nobutaka Ishiyama is a Professor at the Institute of Regional Development, the Graduate School of Regional Policy Design, and the Faculty of Lifelong Learning and Career Studies at Hosei University. He specializes in human resource management and organizational behavior. He received his Ph.D. in Policy, Planning, and Development from Hosei University in 2012. He served as a Regional Editor of Asia Pacific Business Review (Taylor & Francis) from 2023 to 2025, and has been a Senior Editor of the Japanese Journal of Administrative Science since 2020.

Research themes

His research examines how people learn and build their careers across organizational boundaries, through side jobs, community activities, and third places, and how organizations can support such learning. He also studies talent management in Japanese companies and the work engagement and job crafting of middle-aged and older employees.

• Cross-boundary learning
• Third places
• Communities of practice
• Job crafting
• Talent management
• Parallel careers
• Careers of middle-aged and older workers
• Human resource management
• Organizational behavior

Publications in English

Journal articles, books, and conference presentations in English, updated automatically from researchmap. Publications in Japanese are listed on our achievements page (in Japanese).