CURRENT
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Quarterly Newsletter of the Center for Japanese Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Mânoa
Winter 2004 Vol. 7 No. 1Contents
1Feature Stories

2

CJS Seminar Series

3Recent Events

4Faculty News

5Student News

5

Other News

6

From the Library

7

Announcements

DIRECTOR’S VISIT TO JAPANAt Urasenke Gate. (L to R): Edgar Porter, Caroline Ingersoll, Bruce Hamana (Urasenke), Elizabeth Sloane, Robert Huey.

J-Current reports on the achievements
and activities of UHM Japanese Studies faculty and students as well as Japan-related events, research, scholarships and overseas programs. Submission deadline for the next issue is April
14, 2004. Please send to:
J-Current Editor
Center for Japanese Studies
1890 East-West Road, Moore 216
University of Hawai‘i at Mânoa
Honolulu, HI 96822
E-mail: cjs@hawaii.edu
Tel: (808) 956-2667
Fax: (808) 956-2666
Web: www.hawaii.edu/cjs
Copyright © 2004 Center for Japanese Studies.
All rights reserved.
An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action
Institution

Several UH delegations crossed paths
in Japan in November, 2003. Director
Robert Huey was an invited participant
at the annual conference held at theNational Institute of Japanese Literature (Kokubungaku Kenkyû Shiryôkan)on November 13th and 14th, thenjoined School of Hawaiian, Asian andPacific Studies (SHAPS) Dean Edgar
Porter, UH Foundation President Elizabeth Sloane, and UHF Director of Corporate Relations Caroline Ingersoll ata reception for UHM alumni in Japan,
hosted by Dentsu, the UH Foundation,and the Rainbow Aikane Club in conjunction with graduation ceremonies for
the Japan-focused MBA (JEMBA) program. [On November 13th, Dean Porter
gave a presentation about SHAPS andinternational studies at UHM to thecontinued on page 2CJS SPONSERS CHANOYUOUTREACH PROJECTThe Center for Japanese Studies andThe International Way of Tea Center
held its first outreach project on December 8, 2003. The project brought 165
Punahou high school students on theUHM campus for a tea demonstration
at Jaku’an Tea Hut and short lectureson complementary topics. Mr.
Yoshibumi Ogawa (Urasenke) gave tea
demonstrations in Jaku’an Tea Hut. Dr.
Willa Tanabe (Art, UHM) lectured on
the tea garden. Dr. Paul Varley (History, UHM) gave a historical overview
of tea in Japanese history. Dr. Robert
Huey (CJS, UHM) discussed the aesthetics of chanoyu. Mr. Wayne
continued on page 2

22004 Winter

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Japan Visit, continued from page 1

JEMBA Board.]
Huey, Ingersoll, Porter, and Sloane
then traveled to Kyoto, where on November 17th they were given a tour ofthe Konnichi-an compound at
Urasenke. They subsequently met
with the Director of the Urasenke Foun-dation, International Division, and discussed roles that CJS and SHAPS
might play in Urasenke’s new initiatives in China. On the 19th, the four
were invited to participate in theSôtanki, Urasenke’s annual day-longevent memorializing Sôtan, the thirdgeneration Tea Master of the Urasenke

school. During that same week, Huey
and Porter also visited CJS exchange
partners Doshisha University (Kyoto)
and Sophia University (Tokyo). In addition, Huey visited another CJS exchange partner, Nanzan University(Nagoya), and the UHM Study Abroad
program at Kônan University in Kobe.

Chanoyu Project, continued from page 1

Muromoto (Urasenke) introduced tea
etiquette andtea utensils tothe students.
Mr. CaseyA s a t o ,Punahou HighSchool, coordinated theevent with Dr. Gay Satsuma, CJS.
The Center plans to continue to conduct outreachprojects by either bringing
students to the Jaku’an Tea
Hut or by going out to theschools. (Please see announcement on p.7)

Punahou students participating in tea ceremony
at the Jaku’an Tea Hut

CJS Seminar Series
Fall 2003
Lost in Translation: American Lawyer in Japan November 3, 2003. Cosponsered with The William S.
Richardson School of Law. Mr. Keith
KiyoshiSuzuka,
Head Foreign Attorney
atNagashima,
Ohno andTsunematsu,
spoke fromKeith Kiyoshi Suzuka
personalexperience
about his life in Tokyo as a foreign lawyer. He also discussed such things assalaries for foreign lawyers in Tokyo, thetype of work to expect at a Japanese firm,
and the Tokyo legal market.

Otogizôshi November 7, 2003. Dr.
Frederick Kavanagh, Visiting Associate Professor, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Literatures, UHM and Associate Professor of Japanese, Valparaiso
University, examined representative
otogizôshi, thepopular prose
narratives of thelate
Muromachi to early
Edo periods.
He discussed
Frederick Kavanagh
how they canbe viewed as
the emergence of a romance genre in Japan that is similar to that of the late-medieval/early modern romances in European literature, or to the plots of televison
dramas and Hollywood movies in thepresent day.

