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

Professor Ken Oshima, the Chair of the Japan Studies Program, was featured in the April edition of Columns Magazine, the University of Washington’s Alumni magazine. Professor Oshima was mentioned in relation to being named President of the Society of Architectural Historians. He is the first president of this organization from the UW. You can read

Outer space security expert and Japan specialist Prof. Saadia Pekkanen argues in her latest Forbes column “North Korea’s Threats Revitalize Preemptive Strike Debate In Japan” that as the idea of preemptive strikes is flying around following recent tension between the U.S. and North Korea, Japan’s preemptive capabilities are being brought into sharper focus.

The Foundation and the Jackson School of International Studies recently celebrated the induction of Daniel Bessner as the first Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Professorship in American Foreign Policy, with Bessner speaking on “Democracy in Exile: Hans Speier and the Defense Intellectual.”  This professorship was created by the Jackson Foundaiton to honor Ken Pyle and

Japan specialist and space expert, Prof. Saadia Pekkanen, calls in her latest Forbes column titled “Why Aggression In Outer Space Should Concern The U.S.-Japan Alliance“, to integrate political, legal, economic, social, and infrastructure solutions to more fully deter adversarial aggression. United States and Japan have a mutual interest in shaping peaceful prospects in and through space.

Jackson School professor Emeritus and Asia expert Donald Hellman gives his analysis to KING 5 News on what President’s Trump’s proposed budget cuts to the U.S. State Department might mean for the U.S. role in the world. “The separation of defense and diplomacy is an artificial one,” he said, describing the multiple components of an embassy

We are saddened to report that Kozo Yamamura, who taught Japan studies at the Jackson School for 32 years before retiring in 2003, died on February 15, 2017, in Honolulu. Yamamura was a world-class scholar and amazingly prolific, writing or editing more than 20 books and scores of articles on the Japanese economy and its

In “The Next-Generation Rockets That Japan Could Use to Protect Itself” in Forbes, Prof. Saadia Pekkanen writes about potential national security space ventures during these times of uncertain U.S. policies toward Asia.