Featuring: Jonas Rüegg, Senior Teaching and Research Assistant, University of Zurich, and winner of the 2024 Modern Japan History Association Dissertation Prize

Interviewer: Paul Kreitman, Associate Professor of Japanese History, Columbia University

The Kanrin Maru, the first shogunal steamboat, which had sailed to San Francisco in 1860 with Fukuzawa Yukichi other members of the Japanese embassy on board (National Diet Library)

In light of a broader "oceanic turn" in historiography, Jonas Rüegg (Zurich) and Paul Kreitman (Columbia) will examine Japan's place within this broader historiography with reference to Professor Rüegg's prize winning dissertation The Kuroshio Frontier: Business, State and Environment in the Making of Japan’s Pacific (Harvard University, 2022), and Professor Kreitman's new book Japan's Ocean Borderlands: Nature and Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Significant time will also be allotted for audience Q&A.

This presentation was made possible by support from the Japan Foundation.

Featuring: David L. Howell, Robert K. and Dale J. Weary Professor of Japanese History, Harvard University

Interviewer: Kären Wigen, Frances & Charles Field Professor in History, Stanford University

With the publication of the highly-anticipated New Cambridge History of Japan Volume II: Early Modern Japan in Asia and the World, c. 1580–1877, please join us via Zoom for an interview with Volume II editor David Howell (Robert K. and Dale J. Weary Professor of Japanese History, Harvard University). It has been over thirty years since the original Cambridge History of Japan first came out. The forthcoming release of Volume II of the new 3-volume set gives us the opportunity to reflect on how the history of early modern Japan has been traditionally conceptualized and consider how and why current trends in history writing may be shifting these views. Professor Kären Wigen (Frances & Charles Field Professor in History, Stanford University) will interview Professor Howell about a wide range of questions about the past, present, and future writing of the histories of early modern Japan. There will be significant time for audience questions and discussion. This event is not to be missed! 

Click HERE for a shareable PDF flyer!

Featuring: Laura Hein, Harold H. and Virginia Anderson Professor of History, Northwestern University

Interviewer: Kirsten Ziomek, Associate Professor of History, Adelphi University

On the eve of the highly anticipated publication of The New Cambridge History of Japan Volume III: The Modern Japanese Nation and Empire, c. 1868 to the Twenty-First Century, please join us via Zoom for an interview with Laura Hein, the general editor of the three-volume series and editor of volume III. It has been over thirty years since the original Cambridge History of Japan first came out. Much has changed since then in terms of how the history of Japan has been conceptualized and written about. Interviewer Kirsten Ziomek will ask Laura Hein a wide range of questions about the past, present, and future writing of the histories of modern Japan, through the lens of the old and new Cambridge histories. There will be significant time for audience questions and discussion. This event is not to be missed!

Click HERE for a shareable PDF flyer!