Past Programs

Scholars as diverse as Dr. Donald Keene, Beate Sirota Gordon, Dr. Richard Samuels, and Dr. Eleanor Jorden have graced us with their presence and wisdom. The great support we receive from the community has enabled us to host these speakers for free lectures frequently attended by hundreds of people. We look forward to bringing more of speakers of this caliber to PSU in the future.

A partial list of speakers we hosted and their topics:

Spring 2013

Dr. Leith Morton (English Professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Evading Censorship: Maekawa Samio's Poetry on the Pacific War 
Author of many books including Tokyo: A Poem in Four Chapters, Akiko Yosano no 'Midaregami' o Eigo de Ajiwau, and Modernism in Practice: An Introduction to Postwar Japanese Poetry  

Winter 2013

Dr. Naoko Shibusawa (History Department of Brown University)
Surviving Collaboration in the Aftermath of War 
Author of America's Geisha Ally: Re-Imagining the Japanese Enemy
Co-sponsored by PSU Department of History, Oregon Nikkei Endowment, and Portand Center for Public Humanities 

Mr. Sho Dozono (CEO of Azumano Travel)
The "From Oregon with Love" Story 
Oregon Success Stories in Doing Business with Japan
The highly popular television show attracted many Japanese tourists to Oregon and also improved business and cultural exchanges between Japan and Oregon. 

Fall 2012

Dr. Haruo Shirane (Columbia Univeristy)
Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts

Mr. Brant Reiter (Senior Manager of Production and Development at Fujisankei Communications International)
The Global Reach of Japanese Popular Culture: The Influence of "Iron Chef" on American TV Programming
Co-Sponsored by the Mark Spencer Hotel

Mr. Hiro Ito (Portland State Univeristy Associate Professor of Economics)
What Lies Behind the Territorial Disputes Between China and Japan 

Summer 2012

Japan in Motion 2012

Matthew Shores and Students
An Evening of Japanese Vaudeville 

An original Noh play, The Dark Man and a Kyogen play, The Washing Bucket
(Performed in English by students. Instructors: Christina Miles and Laurence Kominz)

Professor Laurence Kominz (Portland State Univeristy Professor of Japanese)
Dance! Drama! Drums! 

Kabuki Play: The Medicine Peddler
Taiko Concert: Debut of the PSU Taiko Ensemble 

Mr. Yuzaburo Mogi (Honorary CEO and Chairman of Kikkoman)
Kikkoman's Global Business (Japanese Success doing Business in Oregon series)

"Abeya" Tsugaru Shamisen U.S. Tour: Commemorating the US Cherry Blossom Centennial
Presented by The Japan Foundation and the PSU Center for Japanese Studies; Co-sponsored by the Consul General of Japan in Portland & the Mark Spencer Hotel

Winter 2012

Dr. Selcuk Esenbel (University of Bosphorus)
Japan’s Global Claim to Islam: Transnational Nationalism and World Power 1900-1945  

                 Co-Sponsored by Middle East Studies Center

Dr. Davinder Bhowmik (University of Washington)
The Spirit of 1968 and 1969 in the Basetown Literature of Ikezawa Natsuki and Murakami Ryuu

The following programs mark the 70th anniversary of the wrongful internment of Japanese Americans:

Dr. David Adler (University. of Idaho)
National Security and Civil Liberties in Wartime: The Internment of Japanese Americans**

Panel Discussion of PSU Dept. of History masters graduates with scholarly expertise
in the Japanese American experience and the legacy of Executive Order 9066.
Moderated by Peggy Nagae, lead attorney in Yasui v. United States, which reopened
Mr. Yasui’s case for violating curfew imposed upon Japanese Americans during World War II**

Dr. Greg Robinson (University of Quebec at Montreal)
Japanese Redress in North America and its Larger Legacy **

** Co-Sponsored by Oregon Nikkei Endowment, PSU History Department, PSU Honors Program, PSU Millar Library Special Collections, PSU Office of the President, PSU Office of Global Diversity and Inclusion, and Friends of History

Kristina McMorris celebrates the release of her second historical novel Bridge of Scarlet Leaves with a book signing. (Barnes & Noble at Clackamas Town Center Mall) ***
*** Co-Sponsored by JASO and the Oregon Nikkei Endowment

Fall 2011

Dr. Woon Do Choi (Northeast Asian History  Foundation, Seoul, South Korea)
What Would It Take For Korea to Forgive Japan for the Past?

Ms. Mika Tsutsumi (Journalist)
Why my book 'Poverty Superpower America' sold 500,000 copies in Japan?

