Japanese Studies in the U.S.
An initiative designed to promote Japanese Studies in the United States has
been launched by Yale and the University of Tokyo (Todai), Japan’s premier
educational and research institution.
The initiative, titled the Todai-Yale Initiative for Japanese Studies and Related
Humanities and Social Sciences (or, less formally, the Todai-Yale Initiative),
is the latest of many ongoing academic and student exchanges between the two
universities. University of Tokyo President Hiroshi Komiyama and Yale President
Richard C. Levin signed documents formally establishing the initiative on Nov.
2 in New York City.
The Todai-Yale Initiative will bring researchers from Japan to the Yale campus,
where they will both further their own research and contribute to the field of
Japanese Studies on campus.
“The creation of a research base in the U.S. is an important part
of the University of Tokyo’s plan to promote globalization of Japanese
studies and the first step towards bringing the discipline into the 21st century,” said
Komiyama. “And since Todai and Yale have a century-long history of academic
exchange, it was only natural for us to work with this great university.”
Levin added, “We welcome Japanese scholars to Yale and look forward to
collaborating with them on research in many areas of humanities and the sciences,
as well as adding new knowledge and understanding to the broad field of Japanese
studies.”
The three Todai researchers who will travel from Tokyo to Yale this fall are
Junko Kato, professor in the Graduate School of Law and in political science;
Takuji Okamoto, associate professor of the history and philosophy of science
in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; and Koji Yamamoto, research associate
of political science in the Institute of Social Science.
Kato specializes in comparative politics and political economy. She has published
two books in English, “The Problem of Bureaucratic Rationality,” which
was awarded the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize, and “Regressive Taxation
and the Welfare State.” She received her Ph.D. from Yale in 1992.
Okamoto’s specialty is the history of science. Along with his research
on the history of physics in America, he has surveyed the history of science
and technology of Japan, and has written several articles on electric engineering
and physics in pre-war Japan.
Yamamoto studies the contemporary Japanese political process. His major areas
of interest include election and voting behavior, competition in the political
policy arena and electoral systems in democracies.
Kato, Okamoto and Yamamoto are the latest in the long line of Japanese scholars
who have studied, taught or conducted research at Yale — starting with
Kan’ichi Asakawa, the notable Japanese historian and the first Japanese
person to teach at Yale, who earned his Ph.D. from Yale in 1902. He became an
instructor at Yale in 1907 and a full professor in 1937.
In the future, the Todai-Yale Initiative will sponsor workshops, seminars, a
series of lectures on topics in humanities and social sciences, as well as multiple
collaborative efforts. A newly formed not-for-profit corporation, Friends of
Todai Inc., will seek donations from Todai alumni as well as other individuals
and organizations with an interest in U.S.-Japan relations. Friends of Todai
Inc. will aim to provide the University of Tokyo with financial assistance in
support of all its academic and educational activities in the United States.
The University of Tokyo (Todai) was established in 1877 as Japan’s first
national university. As a leading research university, Todai offers courses in
essentially all of the academic disciplines, and conducts research across a full
spectrum of academic activity. Its graduates have included 16 prime ministers
of Japan and five Nobel Prize winners.
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