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Position

Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

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Field

Modern Japanese History / History of Agricultural Policies / Gender History

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Investigating life stories of people of the past and their links with the present day

I specialize in the modern and contemporary history of Japan, and am engaged in historical research combining the topics of "agriculture and rural community" and "gender." I have spent a number of years researching prewar agrarian nationalismagrarianism (n��hon shugi) and the significance of this movement, and recently I have been exploring a topic that creates links between agriculture and farming villagesrural community and gender. I am fascinated in the life stories of people who did not get a place on the center stage of history, such as the women who pursued movements aimed at improving living conditions in farming villagesrural communities from the 1920s to the 1940s, prior to the Second World War. I would like to trace the way in which normal people in the past actively considered the issues they faced and pursued movements to address them, and how these movements now connect to the present day. I see Japan Studies as a research field in which we seek to understand Japan from a diverse range of perspectives within the framework of the world as a whole. The movements that developed in certain regions of Japan at certain points of its history are surely connected to trends that were occurring beyond Japan in the same periods.

I am currently supervising research by graduate students in a range of areas across the fields of society, economics, and culture, including topics such as "Comparative research of the protection of cultural properties in Japan and South Korea" and "Modernization and agricultural administration in Japan, with a focus on rice price problems." I also involved in modern regional studies through a project on a farming villagerural community in the Tohoku region that I have had a connection with since prior to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. I visit the villagecommunity every year and carry out interviews on the impact of the disaster and the situation since then. Whatever the topic, an appreciation of the historical background combined with an awareness of its links to the present will give us a versatile perspective in our approach to researching Japan.

Nowadays information is readily available on the internet and other sources, but in academic research it is important to avoid getting lost in the information and take a thorough look at things with our own eyes. I would also like to see students expanding their own awareness of issues and developing their eye for international comparison by reading broadly and actively participating in events and initiatives such as symposiums and research seminars, not only in their own specialist areas but also the related fields.