Mr. Haruo Kurata  (Senior Vice President of Ajinomoto USA Inc)
Japanese Success Stories in Doing Business in Oregon:The Case of Ajinomoto

Dr. Patricia Wetzel (Portland State University)                    
It’s not about YOU: Language clutter on the Japanese landscape

Summer 2011

Japan in Motion 2011

THE DEVA KING and other KYOGEN COMEDIES

Permaculture and Butoh

Spring 2011

Mr. Tsuyoshi Yamamoto
Japanese Language Policy 

Dr. Richard Samuels (MIT)                 
Japan-China-U.S. Relations
*Co-sponsored by The Mark Spencer Hotel and Confucius Institute at PSU 

Dr. Ho Tae Jeon (Harvard University)
Koguryo tomb murals and Japan in Ancient East Asian Funeral Arts

Dr. Greg Robinson (University of Quebec at Montreal)                                                        
The International Dimension in Japanese Internment Research

Winter 2011

Dr. Brian Hayashi (Kyoto University)
Asian Americans in the American Spy Service in Asia
*Sponsored by Verne and Aki Naito of Made in Oregon Stores

Mr. Doug Smith  
The InSpec Story  (Success Stories in Doing Business with Japan)

Dr. Yoshiko Kayano  (Meisei University)    
Restoring Ainu Culture, Identity and Community in  Greater Tokyo

Dr. Ken Ruoff (Portland State University)    
Japan’s Challenge to the International System of Racism

Kashu-juku Noh Production (Kyoto) 
Noh Play: "Aoi no Ue" / Kyogen Play: "Bo-Shibari
*Co-sponsor-The Yoshida Group
*Supported by the Japanese Consulate-General in Portland; The Japan America Society of Oregon
*Presented by: The Japan Society of New York / PSU Center for Japanese Studies Center for Japanese Studies  

Fall 2010

Dr.Gavan McCormak (Australian National University)   
The US-Japan Alliance at 50 and the Question of Okinawa

Mr. Junki Yoshida  (Success Stories in Business)
The American Dreamer (in Japanese)

Mr. Junki Yoshida  (Success Stories in Business)        
The American Dreamer （in English)

Dr. Yoshiharu Tsuboi (Waseda University)        
Intensifying the Japan-Vietnam Relationship

Spring 2010

Dr.Takeshi Hara (Meiji Gakuin University)
Housing and Socialism in Postwar Japan

Dr. Hillary Jenks, Portland State University 
Finding the Future in the Past: Preserving Little Tokyo and Building Japanese American Community

World Premiere English Kabuki: "The Sardine Seller’s Net of Love”

Produced by Willamette University Theater Arts Department
Directed by Professor Laurence Kominz, PSU

Ms. Beate Sirota Gordon
How an American Woman Won Equal Rights for the Women of Japan

Winter 2010

Mr.Bruce Brenn 
Establishing Nike Japan

Dr. Joan Ericson  (Colorado College)
Hayashi Fumiko and the Renaissance of Japanese Women's Literature

朱へ (Vermillion Passion） Music Concert

Mr. Adolf Hertrich 
The Vanport Story

Dr. Eiichiro Azuma (University of Pennsylvania )
The Making of Japanese American War Heroes and the Rearmament of Occupied Japan:An intersection of U.S. Race Politics and International Relations

Fall 2009 

 Ms. Nishikawa Senrei   
Japanese Traditional Dance-Then, Now and Beyond
*Co-sponsored by The Japan Foundation  

Dr. Carol Gluck (Columbia University) 
Patterns of Change: A Unified Theory of Japanese History

Kabuki Performance (Tokyo Shotiku)
Backstage to Hanamichi~The Color, Magic and Drama of Kabuki
*Co-sponcered by the Japan Foundation and the Consulate-General of Japan in Portland
with support by the Japan-America Society of Oregon

Dr. Carter J. Eckert (Harvard University)
North Korea in Historical Perspective

Mr. Yasuyo Yamazaki (President of Sun-Based Economy Association)
Lessons in Energy Efficiency from Japan
*Co-sponcered by Institute for Asian Studies

Dr.Toshimitsu Shigemura  (Waseda University)
Japan and the Korean Peninsula

Fall 2008

Heian Culture Today lecture by Kihachiro Nishiura

Butoh, in Japan and Around the World lecture by Katsurakan, Diego Pinon, Hitujiya Shirotama

Japan in Motion '08

Suzuki Acting Today-Prof. Yukihiro Goto (SFSU) and Students

A Kabuki Classic: The Medicine Peddler (Uiro-uri)

Fall 2007

The Theater Prints of Tsukioka Kogyo
This exhibition featured over 40 of Kogyo's noh and kyogen prints, all from a collection owned by Professors Richard and Mae Smethurst of the University of Pittsburgh.

