The Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures is a series of lectures at Harvard University sponsored by the John King Fairbank Center established in 1986 to be given annually in memory of Edwin O. Reischauer. The lectures in Asian Studies are then published by Harvard University Press.
In European terminology, the Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including East, North and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
Edwin Oldfather Reischauer was an American diplomat, educator, and professor at Harvard University. Born in Tokyo to American educational missionaries, he became a leading scholar of the history and culture of Japan and East Asia. Together with George M. McCune, a scholar of Korea, in 1939 he developed the McCune–Reischauer romanization of the Korean language.
John King Fairbank was an American historian of China and United States–China relations. He taught at Harvard University from 1936 until his retirement in 1977. He is credited with building the field of China studies in the United States after World War II with his organizational ability, his mentorship of students, support of fellow scholars, and formulation of basic concepts to be tested.
Japan had an official slave system from the Yamato period until Toyotomi Hideyoshi abolished it in 1590. Afterwards, the Japanese government facilitated the use of "comfort women" as sex slaves from 1932 – 1945. Prisoners of war captured by Japanese imperial forces were also used as slaves during the Second World War.
The Sinosphere, also known as the East Asian cultural sphere, or the Sinic world, encompasses multiple countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia that were historically profoundly influenced by Chinese culture, norms and traditions. The general definiton of the Sinosphere comprises several countries and territories: Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Vietnam. Other definitions may include Mongolia and Singapore, largely due to limited historical Chinese influences or increasing modern-day Chinese diaspora. The Sinosphere is not to be confused with the Sinophone world, which includes more countries where the Chinese-speaking population is dominant.
William Theodore de Bary was an American Sinologist and scholar of East Asian philosophy who was a professor and administrator at Columbia University for nearly 70 years.
Akira Iriye is a historian of diplomatic history, international, and transnational history. He taught at University of Chicago and Harvard University until his retirement in 2005.
Harold Bolitho was an Australian academic, historian, author and professor emeritus in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. The name Bolitho is of Cornish origin.
Susan J. Pharr is an academic in the field of political science, a Japanologist, and Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, director of Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University. Her current research focuses on the changing nature of relations between citizens and states in Asia, and on the forces that shape civil society over time.
Leonard Blussé is a Dutch historian concerned with the field of Asian-European relations. Blussé has a prolific written output in his field, having authored, co-authored or edited more than twenty books since 2000.
Shigehisa "Hisa" Kuriyama is a Japanologist and historian of medicine. He is the Reischauer Institute Professor of Cultural History at Harvard University.
William M. Tsutsui is an American academic, author, economic historian, Japanologist and university administrator. He was named President and CEO of Ottawa University, May 3, 2021, and took office July 1, 2021.
The Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (RIJS) at Harvard University is a research center focusing on Japan. It provides a forum for stimulating scholarly and public interest.
Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University is a research center within the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). The center supports the research and study of transpacific and intra-Asian relations. The mission of the center is to advance mutual understanding between Northeast Asia and the United States.
Helen Hardacre is an American Japanologist. She is the Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions and Society at the Departement of East Asian Languages and Civilization, Harvard University.
Marius Berthus Jansen was an American academic, historian, and Emeritus Professor of Japanese History at Princeton University.
Kent E. Calder is the Interim Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He serves as the Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, and is also the Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of East Asian Studies at SAIS. He previously served as the Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and International Research Cooperation at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.
Joshua A. Fogel is an American-Canadian Sinologist, historian, and translator who specializes in the history of modern China, especially focusing on the cultural and political relations between China and Japan. He has held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair at York University in Toronto since 2005. Before that he taught at Harvard University (1981-1988) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (1989-2005).
Shanghai has a Japanese expatriate group, particularly in the Gubei area of Changning District, which houses the majority of Japanese expatriates in Shanghai. Some Japanese follow the "Shanghai dream" where they spend several years in Shanghai to gain professional experience or knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, and either continue working in Shanghai or return to Japan later.
Benjamin A. Elman is Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies, Princeton University. His teaching and research fields include Chinese intellectual and cultural history, history of science and history of education in late imperial China.