{"id":5662,"date":"2025-06-17T23:25:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T23:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/?page_id=5662"},"modified":"2025-07-02T18:14:26","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T18:14:26","slug":"winter-2024-update","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jsis.washington.edu\/japan\/japan-studies-newsletters\/winter-2024-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter 2025 Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Table of Contents<\/span><\/p>\n

I. Note from the director<\/a><\/p>\n

II. Introducing the UW Center for Japanese Studies<\/a><\/p>\n

III. Program Highlights<\/a><\/p>\n

IV. Faculty Highlights<\/a><\/p>\n

V. Alumni and Student Highlights<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Note from the director<\/h2>\n
\"ProfessorDear faculty, staff, students, and members of our broader community,<\/div>\n
Welcome to the 2024-2025 academic year! I hope your autumn quarter was smooth and productive, and that you\u2019re as enthusiastic as we are about the upcoming winter and spring quarters.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So far this academic year, we have already hosted (in-person or virtually) the author Shibasaki Tomoka, former Vice-Minister of Defense Tokuchi Hideshi, Professor Joshua Mostow (UBC), Professor Gomibuchi Noritsugu (Waseda), and filmmaker Yujiro Seki. In the new year, we look forward to welcoming Professor Matias Ariel Chiappe Ippolito (Colmex) on Feb.\u00a07, the author Li Kotomi on March 5, and Professor Kenneth Mori McElwain (U. of Tokyo) for the Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture on April 22. We hope that you will come and join us for these (and other) great upcoming events.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Celebrating Transitions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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I was honored to succeed Professor Marie Anchordoguy as head of the program this past summer. Marie\u2019s 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\u2019s Commendation. On behalf of all my colleagues, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to Marie for her dedication and leadership.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0of service have been invaluable, and we thank them for their tireless commitment.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re 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\u2019s important work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/h3>\n
As we close out the year, I want to wish you all a joyful and healthy holiday season. I invite you to explore our many upcoming events in the new year. Details are available on\u00a0our website<\/a>.<\/div>\n

<\/h3>\n
Ted Mack<\/strong><\/div>\n
Director, UW Center for Japanese Studies
\nProfessor, Modern Japanese Literature, Department of Asian Languages and Literature<\/div>\n
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\n<\/div>\n

<\/a>Introducing the UW Center for Japanese Studies<\/strong>\"Cherry<\/h2>\n
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The UW Japan Studies Program has been renamed the UW Center for Japanese Studies.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 including Art and Art History, Asian Languages and Literature, Built Environments, History, and the Jackson School \u2014 supporting degrees and programs in various fields.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Importantly, the Center for Japanese Studies remains distinct from the Jackson School\u00a0Japan Studies program, which continues as a degree-granting program in International Studies, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches rooted in the social sciences.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>Program Highlights<\/h2>\n

Waseda Global Leadership Fellows Program<\/h3>\n

\"Waseda<\/p>\n

This fall, the Waseda Global Leadership Fellows Program<\/a> (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.<\/p>\n

Hyakunin\u2019shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan<\/h3>\n

\"Hyakunin\u2019shu:On Oct.\u00a023, Professor\u00a0Joshua Mostow<\/a> from the University of British Columbia\u00a0shared insights from his newest book, “Hyakunin\u2019shu: Reading the Hundred Poets in Late Edo Japan”<\/a> (University of Hawai\u2018i 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\u2019s 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<\/a> and the Department of Asian Languages and Literature<\/a>, and Professor Paul Atkins<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0was host.<\/p>\n

Diversity in Japanese Society film series<\/h3>\n

\"Film<\/p>\n

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\u00a0and Assistant Professor Miriam Chusid<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0of the School of Art + Art History + Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Also shown was “Asako I & II” (2018),\u00a0based 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.<\/p>\n

We continued our film series with “Karankoe no Hana” (2017),\u00a0a short film by Nakagawa Shun about the reactions and actions following a brief comment about LGBT(Q+) individuals by a school nurse\u00a0in a high school classroom.\u00a0The screening was followed by a discussion with Associate Professor\u00a0Davinder Bhowmik<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0from the Department of Asian Languages & Literature.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Faculty Highlights<\/h2>\n

Marie Anchordoguy earns Foreign Minister’s Commendation for work on U.S.-Japan relations<\/h3>\n

\"ConsulOn Aug. 1, Professor Emerita Marie Anchordoguy<\/a><\/strong> was honored with the 2024 Japanese Foreign Minister\u2019s Commendation<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

She previously received commendations from the Japan Consul-General in 2018 for her work.<\/p>\n

Escaping the Highway to Hell: Death, the Afterlife, and Buddhist Practice in Premodern Japan<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In her first public lecture at the UW, School of Art + Art History + Design Assistant Professor Miriam Chusid<\/strong> presented her research on the role of hell paintings in premodern Japan during the 2024 Griffith and Patricia Way Lecture<\/a>. Drawing from two 14th-century sets of images from the Gokurakuji and Konkaik\u014dmy\u014dji temples, Chusid examined how these artworks reimagined hell not just as a place of punishment, but as a potential site of liberation.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The 3.11 Generation: Changing the Subjects: Labor, Gender and Environments in Low Birth Japan<\/h3>\n

\"Dr.Assistant Professor\u00a0Andrea Gevurtz Arai<\/a><\/strong> 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\u2019s Eco Documentary Films’ was published in Eco Disasters in Japanese Cinema (Rachel DiNitto editor, Columbia Press 2024).<\/p>\n

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<\/a>Alumni and Student Highlights<\/h2>\n

Alumni<\/strong><\/h3>\n