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

Looking to spend a year studying in Tokyo? Applications are now being accepted for the 2026-2027 Global Leadership Fellow Program. Hurry, the deadline to apply is November 30. Learn more about the application process here.

Tateuchi East Asia Library (TEAL) is hosting a special research presentation by Azusa Tanaka, TEAL Japanese collection librarian as part of the 2025-26 Digital Scholarship Series.  Tanaka’s research using microscopic examination and artificial intelligence unlocks the origin and age of paper used in premodern media. November 6, 2026 Gowen Hall 3 FL Seminar Room (enter

Join Jackson School Acting Assistant Professor ​​​​​​​Andrea Gevurtz Arai on Wednesday, Nov. 12 as she dives into the world “Spaces of Creative Resistance: Social Change Projects in 21st-Century East Asia,” of which she is the editor. Over the last two decades, social disconnection, increased income disparity, and new burdens have been placed on the young,

As the world takes note of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we wanted to share writings on this subject by UW students and faculty. Hiroshima and Nagasaki seminar student papers From 1992 through 2019, Professor Kenneth Pyle taught “Hiroshima and Nagasaki”, an honors level seminar. As part of the