Willa Tanabe presenting about tea gardens

When Music is More Than Music: Performance Practices in a Traditional
Japanese Context December 4, 2003. Dr.
Riley Lee, Master of the Shakuhachi. Dr.
Lee’s lecture/demonstration outlined thepractical andpsychologicalmethods of performing in the“traditional”
Japanese context, and contrasted them withthose of theWest. Furthermore, he introRiley Lee
duced non-musical elements of the shakuhachi tradition,in particular those related to Zen Buddhism.
For information for the Spring 2004 CJS
Seminar Series, please visit
www.hawaii.edu/cjs/seminarseries.html.

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Recent Events

NIPPON CULTURE DAY
More than 200 students and membersof the UH-Mânoa community attended
this year’s Nippon Culture Day event,which was organized by the JapaneseSection of the Department of East Asian
Languages
and Literaturesand held on
November 20,
2003.
Theevent included
naginata andkendô demonstrations, calligraphy workshops,
andKendô demonstration by CJS
faculty Kimi Kondo-Brown
showings ofJapanese animation. The Japanese Culture Club made arrangements for a Tea
Ceremony Lecture and Demonstration
at the Jaku’an Tea Hut. Students

learned Japanese ways to wrap gifts andgot to try on yukata and have their pictures taken. The Japanese Consulate also
set up an information desk for those who
were at the event. In addition, there werebook displays by Hakubundo and the UH
Bookstore. The Center for Japanese Studies also participated in this event by selling used books. The day provided students with an opportunity to use their language skills and learn more about the Japanese culture.

At the CJS book sale section

EAST ASIAN FILM LITERACIES LECTURE SERIES
Dr. Earl Jackson, Associate Professor, Department of Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz and Visiting Scholar,
East-West Center lead a lecture series on East Asian Film during the fall semester of 2003. Dr. Jackson curated screenings ofvarious films from Asia (including several from Japan), manyof which have not been and/or will never be released in theUS. While five of the six lectures were held on the UH campus
and sponsered by the East Asia Council, the last lecture washeld at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy ofArts and was co-sponsered with the Academy. The lectures
Earl Jacksoncovered a variety of topics as seen below and drew people
from the UH as well as the local community.
* Rewarding Vice: The Non-innocent Pleasures of Chinese Popular Film (9/25/03)* Beyond the Fog and the Samurai: Japanese Cinema for Real (10/9/03)* Genre, Memory and History in East Asian Cinemas (11/13/03)* The Technopoetics of Anime (11/18/03)* The Practice of Theory in East Asian Cinema (11/20/03)* How to Pay Attention: Multi-tasking Techniques for Reading Film
Cross-culturally (12/4/03)

Brief descriptions of each lecture can be viewed at the NRCEA website atwww.hawaii.edu/nrcea. To view Dr. Jackson’s website, please visit
www.anotherscene.com.

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Faculty News

DOING FIELDWORK IN JAPANCJS faculty members Dr. David T. Johnson (Sociology),
Dr. Patricia Steinhoff (Sociology), and Dr. Christine
Yano (Anthropology) have contributed chapters to thebook Doing Fieldwork in Japan, which was publishedby University of Hawai‘i Press this past fall. The booktaps the expertise of North American and European specialists on the practicalities of conducting long-term research in the social sciences and cultural studies. In lively
first-person accounts, they discuss their successes and failures doing fieldwork across rural and urban Japan in awide range of settings. Doing Fieldwork in Japan is edited by Theodore Bestor, Patricia Steinhoff, and Victoria Lyon Bestor and also
contains chapters by UH sociology Ph.D. Suzanne Culter, and Center affiliate
Sheila Smith (East-West Center), as well as past Center visitors Merry White(Boston University), Robert J. Smith (Cornell University emeritus), and Ian Reader(Stirling University).

LEVIN RETURNS TO MÂNOALaw professor, Dr. Mark Levin returned to Mânoa in January 2004 after 18 months in Kobe, Japan, overseeing theUH’s Year-in-Japan Study Abroad program at Kônan University. While in Japan, Professor Levin taught at Kônan
University, spoke at a variety of public occasions (mostnotably on legal education reform in Japan), and completed a chapter on Japan’s tobacco policy in a book jointly
published by the Johns Hopkins University School ofPublic Health and the Japanese National Institute of PubMark Levinlic Health. During his stay, Professor Levin was interviewed
by and had comments featured in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun regarding the Oct. 21Tokyo District Court tobacco products litigation defense verdict. He was alsointerviewed about the decision by the weekly national newsmagazine ShûkanKinyôbi for a feature article on the case which was published in the November 7issue.

