UW Center for Japanese Studies Newsletters
Winter 2025 Newsletter
Table of Contents
II. Introducing the UW Center for Japanese Studies
V. Alumni and Student Highlights
Note from the director
Dear faculty, staff, students, and members of our broader community,Celebrating Transitions
I was honored to succeed Professor Marie Anchordoguy as head of the program this past summer. Marie’s remarkable career includes 35 years at the University of Washington, over a decade of which she served as chair of the UW Japan Studies Program. Her extraordinary contributions were fittingly recognized with the 2024 Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation. On behalf of all my colleagues, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to Marie for her dedication and leadership.
This year also marks the retirement of Martha Walsh, who supported the Journal of Japanese Studies and the Japan Program for an impressive forty years. Additionally, Ellen Eskenazi, our Associate Director for the past 17 years, has transitioned to a new role as Program and Operations Specialist in the Jackson School. Their decades of service have been invaluable, and we thank them for their tireless commitment.
We’re thrilled to welcome Paul Carrington to our team as our new financial officer and look forward to bringing in a new team member to continue Ellen’s important work.
Looking Ahead
Professor, Modern Japanese Literature, Department of Asian Languages and Literature
Introducing the UW Center for Japanese Studies
The UW Japan Studies Program has been renamed the UW Center for Japanese Studies.
While our mission remains unchanged, the new name better reflects our role as the hub for Japanese research, teaching, events, and collaborations across the entire UW campus. The Center brings together faculty from diverse departments — including Art and Art History, Asian Languages and Literature, Built Environments, History, and the Jackson School — supporting degrees and programs in various fields.
Importantly, the Center for Japanese Studies remains distinct from the Jackson School Japan Studies program, which continues as a degree-granting program in International Studies, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches rooted in the social sciences.
Beyond academia, the Center works with community partners such as Seattle Town Hall, Elliott Bay Books, and Third Place Books to host events that engage and inspire the public.
Program Highlights
Waseda Global Leadership Fellows Program
This fall, the Waseda Global Leadership Fellows Program (GLFP) transitioned to the Center for Japanese Studies after being housed in the University of Washington’s Honors Program. Now in its 11th year, GLFP offers undergraduate students a chance to study a full year at Waseda University within an international structure focused on leadership skills not part of the regular Waseda study abroad program. This program runs autumn to early summer each year.
Hyakunin’shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan
On Oct. 23, Professor Joshua Mostow from the University of British Columbia shared insights from his newest book, “Hyakunin’shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan” (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2024). The book delves into the literary and cultural significance of the Hyakunin Isshu (One Poem Each) in late Edo Japan. ‘One Poem Each’ became a foundation of popular literary literacy in Japan’s early modern era (1600-1868). Focusing on the role of illustrated commentaries and popular prints, Mostow examined how the collection spread among the commoner class through the expanding print culture. He also explored a vernacular interpretative tradition that influenced the earliest English translations of these poems. This lecture was co-sponsored with Washin Kai and the Department of Asian Languages and Literature, and Professor Paul Atkins was host.
Diversity in Japanese Society film series
Throughout November, we hosted several films that explored documentary, drama, and diversity in contemporary Japanese cinema as part of the Diversity in Japanese Society film series. These screenings featured thought-provoking films, followed by insightful discussions with filmmakers and faculty. “Carving the Divine” (2019), a documentary which offers a rare glimpse into a 1400-year-old Buddhist woodcarving tradition, follows Master Seki Koun as he struggles to preserve this ancient craft in a rapidly modernizing Japan. The screening was followed by a discussion with filmmaker Seki Yujiro and Assistant Professor Miriam Chusid of the School of Art + Art History + Design.
Also shown was “Asako I & II” (2018), based on the novel by Shibasaki Tomoka. This award-winning drama by Hamaguchi Ryusuke explores love, identity, and the complexities of relationships through the story of a woman torn between two men. Author Shibasaki Tomoka introduced the film and shared insights into its themes. She also spoke on her latest book at Town Hall Seattle in conjuction with the film.
We continued our film series with “Karankoe no Hana” (2017), a short film by Nakagawa Shun about the reactions and actions following a brief comment about LGBT(Q+) individuals by a school nurse in a high school classroom. The screening was followed by a discussion with Associate Professor Davinder Bhowmik from the Department of Asian Languages & Literature.
