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In this episode, Dr. Copeland documents several cases of "unruly women" who disrupt Japanese social norms, from mythical goddess Izanami to popular activists and female writers in the Meiji and Taishō Periods like Kishida Toshiko and Miyake Kaho, and finally to contemporary writer Kirino Natsuo. We discuss formalist versus historicist literary analysis, questions of agency and individuality in Meiji women's cultural production, and the importance of translation in the field of literary studies.

A recently created undergraduate award in East Asian Languages and Cultures enables students to conduct study in East Asia or on an East Asian topic. WashU alumnus Alex Primm and his wife Cathy created the fund and named it after two professors who had a profound impact on Alex’s career as well as the history of East Asian studies at WashU—Stanley Spector and Richard Yang. Through this program students can pursue projects that enrich their academic study of East Asia, including attending an academic conference, studying abroad, participating in an internship, or doing community outreach with an East Asian focus.

Laura Miller and Rebecca Copeland, co-editors of the collection, "Diva Nation: Female Icons from Japanese Cultural History," discuss queens, goddesses, and the nature of “diva-hood."

Nathan Vedal joined WashU as assistant professor of Chinese literature in fall 2018. We sat down with him to learn more about him and his work.

In an interview with The Teaching Center, Mimi Kim, teaching professor of Korean language, emphasizes the importance of using active learning techniques to draw students into coursework. She also discusses the challenges faced by heritage speakers, or students who grew up around a foreign language and have some proficiency in it, if and when they decide to pursue a foreign language education.

Ran Wei, first-year Japanese Language and Literature PhD student, receives a Stanford University East Asia Library 2018-19 travel grant to utilize their EAL library collections. Wei plans to use the award to begin research on her project “Osaka Bundan (literary establishment) and Oda Sakunosuke’s Literature.”

On October 5, Susan Napier visited WashU to talk about her new book, Miyazakiworld, a critical biography of one of Japan’s most significant contemporary filmmakers.

Thinking about studying abroad? Check out this video of our students in our Fudan program!

Dr Richard H. Yang passed away peacefully at the age of 93 on Thursday, October 12, 2018 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Dr. Yang was an emeritus professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Zhao Ma, associate professor of modern Chinese history and culture was interviewed for the article, "US is making ‘serious strategic misjudgment’ in its accusations against China, Beijing’s top diplomat says" in the South China Morning Post