2017 John Howes Lecture in Japanese Studies
The Department of Asian Studies, at the University of British Columbia, invites you to our annual John Howes Lecture in Japanese Studies featuring guest speaker Dr. Peter Kornicki, Emeritus Professor of Japanese at Cambridge University. This year’s lecture, entitled Stolen Secrets: Intercepting Dispatches between Wartime Berlin and Japan, will discuss the British efforts during World War II, to read the dispatches of Japanese diplomats in Europe, including those of Oshima Hiroshi, long-serving ambassador in Berlin. These acts of espionage would prove invaluable in the struggle with Nazi Germany but would remain a secret for decades. Dr. Kornicki will describe this secret effort and the impact it had on the postwar development of Japanese Studies.
Talk: Stolen Secrets: Intercepting Dispatches between Wartime Berlin and Japan
Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Place: Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, UBC, Vancouver
This lecture is free and open to the public. Online registration is required:
http://asia.ubc.ca/events/event/the-2017-john-howes-lecture-in-japanese-studies/
Speaker Bio:
Son of a Polish fighter pilot and an English mother, Professor Kornicki completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Oxford. His first academic job at the University of Tasmania led him to become an enthusiastic hiker. After a post at the Humanities Research Institute at Kyoto University, he moved to Cambridge in 1985, where he retired as Professor of Japanese and Head of the Department of East Asian Studies in 2014. From 1997 to 2000 Professor Kornicki served as President of the European Association for Japanese Studies and in 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. In 2010, he became founding editor in chief of the new journal East Asian Publishing and Society (Brill) and in 2013 he was awarded the Yamagata Bantō Prize. His new book, Languages, Scripts and Chinese Books in East Asia, is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.
About the John Howes Lecture in Japanese Studies:
John Howes was a founding member of UBC’s Department of Asian Studies, which he joined in 1961 after earning his doctorate from Columbia University. During his 30 years of active teaching and research, Professor Howes was at the forefront of Canada-Japan cultural, educational and people-to-people relations and inspired countless young Canadians to dedicate their careers and lives to the Canada-Japan relationship in one way or another. In 2012, a number of UBC faculty, staff, and Professor Howes’ devoted former students came together to launch an endowment in his honour. The fund supports the John Howes Lecture in Japanese Studies, an annual public lecture for prominent scholars from around the world to speak to the university community and alumni on topics in Japanese Studies with a focus on Humanities. Dr. Howes passed away peacefully on February 4th, 2017, at the age of 92. This is the first lecture since his passing.