ISSN 1472-6653January 2014 Number 22 New postgraduate prize commemorates Dr Hu Xiaoling The School of East Asian Studies has established a prize for the best performance in its taught postgraduate courses. The prize has been set up in memory of Dr Hu, who worked in the School between 2000 and 2008, with the help of a generous donation from her partner, Dr Will McLewin.

Dr Hu Xiaoling made a key contribution with great courage and good humour. grammar’. But she overcame the to Sheffield’s Chinese language She passed away in January 2012 and is challenges and describes her experience programme and was actively involved remembered with great affection by all of the course as ‘a journey of exploring in creating distance learning materials, who knew her. Professor Hugo Dobson, the unknown’. She learned that ‘the most including an innovative set of CD-ROMs head of department, said: ‘Xiaoling is still important thing is always to integrate our for beginners. remembered fondly by everyone in the own ideas with theoretical evidence or School who had the pleasure of working research findings’. Dr Hu’s main research area was the with her. Her enthusiasm for life and for historical development of Chinese Xueni also greatly enjoyed putting theory her teaching is what we all remember grammar. Using British Academy funding into practice through classroom teaching most. It is wonderful to be able to and her own high-level interdisciplinary at the Star Mandarin School and St. celebrate her life with this award.’ expertise in both linguistics and the Patrick’s Catholic Primary School. She application of computer technology, The winner of the inaugural Xiaoling Hu said: ‘The experience was extremely she created the Sheffield Corpus of Memorial Prize is Shi Xueni from Nanjing, valuable because, as beginning Chinese Chinese for Diachronic Linguistic Study who graduated from the MA in Teaching language teachers, we got the chance (http://hridigital.shef.ac.uk/scc). This is Chinese as a Foreign Language. Over to examine some of our ideas as well as a pioneering database of texts identified forty students have graduated from this to get a taste of what it is like teaching according to different periods, genres course since 2010. Many have used their Chinese especially to young learners. and styles. Constructing a corpus that training to win good jobs in China – in And this in turn helped us gain a better enables scholars to analyse change over classroom teaching and in managerial or understanding of the guiding theories.’ time is much more complex than where editorial positions. Four graduates are Now back in China teaching at Nanjing just one time period is involved, and Dr teaching in Britain and five are studying University, Xueni wants to thank her Hu’s success testified to her imagination for PhDs in leading centres in the US, the tutors, who ‘gave us a perfect academic and skill. UK and Australia. experience and led us through the Unfortunately, Dr Hu had to take early Xueni recalls having to rack her brains fantastic adventure’. retirement on health grounds and for for an essay on ‘Understanding Chinese several years bore a serious illness from the perspective of universal

Dr Hu working on the Sheffi eld Corpus Shi Xueni of Chinese with Humanities Research Institute digital humanities developer, Jamie McLaughlin