ODIN TEACHES AT TÔDAI
Philosophy professor, Dr. Steve Odin is currently teaching at the University of Tokyo for the 2003-2004 academic year as a Japan-Fulbright scholar and will return inAugust, 2004.

CJS WELCOMES FLOWERS

Steve Odin

Dr. Petrice Flowers will join the Political Science Department at UHM this fall.
Dr. Flowers received her doctorate from the University of Minnesota and is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tokyo. Her research interests
include international norms and institutions, international relations theory, international law, state and national identity, gender in international relations, Japanese politics, Japan’s international relations, and global processes.

5Winter 2004

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Student NewsGRADUATE STUDENT TRAVEL
The following students received Japan Studies Endowment Graduate Student Travel Grants during 2003. Congratulations to all these students and their fine representation of UHM at conferences nationally and internationally.
August 2003 Competition
Jessica Busch (Ph.D., Anthropology) presented herpaper, “The Way of Choju: Longevity in a Rural Japanese Village,” at the Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (WCAAS), October 9-11, 2003,
in Tempe, Arizona.
Shunichi Takekawa (Ph.D., Political Science) also attended theWCAAS in Tempe, Arizona and presented
his paper titled “National Dailies, Nationalism, and theNew History Textbook Controversy: News Coverageand Editorial in Japan’s Commercial Press.”
November 2003 Competition
At the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, November 19-23, 2003, heldin Chicago, Satomi Fukutomi (Ph.D., Anthropology)

delivered her work, “Why do the Japanese Purchase
Nostalgia?”
Aya Kitamura (M.A., Asian Studies), who is also adoctoral candiate at the University of Tokyo, will travelto the Annual Meeting of the Association for AsianStudies (AAS) held in San Diego, March 4-7, 2004, topresent “Reconstructing the ‘The Japanese Woman’:
Stereotype and Self-presentation in Intercultural Interaction.”(See p.7 for future application deadlines.)

STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMS
Outgoing 2004-2005
Japanese majors, Patrick Woo and Zachary Bass will
be going to Doshisha University. Sophia University will
be receiving Jon Yamaoka, a Japanese major, andJoshua Guy, a Liberal Arts major. Catherine Omori andBenjamin Jansen, who are both majoring in Japanese
will be going to Nanzan University. Japanese major
Josephine Wong will attend Hiroshima University, while
Victoria Corkhill, an Asian Studies major, will be attending the University of the Ryukyus.

Other News
FAREWELLS AND WELCOMES
The Center bids farewell to Ms. Machi Tsuruya who
was the Dean’s secretary at the School of Hawaiian,
Asian and Pacific Studies (SHAPS). Machi retired inDecember after working in the UH system for more than
thirty-four years and in SHAPS since its formation in1987. The Center wishes her the warmest aloha and welcomes Ms. Lita Gonzales-Chambliss who is now working temporarily as the secretary for the Dean of SHAPS.
Although Lita formally retired from UH in 2000, she hascontinued working as an “emergency hire” for various
units including the Office of the Vice President for Uni-versity Relations and has now worked at UH for forty
years!
We also bid farewell to Mr. Viet Ngo who was the JuniorSpecialist at the Center. He left the Center in October oflast year after three years of service. Viet now works atthe Office for the Dean of SHAPS as an Assistant to theLiaison for International Affairs. As our new Junior specialist, the center welcomes Mr. Kazutoh Ishida, who iscurrently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of East
Asian Languages and Literatures.

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From the Library<CHANGING INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT
IN JAPAN>

entists, Ms. Bazzell provided commentson the information arena. On each visit,
the trainees were welcomed by decision
makers of the institution and asked to give
input on how their institution could better meet the information needs of overseas users. The recurrent themes the trainees heard related to “open access,” “users’ needs,” “innovation,” “informationtechnology,” and “accountability and assessment of services.”
Many institutions are developing or improving information databases,
which are unique, user
friendly, accessible, andattractive to a diverse
user base, including overseas information seekers.

Ms. Tokiko Bazzell, our Japan Specialist
Librarian, was selected as one of fourteeninternational trainees to attend the Japan
Studies Information Specialists Training
Program, sponsored by the Japan Foundation and the National Diet Library. Thethree-week program (two weeks in Tokyo and one week inKyoto) provided thetrainees with an opportunity to get toknow one anotherand the Japanesestudies institutionsof ten different countries as well. The proTokiko Bazzell in the middle with fellow trainees
gram took place at anfrom Canada, Korea, Germany, Turkey, and the U.S.
For example, the Univerinteresting timesity of Kyoto’s Digital Lisince Japan’s nabrarysite<http://ddb.libnet.kulib.kyototional institutions are undergoing major
u.ac.jp/minds.html> digitized and madereforms. As of April 2004, all national uniavailable on the web one of their nationalversities and most of the national institutreasures, Konjaku Monogataritions will become dokuritsu hôjin
four years ago. It was quite, which means that they will
impressiveeventhen. This time, however,be undergoing a change toward self-reliKDL
has
improved
it dramatically with
ant governance.
overseas users in mind. Users are now
able to see not only the images of theWhile the details of the reform and its
original scroll as they are unfolding it, but
impact can be left for political/social sci-

