Nichibunken News

This is the report from Prof. Manami Yasui (Nichibunken) who visited the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University on April 22, 2024.　

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On April 22, 2024, Manami Yasui visited Prof. Shigehisa Kuriyama, Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. The purpose of her visit was to invite Harvard University's participation in the Consortium for Global Japanese Studies to promote future research- and education-based exchanges between Harvard University and Nichibunken.

In August 2023, Prof. Kuriyama was the keynote speaker and moderator for a two-day workshop, “Creating Ethical Bodies” at the EAJS conference hosted by Ghent University in Belgium. Yasui also was invited to the workshop, and since then they have been discussing the possibility of future joint research on the body, medical history, and a wide range of humanities and social sciences. Her visit to Harvard University led to further discussions on prospective collaborative research.

Yasui gave Prof. Kuriyama the catalogue “Maternal Health and Images of the body in Japanese Ukiyo-e,” which was published at the end of March 2024, and talked about how the exhibition aimed to analyze illustrations of the female body and the fetus in the context of the history of medicine and art. The online museum, which includes commentary in English, Japanese, and Chinese, has already been viewed by many people from various countries, and thus Yasui emphasized the great potential of future online exhibitions.

She also met and exchanged information with Prof. Gavin Hamilton Whitelaw, Executive Director of the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, Tomohiro Ueda, Visiting Fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and Nobuhiro Mitsuoka, Visiting Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design. Dr. Ueda and Dr. Mitsuoka, who were running the Boston Japan Festival to be held at the end of April, provided information on the important issue of community building through Japanese festivals.

Nichibunken will work on the joint research project between Harvard University, and will report back on the progress of the project.

(by Manami Yasui, Nichibunken)

• At the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University, from the left, Dr. Ueda, Dr. Mitsuoka, Prof. Yasui, Prof. Kuriyama and Prof. Whitelaw.
• Campus at Harvard University