EastAsia@Sheffield 1 Comings and goings New head of department a period as a research fellow at the text on Japan’s international relations, University of Tokyo and then teaching Japan’s International Relations: Politics, at the University of Kent at Canterbury, Economics and Security, the latest rejoined the School as lecturer in the edition of which was published in 2012. international relations of Japan in 2001. A second major strand of his research He rose rapidly through the ranks and examines how images contribute to our was promoted to professor in 2008. understanding of Japan and the broader international scene; his work on images of Professor Dobson teaches a range of Japan in The Simpsons is widely admired. courses on politics and international relations in Japan and East Asia, and As for his plans for the School, Professor has always been very popular with his Dobson said: ‘I’m delighted to take over students, as shown when his inaugural the reins of the School of East Asian lecture three years ago won a standing Studies in its fi ftieth anniversary year. ovation from the many students who had The department has a proud history and come to hear him. its staff has achieved a great deal over half a century. We began as a department Hugo Dobson His research, which has been widely solely concentrating on Japanese published in English and Japanese, Studies, and have since expanded to In early 2013 the School welcomed a new focuses on Japan’s relationship with the cover Chinese and Korean Studies. Our head of department, if the word ‘new’ global community, and he is the world’s continued success over the next fi fty can apply to a popular staff member leading expert on Japan’s links with years will depend on further breaking already widely known at Sheffi eld. bodies such as the G8 and G20. Together down boundaries between the three Professor Hugo Dobson completed with other Sheffi eld and ex-Sheffi eld countries and creating an integrated his PhD at Sheffi eld in 1998 and, after scholars he has written the leading School of East Asian Studies.’ Welcome Farewell Professor Zang Xiaowei, who served by Routledge in 2011. In addition, he as head of department between 2008 writes widely on gender studies and and 2013, departed in August last year elite sociology, mostly bringing a to return to Hong Kong as Dean of quantitative approach to bear on the Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at issues. City University. At the same time as Dr Vincent Yiu-por Chen also left bearing the burden of the headship, for Hong Kong at the same time. Professor Zang maintained his high Dr Chen taught at Sheffi eld for two research profi le in the study of years, working on Chinese political Chinese society. He was particularly economy, with a particular focus on well known for his work on Moslems labour issues, and making a major in west China, publishing Islam, Family contribution to courses in the key Life, and Gender Inequality in Urban area of Chinese business. Wei Ziyi China in 2011. He had wider interests as well, and edited Understanding We thank both of them for their Joining the School at the beginning Chinese Society, including chapters contributions to the School and of 2014 will be Dr Wei Ziyi. Dr Wei by leading scholars in East Asia, wish them all success in their future completed a PhD at the Henley Australia and the UK, also published careers. Business School at Reading University on the increasingly important topic of Chinese overseas investment. Before that she had obtained a BSc from Tianjin Foreign Studies University Note Editor’s note and an MSc from Leeds University Business School. Her current The views expressed in the articles on names are those of the individual authors and research interests include entry and Following East Asian convention, the do not necessarily reflect those of the internationalization strategies of family name precedes the given name/s School and the University. Chinese multinational enterprises, in Chinese, Japanese and Korean names, Certain images used in this newsletter and headquarters-subsidiary unless the particular person uses the are scaled-down, low-resolution images relationships. At Sheffi eld, she will Western name order (given name used to illustrate films or books, or to contribute to the teaching of China’s followed by family name) in her/his provide critical analysis of the content or economic development and political publications and/or everyday life. artwork of the image. It is believed that economy at undergraduate and these images qualify as fair use under masters level. copyright law.

2 EastAsia@Sheffield On battleships, Japanese history and world heritage Dr Mark Pendleton, lecturer in Japanese Studies, researches the social and cultural history of Japan. Here he introduces one part of his new research project on modern ruins and industrial heritage.

In summer 2013, I travelled to Nagasaki part of its theme on ‘Care for the Future: as part of a research project on a small Thinking Forward through the Past’. island named Hashima. Hashima was an This theme is broadly concerned with uninhabited rock in the ocean until the how humans relate to our position within late 19th century when undersea coal historical time, or in other words in how deposits became a focal point for Japan’s we connect the past to the present and Mark Pendleton emerging industrialization. The island the future. We also received support was purchased by Mitsubishi and rapidly from the Japan Foundation and the grew in size, with the slag waste from Nagasaki Institute of Applied Science. you could talk about the past, and the the undersea mine being used to extend preservation of the past in the present the island. Population also expanded, as Our group was interested in exploring for the future, in ways that did not hide more workers were needed to service several aspects of Hashima’s past, the violent and exploitative elements the mine and the island’s growing present and future. We wanted to of history. Ultimately we wondered if it number of residents. think about how the island’s rapid might it be possible to imagine a more development and abandonment might expanded and complex relationship Hashima was encased in a large concrete help us refl ect more broadly about between ‘natural’ and ‘human’ forms sea wall to protect it from the elements, our shared ecological futures. We of history, between environmental giving it the impression of a battleship were also interested in attempting a and social historical processes. This riding the waves. A local newspaper multi-disciplinary interaction with the element of the project brought together accordingly dubbed it Gunkanjima site, using a range of methodologies my research in Japanese social and (Battleship Island), a nickname which developed from our own disciplines. cultural history with Professor Deborah continues to be used today. In the This involved archival research; fi eld Dixon’s (Glasgow) and Dr Carina 1930s and 1940s, the island housed interviews, recordings and data Fearnley’s (Aberystwyth) interests in the forced labourers from China and Korea. collection; and mappings of the site. We relationship between humans and the After the war, it was central to Japan’s experimented with diff erent forms of physical landscape. emergence as an economic superpower. research dissemination, including a fi lm Its population peaked at over 5,000 in that was created by artist collaborator The research project was highly the 1950s, making it one of the most Lee Hassall (Worcester) and a touring collaborative and very productive. In densely populated places on earth. By performance lecture created out of addition to the performance lecture and 1974, oil was replacing coal as Japan’s the joint project under the direction fi lm, we are currently drafting several main energy source and as a result the of Hassall and Professor Carl Lavery journal articles and are in discussions mine was shut down and the island (Glasgow). with publishers about a cross- abandoned. disciplinary book. Expect to see these One other objective was to critically in coming years. For those interested in Subsequent interest in the island was interrogate Hashima’s place within exploring some of the ‘work in progress’ sparked by ruins enthusiasts and, after Japanese society, particularly how materials produced while in Japan its handing back to the city in 2002, by the island was being presented in and after our return, please visit our a civic drive for heritage protection. commercial tourism and world heritage research blog at http://futureofruins. Hashima is now partially open to projects. We wanted to think about how wordpress.com/ commercial tourism and is part of Japan’s UNESCO World Heritage bid ‘The Modern Industrial Heritage Sites in Kyushu and Yamaguchi’, which is being considered for listing in 2015. The island’s role in unresolved historical questions over the use of colonial labour by the Japanese authorities has caused some controversy, with protests by the South Korean government over its nomination. With me in Nagasaki were collaborators from the universities of Glasgow, Aberystwyth and Worcester, representing a variety of disciplines – geography, earth science, performance studies and visual art. Called ‘The Future of Ruins: Reclaiming Toxicity and Abandonment on Hashima Island’, our research project was funded by the Arts Ruined landscape of Hashima. and Humanities Research Council as Photograph courtesy Carina Fearnley