Fall 2006

Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Exhibition
Featuring Nagasaki A-bomb Survivor, Mr. Sasao Akira; Prof. Lisa Yoneyama, "Competing Views on the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima"; and the movie: "Black Rain"

Fall 2005

Dr. Mae Smethurst, Roots of Anime is Traditional Japanese Theater

Dr. Richard Smethurst, Going Along, or Going Alone: Japan and World War II

Dr. Franziska Seraphim, The Political Landscape of War Memory in Japan

Japan in Motion '05 (Summer 2005)

Butoh of the Future by Kasai Akira and Students

Buyo Dance and Kabuki: The Medicine Peddler by PSU students of JPN 410/510

Spring 2005

Dr. Kenji Tominomori, Will Japan Really Reform? - A Clash Between Old and New

Dr. Dick Samuels, Japanese Security Policies - The Times They Are a Changing

Yoko Tawada, Japan in Europe: Fiction and Jazz

Tim Clark, Translating Between Japanese and English

Winter 2005

Dr. Takkeshi Hara, The Use of Time in Governing the Japanese Empire

Tim Clark, Lessons from the Seven Dwarfs: Translating Between Japanese and English

Fall 2004

Dr. Eleanor Jorden, A Forward-Looking Perspective

Sanshotei Charaku, English Rakugo

Dr. Laura Hein, What is the Point of an Economy?: Citizenship and Consumption in Postwar Japan

Japan in Motion '04 (Summer 2004)

The Secrets of Dance: Post-Butoh Contemporary Dance, performed by Setsuko Yamada, Yukiko Amano, and students

Kyogen Comedy and Dance: The Fortified Beard, performed by PSU students

Spring 2004

Center for Japanese Studies First Gala Dinner and Scholarship Awards - Ceremony, featuring Dr. Donald Keene, Shogun Yoshimasa and the Creation of the Soul of Japan

Dr. Donald Keene, The United States and Japan: Their Postwar Literary Connetion

Dr. Takie Su

giyama Lebra, Addressing "You" in Japanese: Triadization and Lococetrism

Winter 2004

Tree Planting Ceremony honoring 150 years of formal U.S.-Japanese relations (March 31, 2004)

Mark Oshima (Kiyomoto Shimatayu), Song, Dance, and Acting: The Basic Ingredients of Kabuki

Dr. Yumiko Kawamoto, What Japan Knew about America Before It Opened

Gil Latz, Challenges for Japan: Democracy, Business, Gender, Aging, and International Relations

Anne Galisky, The Myth of Japanese-Amercian Sabotage at Pearl Harbor and the Internment of U.S. Citizens

Fall 2003

Dr. Ken Ruoff, Japan's Equivalent of the Nuremberg Rallies: Mass Celebrations of the 2600th Anniversary of the Empire in Japan, 1940

Beate Sirota Gordon, How Japan Got It's Postwar Constitution: A Participant's Account

Dr. Antonia Levi, Myths for the New Millenium: Understanding Japanese Animation (Anime)

Dr. Andrew Gordon, Selling the American Way: The Singer Sewing Machine Company in Japan, 1900-1960

Japan in Motion '03 (Summer 2003)

The Spirit of Butoh, performed by Iwashita Toru and PSU students

Buyo Dance and Kabuki: Smashing the Carriage, by students of JPN 410/510

Spring 2003

Minister Naoyuki Agawa, 150 Years of Japan-US Relations: Rediscovery of America by the Japanese

Dr. Larry Kominz, Yet Another Mishima: Comic Playwright Extraordinaire

Dr. Eleanor Jorden, Cultural Issues Involved in Learning Japanese

Dr. Karen Kelsky, Alternative Japan: Two Countercultures

Winter 2003

Dr. Ezra Vogel, Contemporary China-Japan Relations

Seunghye Sun, The Art of Japanese Literati (Bunjin)

Dr. Patricia Steinhoff, Who Really Kidnapped Those Japanese to North Korea

Dr. Richard Samuels, Machiavelli's Children Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan

Fall 2002

Jiro Yamaguchi, Is Reform Possible in Japan?

Fall 2001

Round Table Discussion - Japan-US Relations: Now and Into the Future, featuring Peter Duus, Consul General Toyojiro Soejima, Professor Gil Latz, moderated by Dr. Ken Ruoff

Peter Duus, In America's Shadow: US-Japan Relations in the Post War Period

Spring 2001

Dr. Andrew Horvat, Japanese Beyond Words: How to Walk and Talk Like a Native Speaker

Dr. Donald Keene, The Many Faces of Yukio Mishima

Dr. Donald Keene, The Modernity of the Tale of Genji

Winter 2001

- Round table discussion with special tea ceremony demonstration, Tea Ceremony and Patterns of Japanese Group Communication, featuring Paul Varley

Paul Varley, Rikyu's Tea House