Author: kurumionishi

Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

Abstract

This talk will explore the connections between the earliest written cultures of the Korean peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. The earliest Japanese histories, Kojiki (712) and Nihon shoki (720), trace the arrival of Sinographic writing in Japan to scholars sent by the king of Paekche (late third century-660CE), a kingdom on the Korean peninsula. Other early Japanese works, including the Literary Sinitic poetry collection Kaifūsō (751), emphasize the origins of written culture in Japan as connected to individuals who immigrated to the Japanese court from the Korean kingdoms. While this connection has seldom been disputed by modern scholars, its implications have been generally underestimated. Due to the paucity of extant materials from Korea’s Three Kingdoms period (Koguryǒ [ca. first century-668CE], Silla [ca. third century-935CE], and Paekche), it has been long assumed that written culture on the Korean peninsula during the first millennium was essentially indistinguishable from that of the contemporary Chinese dynasties. However, because recent archaeological discoveries have allowed for a more complex understanding of the uses of Sinographic writing in the southern kingdoms of Paekche and Silla, it is now possible to explore exactly how early Japanese written culture was built upon a foundation developed originally on the Korean peninsula.

This talk will introduce significant inscriptions from the inscribed wooden strips known as mokkan excavated from sites on the southern Korean peninsula and Japan. Based on the evidence from mokkan, this talk will argue that the rapid development of Japan’s written culture in the seventh century was predicated upon the integration of large numbers of already-literate elite immigrants from the Korean kingdoms in the aftermath of the Battle of the Paek River of 663.

Event Description

The East Asia National Resource Center and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies welcome you to join us for the book launch of Professor Ezra F. Vogel’s new book, China and Japan: Facing History, recently published by Harvard University Press. He will examine the following historical phases in relations between China and Japan: 

·     Japan Learning from China (600-838)

·     Changing Places #1 (1895 when Japan defeats China) 

·     China Learning from Japan (1895-1937)

·     China Learning from Japan (1978-1992)

·     Changing Places #2 (2008-2012 when China passes Japan)

This panoramic perspective will help us better understand the context and challenges of contemporary Sino-Japanese relations.

Professor Ezra F. Vogel received his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1958 in Sociology in the Department of Social Relations and was professor at Harvard from 1967-2000. In 1973, he succeeded John Fairbank to become the second Director of Harvard’s East Asian Research Center. He served as director of the US-Japan Program, director of the Fairbank Center, and as the founding director of the Asia Center. He was the director of the undergraduate concentration in East Asian Studies from its inception in 1972 until 1991. He taught courses on Chinese society, Japanese society, and industrial East Asia. From fall 1993 to fall 1995, Vogel took a two-year leave of absence from Harvard to serve as the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council in Washington. In 1996, he chaired the American Assembly on China and edited the resulting volume, Living With China. Among his publications are: Japan As Number One, 1979, which in Japanese translation became a best seller in Japan, and Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, 2011, which in Chinese translation became a best seller in China. He lectures frequently in Asia, in both Chinese and Japanese. He has received numerous honors, including eleven honorary degrees.

About the Film

When the daughter of a Japanese businessman in Okinawa charges that a U.S. serviceman assaulted her, the serviceman claims the encounter was entirely consensual. The ensuing civil and military investigations bring to light persistent resentment going back many years on both sides about the human toil of accommodating long term military occupation.

Steve Rabson is Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies, Brown University. He has published books and articles about Okinawa and translations of Okinawan literature. The book OKINAWA: TWO POSTWAR NOVELLAS (Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1989 reprinted 1996) includes the novella “Cocktail Party” on which the film is loosely based. Other collections of translations are SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: MODERN JAPANESE LITERATURE FROM OKINAWA, co-edited with Michael Molasky (University of Hawaii Press, 2000) and ISLANDS OF PROTEST: JAPANESE LITERATURE FROM OKINAWA, co-edited with Davinder L. Bhowmik (University of Hawaii Press, 2016). THE OKINAWAN DIASPORA IN JAPAN: CROSSING THE BORDERS WITHIN (University of Hawaii Press, 2014) is a history of Okinawan migration to mainland Japan with interviews and written accounts of residents describing their experiences. Rabson was stationed as a U.S. Army draftee during 1967-68 at a base in Henoko, Okinawa that stored nuclear weapons.

You are cordially invited by the East Asia National Resource Center and the Sigur Center for Asian Studies to attend a discussion on the social and political trends of contemporary Japanese culture.