EastAsia@Sheffield 3 Record numbers of students graduate from School of East Asian Studies

The School’s graduation ceremony IT company and in the was held on 17 July 2013, and a record photograph we can see number of students were awarded their her with fi fteen peers degrees. Over ninety graduated in the from across the world ceremony. who started work in the company at the same time. The cohort was excellent in quality as well as quantity, and the head of Max Marzec won the department, Professor Hugo Dobson, Robert Sloss Prize, again described it as ‘one of the most on an almost across-the- competitive years in recent memory’. board series of fi rst-class So the achievement of our two prize- results in his modules in winning students was truly exceptional. the Chinese Studies with German degree. Professor The Margaret Daniels Prize was won this Dobson praised his year by Norgaile Matuseviciute. Norgaile ‘dedication and passion for Starting cohort in NTT Communications, achieved excellent results in Japanese 2013 (Norgaile is in the middle) the subject’. Outside his work with fi rst class marks in almost all her for the degree, Max also took a leading modules. Professor Dobson described role in organizing the University’s fi rst her as ‘not only academically brilliant but International Language Festival in 2011, Australian award also blessed with charm and social skills’ securing coverage on Radio Four and – on the basis of which she has been an winning a letter of commendation from for Japanese excellent ambassador for the School and the Vice-Chancellor. University. Studies lecturer Language is Max’s passion. He is already Norgaile has been interested in Japan fl uent in several European languages Dr Mark Pendleton, who is featured in since the age of fourteen, and says – and impressed Professor Dobson a number of roles in this newsletter, she came to Sheffi eld ‘as it off ered a by starting to learn Icelandic. But he has won a $1000 prize for his PhD wide choice of subjects and disciplines emphasized: ‘Knowing Chinese defi nitely thesis. The Asian Studies Association besides studies of Japan and its feels more special than being fl uent in of Australia (ASAA) President’s language’. In addition to having excellent any other “popular” language.’ Although prize is for the best doctoral thesis Japanese, Norgaile also added Chinese learning it is demanding, ‘it is still just about Asia written at an Australian and Korean to her portfolio. She spent a language and a normal means of university. In an extremely strong her year abroad in Osaka and wrote communication’. Max enjoyed his time fi eld, Dr Pendleton’s thesis, ‘Sarin a research paper in Japanese on the at Sheffi eld and wanted to put in a Traces: Memory Texts and Practices article in the Japanese Constitution that special word of thanks to Dr Lucille Han, in Postwar Japan, 1995-2010’, renounces war. She was a member of one of our senior language teachers, completed in 2011 at the University of the Social Sciences Faculty Learning and for her excellent teaching and ‘gigantic Melbourne, was runner-up in the 2012 Teaching Forum as it struggled with the contribution’. competition. implications of the new higher fees. After graduation, Norgaile took up a position We wish our prize winners and all our Professor John Ingleson, current with a major Japanese international graduates great success in their careers. President of the ASAA and ‘grandfather’ of Asian Studies in Professor Dobson shares a joke with prize winner Max Marzec Australia, wrote of Dr Pendleton’s ‘splendid achievement’ in standing out among the large number of ‘truly excellent theses considered by the selection committee’. The judges on the committee were likewise ‘impressed by Mark’s reading of victimhood narratives in worldwide networks and patterns of similar representations’. Sheffi eld’s Emeritus Professor Beverley Hooper, who was involved in setting up the award while she was ASAA President in the 1990s, said she was delighted to hear of Dr Pendleton’s success. Dr Pendleton has been invited by Professor Ingleson to receive the award at the next ASAA Conference in Perth in July. He said that plans to publish the thesis were at an advanced stage and he expects the book to come out in 2015.

