On Tuesday, April 16, 2019, PhD student Ross Henderson presented “A Fistful of Incense: Basara 婆娑羅 and the Medieval Origins of Japanese Maximalism” as part of the Washin Kai Lecture Series. In the talk, Ross examined the roots of maximalist Japanese visual culture through the concept of basara 婆娑羅, a medieval expression stemming back to a distinctive aesthetic and

Japan Studies MA student Dylan Plung traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts in February for the 22nd Annual Harvard East Asia Society Conference. The HEAS Graduate Student Conference is  an interdisciplinary forum for graduate students to exchange ideas and discuss current research on topics related to East Asia. The conference allows young scholars to present their research to both

Azusa Tanaka, Japanese Studies Librarian at the East Asia Library, was recently awarded the title of “Innovator” in the 2019 Edition of the Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers Awards. From the LJ Movers & Shakers website: The 54 individuals honored here—in 50 profiles—are powerful. That word might not jump to mind when many people think

Please introduce yourself. I’m a doctoral student in Asian Languages and Literature, focusing on pre-modern Japanese literature. I’m a Seattle native and am deeply devoted to my two cats, Bocchan and Robespierre. Why did you choose to study Japan/Japanese? I was lucky enough to grow up in the Seattle Public Schools, where Japanese is taught

On February 19th, Dr. Shi Yinhong (时殷弘), Professor of International Relations at Renmin University of China, Counselor of State Council of People’s Republic of China, gave a lecture on the “China-U.S. Rivalry in the Recent Past, Present and Future”, the fourth in a six-part series on US-China diplomatic relations. Professor Emeritus Donald Hellmann of the Japan Studies

2018 Newsletter Now On-Line Over the last year, the distinguished faculty and staff affiliated with the University of Washington’s Japan Studies Program have received numerous awards and recognition for their outstanding achievements in the field. What follows is a brief summary of these commendations.

As an international relations scholar who studies space law and policy, I have come to realize what most people do not fully appreciate: Dealing with space debris is as much a national security issue as it is a technical one. Considering the debris circling the Earth as just an obstacle in the path of human

Please introduce yourself. My name is Daniel White and I am a second year student in the Jackson School Japan Studies MA program at the University of Washington. Born and raised in Washington State, I completed my undergraduate studies at the UW where I also had the opportunity to study for a year at Waseda

Jackson School Professor Mark Metzler co-hosted Episode 22 of the University of British Columbia’s “The Meiji at 150 Podcast Series”. In observance of the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration, the project highlights the recent research and pedagogical approaches of specialists of Japanese history, literature, art, and culture. In the podcast, Professor Metzler discusses with host

The East Asia Library at UW is home to one of the most extensive collections of information about Japan, Korea and China in the USA. It’s also home to one-of-a-kind materials, each with its own unique story of how it was made and how it ended up at the library. This series tells some of