Event Description

This year, the uncertainties in the US-Korea trade relations have been significantly mitigated by the implementation of the revised US-Korea FTA. What are the next steps to be discussed to ensure healthy economic relations between the two allies?  In which Area can the United States and Korea strengthen their economic cooperation? What are the potential implications of other trade relations in the region, including the ongoing US-China trade negotiations and the recent trade feud between Korea and Japan, for the US-Korea economic relationship and in the context of the global value chains?

Note: This event is off the record and closed to media.

Wendy Cutler joined the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) as vice president in November 2015. She also serves as the managing director of the Washington D.C. Office. In these roles, she focuses on building ASPI’s presence in Washington — strengthening its outreach as a think/do tank — and on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade and investment, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). Most recently she served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, working on a range of U.S. trade negotiations and initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. In that capacity she was responsible for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, including the bilateral negotiations with Japan. She also was the chief negotiator to the U.S.-Korea (Korus) Free Trade Agreement. Cutler received her master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and her bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University.

Yonho Kim is Associate Research Professor of Practice and Associate Director of GW Institute for Korean Studies. He specializes in North Korea’s mobile telecommunications and U.S. policy towards North Korea. Kim is the author of North Korea’s Mobile Telecommunications and Private Transportation Services in the Kim Jong-un Era (2019) and Cell Phones in North Korea: Has North Korea Entered the Telecommunications Revolution? (2014). His research findings were covered by various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Yonhap News, and Libération. Prior to joining GWIKS, he extensively interacted with the Washington policy circle on the Korean peninsula as Senior Researcher of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Senior Reporter for Voice of America’s Korean Service, and Assistant Director of the Atlantic Council’s Program on Korea in Transition. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in International Relations from Seoul National University, and an M.A. in International Relations and International Economics from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.

This event is free and open to the public and media. To ensure enough seats, please RSVP via the link below to register for the event.
Agenda:
5:30 PM: Doors Open
6:00 PM – 6:30 PM: Event Introduction & Welcome Remarks
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM: TIPA Performance
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM: Event Reception in the Continental Ballroom, Marvin Center 3rd Floor

About the Event:
You are cordially invited to join The George Washington University’s East Asia National Resource Center (NRC), the Office of Tibet in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for “An Evening in Tibet,” a cultural performance of dance and music from across the Tibetan region.

As part of its education and outreach efforts to promote the study of East Asian culture and affairs, the NRC is pleased to host dancers and musicians from the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA) in Dharamsala, India. The troupe will present a performance to honor the cultural vision of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, as well as celebrate His Holiness’ 84th birthday. TIPA was founded by His Holiness in 1959 to preserve the rich performing arts of Tibet, and its artists have performed throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South America, and Asia.

The event will take place on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, from 6:00 PM. to 8:30 PM. Audience members will be invited to learn more about Tibetan culture by speaking with the performers and director at a reception immediately following the performance. Light refreshments will be served and all will be invited to celebrate His Holiness’ birthday with cake.

The Sigur Center for Asian Studies, East Asia National Resource Center, and the Gender Equality Initiative in International Affairs invite you to a panel on women’s economic empowerment featuring new and unique efforts by Taiwan and the United States.

Please RSVP by 5pm on Sunday, June 9th for any dietary restriction accommodations for the luncheon.

About the Event:
The Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) has been a strong foundation for Taiwan-U.S. relations for forty years. Since 2015, the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF) has served as a high profile joint U.S.-Taiwan vehicle to provide training and capacity-building to third-party countries on critical, emerging challenges including women’s empowerment. Following the recent GCTF workshop held in Taiwan on women’s economic empowerment, speakers will provide an update on efforts underway and their broader context.

Attendees are also invited to view an exclusive photo exhibit documenting the 40th Anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act on the second floor of the Elliott School.

This event is part of the Sigur Center’s Taiwan Roundtable Series and affiliated with the East Asia NRC’s Current Issues in East Asia Series.

Agenda:
12:00 PM
Lunch

12:45 PM
Welcome remarks: Benjamin D. Hopkins, Director, Sigur Center for Asian Studies; Associate Professor of History and International Affairs

Opening remarks: Christine M. Y. Hsueh, Deputy Representative, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S.

1:00 PM
Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment

This event is free and open to the public.

Katie Kaufman, Managing Director for Global Women’s Issues, Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Eugene Cornelius Jr., Senior Director of International Relations and Strategic Alliances, International Council for Small Business

Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Special Representative on Gender Issues, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe; Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

Deepa Ollapally (moderator), Associate Director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies; Research Professor of International Affairs