As Japan confronts political realignment at home and a shifting global order, questions about the future of its democracy have taken on new urgency.  Join political analyst Tobias Harris on Monday, May 4, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. in Kane Hall 225 for the 19th Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture. In his talk, Japan’s Democracy

RSVP – Japanese Video Game Culture Crossing the Pacific Wednesday, March 4, 2026 Seminar: 4:30-6:30 p.m.  |  Kane Hall 210  |  Free and open to all – registration required Reception: 7:00-8:30 p.m.  |  Walker Ames  |  Tickets: $25 for members, $40 for non-members, $10 for member students and $15 for non-member students Event location: University

Join us Feb. 28 – March 1 in Tokyo for the 2026 UW Converge, the University of Washington’s signature event for international alumni and friends. At UW Converge Summit, leading experts and innovators will explore the forces shaping our shared future. Gain insights as faculty join alumni and industry leaders from around the world to

Join us on February 9 as we host Joy Maa, Assistant Professor of Japanese in the School of Modern Language at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Maa’s talk will explore how computer-mediated communication (CMC), particularly the messaging app LINE, serves as an important space for learning and using pragmatics during study abroad in Japan. By examining

Japan’s 2024 general election for the House of Representatives marked a turning point. The long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) suffered its second-worst showing since 1955, while the far-right populist party Sanseito entered the lower house for the first time, signaling potential shifts in governance with global implications. The fifth volume of “Japan Decides,” co-edited by

The University of Washington’s own Paul S. Atkins, Professor of Asian Languages and Literature, was recently awarded the 28th Yamagata Bantō Prize for his book “Teika: The Life and Works of a Medieval Japanese Poet”. This award honors individuals whose work contributes to introducing international audiences to Japanese culture. In his book, Atkins explores the

What role politicians? What role media? Can political elites shape public opinion by influencing the tone of news coverage, even when they cannot dictate what gets covered? This study addresses that question using text analysis of more than five million Japanese news articles from 2004–2024, showing that rising negativity in legacy media closely corresponds with

Earlier this month, the Government of Japan announced the recipients of the 2025 Autumn Conferment of Decoration on Foreign Nationals. Among the recipients is Marie Anchordoguy, a professor emerita at the Jackson School and former chair of the Center for Japanese Studies. Anchordoguy was honored with the Order of the Rising Sun in the third

Recording available at TownHall Youtube:   Monday, Dec. 8, 2025 | 6 – 8 p.m. | Town Hall Seattle When “Shogun” was released last year, it was a commercial and critical success. So of course, academic historians fretted. Were they concerned that it painted sixteenth-century Japan as another Game of Thrones (with more ninjas and

On Oct. 24, the Jackson School’s Program on Strategy, Policy and Diplomacy Research (SPDR) hosted the public panel, “Positioning Japan in Cybersecurity Trajectories.” Sponsored through a grant from the United States-Japan Foundation, the panel is part of the SPDR Speaker Series. Professor Saadia Pekkanen, the SDPR director, welcomed the panel, moderated and chaired by Steven Vogel, a professor