<NEW ACQUISITIONS AT THE LIBRARY:
2000 POPULATION CENSUS OF JAPAN>
The Japanese government periodicallyconducts a population census throughout
the country and the statistical data may
be pertinent to many fields of study. The
census at the end of each decade is particularly important. Financial support
from the East-West Center Library madeit possible for the Japan Collection toacquire all of the most recent 2000 Population Census of Japan (Heisei 12-nen
Kokusei Chôsa Hôkoku EAST HA4621.5
2000). Especially nice about this voluminous 2000
Census is that each print volume comeswith a CD-ROM making it easier to manipulate the data. If you have a PC/Macalso read its print form superposed overthe original handwritten letters while using a “glass view” function. There is nolonger any problem figuring out the elegant handwritten original letters. Users
can compare the original and printed letters side by side just by moving the computer mouse over them. Furthermore,
KDL is in the process of providing an
English translation.
On every occasion, the trainees wereasked for their input and feedback. The
University of Kyoto was no exception.
What they really want is to get user feedback so they can further improve and innovate, which helps justify their efforts
and gets them a positive assessment of
their services. Ms. Bazzell’s impression
was that the Japanese national institutions
were very receptive to the overseas users’ information needs and this may be apivotal moment when making our needs
known to them can make a real difference.

At the National Diet Library. The Librarianof NDL presenting reprints of famous
woodblock prints as a gift.

with Japanese language capability, you
can check out each CD-ROM from theWong A/V Center of Sinclair Library. At
the Science and Technology Department,
there are also three multilingual computers for your use (Scholar Workstations,
next to the SciTech Reference Desk.) The
print editions can be accessed at East Asia
Collection (3rd fl.) of Hamilton Library.

7Winter 2004

Announcements

JCURRENT
SHAPS GRADUATESTUDENT CONFERENCE

CHANOYU DEMONSTRATIONSAT YOUR SCHOOL OR AT UH

The School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies 15th Annual Graduate Student Conference is scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday, 16-18 March 2004
at the Center for Korean Studies on theUHM campus. The purpose of the Conference is to highlight graduate researchin Asia and the Pacific from all disciplines,
both at the University of Hawai’i and atother universities. For more information,
visit www.shaps.hawaii.edu/shaps/index2.html.

The Dr. Sen Soshitsu International Wayof Tea Center, established in 2001 within
the Center for Japanese Studies at UHM,
educates students and helps to perpetuate tea culture while fostering a deeper
awareness of Japanese culture and international understanding. In fulfillingits mission, the Tea Center, in cooperation with Mr. Yoshibumi Ogawa, Senior
Tea Master of the Hawaii Branch ofUrasenke, is offering to give tea ceremony demonstrations at local schools,
or to host schools at the UHM campus.
For more information, please call Dr.
Robert Huey or Dr. Gay Satsuma at theCenter for Japanese Studies, Universityof Hawai‘i at 956-2665.

CALL FOR PAPERS
Cultural Typhoon invites applications forpresentations for their second annual conference to be held at the University of theRyukyus, during July 9-11, 2004. CulturalTyphoon is a Japan-based loose networkof those who are interested in cultural
studies and/or in various issues relatedto alternative cultural practices. Deadline:
March 31, 2004.
For more information, go to http://w1.nirai.ne.jp/tada/Typhoon2004-E.htm.

APPLICATION DEADLINES
Japan Studies Endowment Graduate Student Travel Grant
May 1, 2004
For more information, visit www.hawaii.edu/cjs/funding.html.
Graduate Student Organization Travel Grant
June 9, 2004
Contact GSO at 956-8776 or visit www.hawaii.edu/gso/docs.html for more information.

8Winter 2004

JCURRENTCJS MAILING LIST
If you would like to receive CJS announcements by e-mail, you can become a part of the CJS listserv by e-mailing the Centerat cjs@hawaii.edu with a subject heading of “E-mail Flyer.” In the body of the message, please include your first and last
name and regular (snail mail) contact address. If you prefer to receive the newsletter as hardcopy and flyers by e-mail, pleaseindicate your preferences. If you know someone who would like to be on our mailing list, please let us know.

Center for Japanese Studies
University of Hawai‘i at Mânoa
School of Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies
1890 East-West Road, Moore Hall 216
Honolulu, HI 96822
USATo: