Celebrating 50 years of Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield

Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation 
Daiwa House, London 
Thursday 3 October 2013

Review by Sean Curtin

In 1963, the University of Sheffield was tasked with setting up the Centre for Japanese Studies to advance the study of modern Japan.  Under the guidance of its distinguished founding Professor Geoffrey Bownas, it soon established itself as a centre of excellence. By pioneering the combination of practical language skills with social sciences and emphasizing the importance of linguistic and cultural skills in an economic context, Professor Bownas turned the school into a powerhouse for research and study on contemporary Japan. He was also able to expand the curriculum to include other East Asian languages and help introduce Japanese as a dual degree subject. By the 1970s Sheffield boasted the largest Japanese Studies department in the UK and by the time Geoffrey retired in 1980, the School of East Asian Studies (SEAS) was recognized worldwide as a leading research institute. Five decades later, SEAS remains a global leader, being one of the largest and most distinguished departments of its kind in Britain.

To celebrate half a century of achievement, former staff and students were invited to two special golden jubilee events hosted in collaboration with the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation at Daiwa House in London on Thursday 3 October 2013.

The feature event was a highly stimulating and well-attended roundtable-type discussion entitled ‘Why Japanese Studies? Past, present and future.’ It sparked a very lively debate amongst both the panel and audience, generating a thought-provoking session. The panel was made up of five Sheffield-related figures – one for each decade – who between them spanned the period from the founding years to the present. It was chaired by departmental stalwart and renowned scholar Glenn Hook who is Professor of Japanese Politics and International Relations at SEAS. Glenn also serves as the Director of the National Institute of Japanese Studies, which is part of the White Rose East Asia Centre, a collaboration with Leeds University, which is also marking its fiftieth anniversary in 2013.

The distinguished panel also included one of the department’s most loyal and long-serving lieutenants, Graham Healey. Just a few years after it was established, Graham joined the then Centre for Japanese Studies as a research student back in 1966, before at least one of his fellow panel members was born. Before coming to Sheffield, he read Chinese at Oxford then studied Japanese language and literature at Waseda University in 1964. Graham became an actual member of staff in 1967, teaching Japanese language, modern history and politics. To the subsequent cohorts of students over the next four decades, he became a very familiar and friendly face, and like Professor Hook greatly contributed to the development and expansion of SEAS. For example, Graham with Dr. Judith Cherry, another long-serving SEAS staff member, established Korean Studies in 1980. In 1995 together with the energetic and affable Alison Churchill, he also set up the highly successful SEAS Distance Learning Programme. Other members of the panel were Hugo Dobson, Professor of Japan’s International Relations at SEAS, Dr Mark Pendleton, Lecturer in Japanese Studies and Sir David Warren, British Ambassador to Japan from 2008 to 2012, Chairman of the Japan Society and currently a Visiting Professor at Sheffield.

The second and equally lively part of the celebrations was an extremely well-attended grand reception which united past and present staff and students. The normally spacious Daiwa House was packed to capacity which was perhaps not surprising when one considers the hundreds of graduates SEAS has produced over the past half century. It was a brilliant evening, offering a fantastic opportunity for friends and colleagues to catch up, reminisce and reflect on the considerable achievements of the past 50 years. Many thanks to Jason James and the very welcoming Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation team for offering the venue for a truly memorable 50th Anniversary event.