Members’ News

Theodore C. Bestor, Reischauer Institute Professor of Social Anthropology and Japanese Studies, Harvard University Theodore Charles Bestor, cultural anthropologist and widely recognized ethnographer of contemporary urban Japan, passed away in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 1, 2021, just shy of his seventieth birthday. Ted, as he was fondly known to friends, colleagues, and students, was the … Read more

Dear JAWS members, I write with the sad news that our colleague Ted Bestor passed away last week — apparently peacefully at home with his family. Ted was one of the first Americans to join JAWS, maybe the first, because he and Vickey attended our second meeting as part of the EAJS in Paris in … Read more

Jane Cobbi, a founding member of JAWS, passed away in Paris on August 6, 2020. An obituary was put in Le Monde on Tuesday, 15 September, as follows: Jane Cobbi, docteur etnologue, chargée de recherche émérite au CNRS, directrice du programme Japon á la FMSH, présidente de l’asssociation Maison de Kiso She learned Japanese language, … Read more

Professor Yoshida was a visiting scholar at Oxford University when we held the founding meeting of the Japan Anthropology Workshop in 1984, and he agreed to become our honorary Japanese representative. This was a position he held for many years, attending our conferences in exciting locations, and contributing to deliberations on a huge variety of … Read more

Professor Joy Hendry is the subject of a newly released documentary available to watch on Youtube. This film documents her long relationship with a rural village in Kyushu, providing rare, relatable insights into long term research methods as we meet the families of the village and learn about their stories over the last 45 years … Read more

It is with great sadness that I note the sudden passing of a dear colleague and friend, Associate Professor Romit Dasgupta, on July 1 2018. Romit obtained a Bachelor of Economics with First Class Honours in 1986, and a Master of Japanese Studies in 1990 from the University of Western Australia. Starting in 1992, Romit … Read more

In November 2017 the Japanese Government announced that Theodore C. Bestor, Reischauer Institute Professor of Social Anthropology at Harvard University was awarded the decoration of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. A leading US scholar of Japan, Bestor is a specialist on contemporary Japanese society and culture; much of his … Read more

It is with great joy that we announce the bestowal of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, to Professor Joy Hendry on 26 July by Ambassador Tsuruoka at the Japanese Embassy in London. The award recognizes her many contributions to mutual understanding between Japan and the UK. The award is well … Read more