2026 News and Events
30th annual East Asian Studies Research Symposium
June 9th, 2026
1:00 - 4:00pm, Miller Hall 235
Panel One: The Affective Dimension of Games (1:00 - 1:40)
Discussant, Prof. Ethan Bushelle
Emma Gunnells, “Cards and Community: Collecting and Local Revival in Modern Japan”
Skylar Viene, “Parasocial Spending: Relationship Commodification and
Enhancement Through Monetization in Gacha Games”
Panel Two: Contested Identities in Transwar Japan (1:40–2:20)
Discussant, Prof. Tyler Walker
Sam Altimore, “Reverse-Tenkō: Ishikawa Tatsuzō’s Defiant Turn Toward Anti-Militarism”
Roland Recustudio Olayvar, “Hikiagesha: The Domestic Other of Postwar Japan”
Break and Refreshments (2:20–2:50)
Individual Papers (2:50–4:00)
Morgan Barnes, “Between Honor and Obedience: The Tension Between Law and Ethics in Tokugawa Japan”
Discussant: Prof. Emi Bushelle
Taya Bacha, “Japanese Calligraphy Today”
Discussant: Prof. Julia Sapin
Rowen Mahan, “Tax and Equity in Foreign Subsidiaries of Japanese Automative Companies”
Discussant: Prof. Skylar Powell
Eight Centuries of Japanese Swords
with Michael Kaufman
May 28, 2026 | 4PM | Old Main Solarium
Space is Limited
What is the history of the samurai sword and the master craftsmen who
made them? Join Michael Kaufman, collector of Japanese samurai
swords for over 45 years, for a talk on the swords and sword fittings of
his private collection. Previously exhibited in the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art, the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture, the
Indianapolis Museum of Art, and the Japanese American National
Museum, this will be the first time selections from Kaufman’s collection
will be showcased in a university setting. On display will be swords
(katana, wakizashi, and tanto) and sword fittings spanning the last 800
years, with the earliest blades dating from the thirteenth century. Select
halberds (naginata) and spears (yari) will also be displayed.
The Rime of the Speechless Mariner: Islands and Islanders in Classical Japanese Poetry
with Dr. Jeffrey Neidermaier
Date/Time: March 12, 2026 @ 4:00pm
Location: Miller Hall 121
Dr. Jeffrey Niedermaier is the Mulberry Essence Assistant Professor of Japanese Literature in the Department of East Asian Studies and the Department of Comparative Literature at Brown University. A specialist of classical Japanese poetry, he is interested in how sinographic poetry (kanshi) and vernacular "song" (waka) furnished the classical Japanese court with an imagination of the wider world and its various "abroads."
17th Annual Distinguished Speaker of the Dept. of Global Humanities and Religions Presents:
Between Horses and Heavens
Steppe 'Religion' in the Age of the Xiongu
With Brian K. Miller
Friday, February 6, 2026
4:00 - 5:30pm
Fraser Hall 201 & on Zoom
Just as the ancient Xiongnu nomadic empire was an economically and politically sophisticated entity, so were religious beliefs equally complex. This talk engages the wealth of visual art, archaeological, and historical materials to elucidate the ways in which belief systems and ritual practices of Inner Asian communities during the Xiongnu dynasty elevated geographies and nonhuman animals of the steppe world in a matrix of beings linked to the Tenger heaven.
Scan poster QR code for Zoom link