Jackson School Japan Studies and International Studies professor Saadia Pekkanen, an expert in outer space governance, security and policy, comments on the venture of a new Seattle-based startup EarthNow, that plans to build a network of several hundred camera satellites to monitor the Earth. Pekkanen says that “while they are certainly promising to revolutionize business and economic intelligence as never before,

Each year Jackson School students work in teams on real-world issues as part of the Donald C. Hellmann Task Force Program, a program that has become a cornerstone of the Jackson School’s undergraduate experience. Task Force is the capstone project undertaken by students in the International Studies Program. Groups of students work with a faculty advisor as

Longtime professor Donald Hellmann launched a capstone course to encourage student analysis of a complex global issue. Known as the Task Force Program, it has become a cornerstone of the Jackson School’s undergraduate experience. Thanks to a recent endowment from Hellmann’s son and daughter-in-law, the program will continue to grow — and give students valuable

On January 19, 2018, Japan Studies Program professors Donald Hellmann and Marie Anchordoguy received special commendations from the Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle. Consul General Yoichiro Yamada acknowledged both professors by awarding them each the official Consul General’s Commendation. The awards are given in recognition of outstanding achievements and of both professors’ contributions to Japan-US

Professor Ken Tadashi Oshima, Chair of Japan Studies and UW Professor of Architecture, has co-curated two major exhibitions in New York and Tokyo. At the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Professor Oshima featured Frank Lloyd Wright’s legendary Imperial Hotel (1923) in “Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive” (June-October 2017). This

In late 2015 UW Japan Studies co-sponsored a symposium entitled Socially Engaged Art in Japan. This 3-day event drew artists, academics, and museum and gallery curators from all over the world. A two-part special issue of the journal FIELD: A Journey of Socially Engaged Art Criticism has been published that was developed from presentations given

Professor Emeritus Don Hellmann, a Korea specialist, is interviewed by KOMO Radio to discuss President Trump’s 12-day visit to Asia. Hellmann says the visit is important for the U.S. because Asia is now one of the most important regions in the world.

Robert Butow who taught in the UW Jackson School and History Department for three decades (1960-1990) died at the age of 93 on October 17, 2017. He was a preeminent historian of US-Japan relations, focusing much of his work on the diplomatic efforts to avoid war in 1941 and to end the war in 1945.

In her latest Forbes blog, Professor Saadia Pekkanen examines U.S.-Japan relations when it comes to dealing with North Korea, given the shape of military and political uncertainties about the U.S. role in Asia’s future in “To contend with North Korea, can Japan rely on the U.S.?“

Professor Paul Atkins’s new book Teika: The Life and Works of a Medieval Japanese Poet has been published by the University of Hawai’i Press. Atkins, who is the Department Chair of the UW Asian Languages and Literature department and an associate professor of Japanese, specializes in pre modern Japanese literature, drama and poetry. Below are