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Early Modern Japan, Ryukyu
Graduate Student
Advisor: Luke Roberts
I am in my first year at UCSB, and study chiefly Japan and the Ryukyu Kingdom (Okinawa) in the 17th-19th centuries. My research focuses on the cultural dimensions of Ryukyuan embassies to Japan, including travel logistics, material culture, and the intersections between the Ryukyuan missions and various aspects of early modern Japanese history. (more...)
My research interests more broadly fall for the most part into two fields. The first is that of Okinawan Studies, including everything from Ryukyu's "Golden Age" of international maritime trade, to its annexation and colonization in the late 19th-early 20th century, to post-war & contemporary identity politics, and a variety of other topics besides.
The second is the history, especially cultural history, of early modern Japan, including chiefly kabuki theatre, as well as popular publishing and ukiyo-e woodblock prints; travel culture; painting & other fine arts; music & other forms of performing arts; the history and culture of geisha, courtesans and the pleasure districts; trade networks and merchant activities; and local histories.
I have been fortunate to perform in, and dramaturg, a Kabuki play at the Univ. of Hawaii, and have been practicing the Okinawan sanshin (a slightly banjo-like instrument closely related to the Japanese shamisen) for about a year.
Selected Papers & Presentations- Pictures of an Island Kingdom: Depictions of Ryûkyû in Early Modern Japan
MA Thesis. Advisor: J. Szostak; Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, 2012.
- Hokusai Ryūkyū Hakkei: Imagined Ryukyuan Landscapes
Presented at Japanese Studies Grad Student Symposium, UCLA, Oct 22 2011
- The Okinawa Prefectural Museum: Native Voices or National Narrative?
Presented at Western Museums Association Conference, Honolulu, Sept 25 2011
- 「冊封体制と中華思想の国際秩序」(“Tributary System and the Sinocentric World Order”)
Final Project Presentation (in Japanese), Inter-University Center, Yokohama, Apr 18 2008
Professional Activities- Co-Curator, “Picturing the Ryūkyūs” exhibit, Feb. 2013
Exhibit at Univ. of Hawaii Art Gallery, co-curated with Prof. J. Szostak.
- Freelance Translation work, 2008-
Chiefly texts related to Japanese history and art history, incl. gallery labels, academic presentations, journal articles, etc.
- Intern, Freer Gallery of Art, Summer 2011
Edo Period Books Digitization Project
- Gallery Intern, Japan Society (NYC), 2008-2009
- Curatorial Intern, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2005-2006
Worked under Anne Nishimura Morse, curator of Art of Japan
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