Faculty Highlights
Marie Anchordoguy earns Foreign Minister’s Commendation for work on U.S.-Japan relations
On Aug. 1, Professor Emerita Marie Anchordoguy was honored with the 2024 Japanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation for her 35 years of promoting Japan studies in the United States. Anchordoguy taught at the University of Washington from 1989 to 2024 and served as Chair of the UW Center for Japanese Studies on three occasions.
She previously received commendations from the Japan Consul-General in 2018 for her work.
Escaping the Highway to Hell: Death, the Afterlife, and Buddhist Practice in Premodern Japan
In her first public lecture at the UW, School of Art + Art History + Design Assistant Professor Miriam Chusid presented her research on the role of hell paintings in premodern Japan during the 2024 Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture. Drawing from two 14th-century sets of images from the Gokurakuji and Konkaikōmyōji temples, Chusid examined how these artworks reimagined hell not just as a place of punishment, but as a potential site of liberation.
Through an analysis of the Buddhist narrative tales (setsuwa) depicted in the paintings, Chusid revealed how people in medieval Japan navigated anxieties surrounding death, gender, and salvation. Her research, part of her current book project “Envisioning the Afterlife: Image, Text, and Ritual Practice in Premodern Japan,” highlights how these hell images were integral to rituals for the dead and played a crucial role in reshaping spiritual conceptions of the afterlife.
The 3.11 Generation: Changing the Subjects: Labor, Gender and Environments in Low Birth Japan
Assistant Professor Andrea Gevurtz Arai is the recipient of an NEAC Japan Grant for completion of her book “The 3.11 Generation: Changing the Subjects: Labor, Gender and Environments in Low Birth Japan.” She is organizing a conference in April, ‘Ultra-Low Birth Rate East Asia: Crisis Discourses and Collaborative Responses.’ She is co-recipient of a Japan Foundation grant (2025-27) with Kay Shimizu and Gabriella Lukacs of the University of Pittsburgh. She gave a talk the at University of Pittsburgh on Nov. 13 entitled ‘Low Birth Rate East Asia: Feminist Biopolitical and Common Building Responses,’ and her chapter ‘Nuclear Visuality and Popular Resistance in Hitomi Kamanaka’s Eco Documentary Films’ was published in Eco Disasters in Japanese Cinema (Rachel DiNitto editor, Columbia Press 2024).
Alumni and Student Highlights
Alumni
- Caralee Castro (MAIS Japan 2023) completed one year of intensive language study at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama and is now teaching Japanese in South Carolina.
- Seunghyun Kim (Ph.D. 2024) is engaged in post-doctoral research at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Japan where he is researching maritime strategy. Kim received a funding award from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science through their Short Term Fellowship in spring of 2024.
- Anna Schnell (B.A. Japanese 2014) also completed one year of intensive language study at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama, after which they returned to the University of Washington and are now working as a program Coordinator for the Department of Linguistics.
Students
- Lily Allee and Casey Stafford (MAIS Japan) have both been awarded the 2024-2025 Kristen Kawakami Dean Fellowship.
- Juan Felipe Arroyave (Ph.D. Asian Languages & Literature) has been awarded the Ayako Betty Murakami Scholarship for the 2024-2025 academic year.
- Tzu-Lu (Lulu) Hung and Wenyue Zhang (M.A. Asian Languages & Literature) have been named the 2024-2025 recipients of the Kasai-Buerge Scholarship.
- Jane Michael (MAIS Japan) has been named as the 2024-2025 recipient of the Kitto Scholarship.
- Brian Park (Ph.D. History) received the Blakemore Foundation grant to study at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama during the 2024-2025 academic year.
Foreign Language and Area Studies Scholarships
Congratulations to the 2024 Summer and 2024-2025 Academic Year FLAS Fellows! More information about these and other recipients can be found at the FLAS webpage.
- Nathaniel Kent (B.A. Engineering and Global & Regional Studies)
- Mimi Martin (B.A. Asian Languages & Cultures and Global & Regional Studies)
- Lily Allee (MAIS Japan)
- Raechel Kundert (M.A. Asian Languages & Literature)
- Casey Stafford (MAIS Japan)
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