Carl Gabrielson in front of a projector showing Japanese imagery

Dr. Carl Gabrielson Defends His Dissertation

We are pleased to announce that Carl Gabrielson has successfully defended his dissertation, “Ambassadors, Apples, and Adversaries: American Military Narratives of the U.S. Japan Alliance,” an ethnographic exploration of the ways that U.S. military personnel in Japan make sense of Japanese culture and their place in it, and the intended and unintended consequences of encountering a foreign culture within a militarized context. Please join us in congratulating Carl on earning his PhD!

Professor Harada Kaori and Maestro Katayama Kuroemon

Noh Theater Events with Professor Harada Kaori and Maestro Katayama Kurōemon X, Feb 26-28

We are pleased to announce an upcoming series of events on Noh theater, Buddhism, and contemporary Japanese culture on February 26 to 28.
Here is the program:
Noh dance masterclass by Maestro Katayama Kurōemon X
Monday, February 26, 1:00 to 2:40 pm, Studio Theater (Black Box, next to Hatlen Theater)
Noh performance (Ama, “The Diver”) by Maestro Katayama Kurōemon X
Tuesday, February 27, 6:30 pm, Studio Theater (Black Box, next to Hatlen Theater)
Lecture on Noh Theater and Buddhism by professor Harada Kaori (Tōyō University, Tokyo)
Monday, February 26, SSMS Building 2135 at 5:00 pm
Lecture on Noh theater and contemporary Japanese culture by professor Harada Kaori (Tōyō University, Tokyo)
Wednesday, February 28, SSMS Building 2135 at 5:00 pm
Workshop on reading and translating original Noh texts (the drama Ama, “The diver”) by professor Harada Kaori (Tōyō University, Tokyo)
Tuesday, February 27, 2:00 to 4:00 pm, Rob Gym 1001A and
Wednesday, February 28, 2:00 to 4:00 pm, Rob Gym 1001A
Public conversation on the relations between Noh and Gagaku, with professor Harada Kaori (Tōyō University, Tokyo) and Fabio Rambelli (UCSB)
Wednesday, February 28, 10:00 to 11:30 am, Rob Gym 1001A
All events are free and open to the public, and everyone is welcome.
Book Cover for "Digital Humanities and Religions in Asia, An Introduction" edited by L.W.C van Lit and James Harry Morris

PhD Candidate Kaitlyn Ugoretz Publishes on Shinto, Material Religion, & Algorithms

PhD Candidate Kaitlyn Ugoretz has published a chapter on her research into global Shinto communities in a new volume, Digital Humanities and Religions in Asia, edited by L.W.C. van Lit and James Harry Morris (De Gruyter 2023). The volume explores the limitations and potential opportunities of applying a digital humanities approach to pre-modern Asian religions. Ugoretz’s chapter, “Consuming Shinto, Feeding the Algorithm,” analyzes the impact of social media software on digital habitus and global religious aesthetic formations through a case study of posting practices relating to domestic altars in digital Shinto communities on Facebook.

Congrats, Kaitlyn!

Book Cover for "Playing War: Children and the Paradoxes of Modern Militarism in Japan" by Sabine Frühstück

New Japanese translation of Prof. Sabine Frühstück’s book Playing War

The Japanese translation of Sabine Frühstück’s book, Playing War (University of California Press, 2017) is now out from Jinbun Shōbo, Kyoto, 2023. 『「戦争ごっこ」の近現代史—児童文化と軍事思想』Joanna Bourke found that it “evokes a world of militarized children enticed into war not only because of the needs of empire, education, and discipline, but also because of the pleasure of play. It uncovers the subtle ways that the image of the child was placed at the forefront of Japanese war rhetoric and practice. By weaving together histories of war, the emotions, and childhood, Frühstück has produced a riveting account of everyday life in Japan.”

artwork for Fleming's Strange Tales from Edo

New Book by Professor William Fleming: Strange Tales from Edo

New Book by Professor William Fleming: Strange Tales from Edo: Rewriting Chinese Fiction in Early Modern Japan (Harvard University Asia Center, 2023).

Strange Tales from Edo paints a sweeping picture of Japan’s engagement with Chinese fiction in the early modern period (1600–1868). Large-scale analyses of the full historical and bibliographical record—the first of their kind—document in detail the wholesale importation of Chinese fiction, the market for imported books and domestic reprint editions, and the critical role of manuscript practices—the ascendance of print culture notwithstanding—in the circulation of Chinese texts among Japanese readers and writers.

Bringing this big picture to life, Fleming also traces the journey of a text rarely mentioned in studies of early modern Japanese literature: Pu Songling’s Liaozhai zhiyi (Strange Tales from Liaozhai Studio). An immediate favorite of readers on the continent, Liaozhai was long thought to have been virtually unknown in Japan until the modern period. Copies were imported in vanishingly small numbers, and the collection was never reprinted domestically. Yet beneath this surface of apparent neglect lies a rich hidden history of engagement and rewriting—hand-copying, annotation, criticism, translation, and adaptation—that opens up new perspectives on both the Chinese strange tale and its Japanese counterparts.