Shortly after the formation of the Center for Japanese Studies we began featuring world famous speakers in Japanese arts, literature, and politics. 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:

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 Sugiyama 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 Yokio 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