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March 6, 2023
Official launch of the Modern Japan History Association - a new professional association for Japan studies
From: Nick Kapur <nickkapur@gmail.com>
Date: 2023/03/02
Dear SSJ-Forum members,
With apologies for cross-posting, I write on behalf of the Board of Directors of the Modern Japan History Association (mjha.org/about), a new non-profit professional organization that we have been involved in setting up over the past few months. March 1, 2023 (March 2 in Japan) is our official launch day, and we would like to invite you all to consider joining the MJHA organization as members (mjha.org/join).
The mission of the Modern Japan History Association is to support the creation and dissemination of knowledge about modern Japan and its history by encouraging collaboration and intellectual exchange between scholars around the world, organizing events and workshops related to research and teaching, and recognizing and promoting outstanding scholarship. We enthusiastically welcome participation and support from all scholars carrying out teaching or research on modern Japan or Japanese history.
Core activities of the MJHA include:
- Organizing talks, workshops, lectures, and other events relating to modern Japan and its history
- Recognizing outstanding scholarship in our field through the awarding of book, dissertation, and other prizes
- Recognizing the achievements of a foremost scholar in the field with our Distinguished Annual Lecture
- Organizing meetups and networking opportunities for scholars of modern Japan and Japanese history
- Maintaining and moderating an email listserv for members to exchange information on research and teaching
Some of you have already attended or participated in some of our launch events, including a talk by Seiji Shirane in December about his book Imperial Gateway (in conversation with Andrew Gordon), and a talk last month by Aaron Skabelund about his book Inglorious, Illegal Bastards (in conversation with Yoshikuni Igarashi). Next week we will sponsor a talk by Yumi Kim about her book Madness in the Family (with Daniel Botsman), and in April we will have a talk by Gennifer Weisenfeld about her book Gas Mask Nation (with David Fedman). In addition, we will have a launch event at AAS in Boston on Saturday, March 18, and many more events are in the pipeline for the future.
We are also very excited to announce the launch of our first annual Book Prize and Dissertation Prize for books and dissertations published or filed in 2022. Please help us get the word out about these prizes to anyone who published a book in 2022 or completed a dissertation that year (or their supervisors!), as well as to publishers and academic presses who publish in Asian studies. Here are some links with more information:
MJHA Book Prize: https://mjha.org/Book-Prize MJHA Dissertation Prize: https://mjha.org/Dissertation-Prize MJHA Membership Benefits: https://mjha.org/Membership-Benefits
Membership in MJHA is a very modest $25 a year for regular members and $10 for students, in other words, just a few cups of coffee! As a member-run 501(c)3 non-profit with no salaried staff, 100% of your membership goes directly to supporting our mission.
We thank you for your consideration and very much hope you'll be able to join us! In addition, we would greatly appreciate your help forwarding this message or otherwise getting the word out to other colleagues or students you think might be interested!
Sincerely yours,
Approved by ssjmod at 11:21 AM