4 EastAsia@Sheffi eld Living along the same street – in Japan Steve Redford was awarded an MA in Advanced Japanese Studies in our distance learning programme in July 2001. His recently published novel, Along the Same Street, depicts a young Japanese boy’s love for his grandfather – and how

Steve with some of his beloved cedars that love is tested when the fi rst foreign English teachers begin arriving in their small town.

I knew nothing about Japan, couldn’t course, I’d think, a second language could He began to realize how empowering speak a word of Japanese, and had open both avenues and eyes, but weren’t language could be. And he began to no experience of teaching English as a there millions of Japanese leading want to learn to speak English. And just foreign language but, still, August 1988 responsible, meaningful, inspiring lives like that all my ideas for the story were found me living in a small mountain town – full lives – without being able to speak fl ipped upside down. The boy would start on the island of Kyushu, visiting seven or English? Weren’t there lots of ways they out thinking that the last thing he’d ever eight junior high schools in the area (one could make ‘the most’ of their lives? need to do was learn to speak a foreign of them with only two tongue, but then begin to wonder if, I began to imagine a students!) and assisting without one, a special destiny might be young Japanese boy with English lessons. lost. He’d fi nd himself pondering, more He’d still love growing up in the It was only the second and more, how far the street his family countryside, proud year of the Japanese his grandfather, lived along extended into the world. He’d of his rice-growing government’s JET still love his grandfather, but now that grandfather, eager to (Japan Exchange and but now that love love would provide the story with its follow in his footsteps, Teaching) programme, confl ict. And that’s the novel Along the desirous of one day and many of the would provide Same Street became. playing an essential students I encountered role in his small Steve Redford, Along the Same Street: were laying eyes on the story with its community. I imagined A Novel (Persimmon Dreams Press, 2013) a foreigner for the him, in class, calling fi rst time. I’d walk confl ict. his teacher out for into a classroom, on insisting that somehow he would not the heels of the regular teacher, and be whole if he did not master a foreign the pressure pot of excitement that tongue. And that became the seed for the students had become would spew what I thought might be a ten-page short out an overwhelming shrill. Usually, it story. was great fun, with the students’ joy tangible. No matter how brief or simple Only, a strange thing happened as I began the communication, they had managed to put pen to paper. The fi rst thing I it with a living, breathing, in-the-fl esh needed to do, I thought, was to depict foreigner! how much the boy loved the abundant nature of his hometown. The river and Fast forward twelve years. I’d become the sweetfi sh his family pulled from it. an associate professor at a national The cedar-covered mountain behind university. Now part of my job was to his grandfather’s house. The tangerines, advise students who were planning to kumquats, and persimmons. The rice become English teachers in secondary paddies. And then, before I knew it, the schools. How to motivate students boy began writing about those things. became a much-discussed issue. As And then he was discovering that he had much as I loved teaching English, and as something of the poet inside himself. much as I believed that the world would be a lot better off if more of us were The bright orange of the persimmon, at least bilingual, there was one thing I sometimes heard teachers say to junior What makes it? high students that seemed to stretch the The sun, the soil, the rain? truth a bit too far. It went something like this. ‘Japan is just one small country. It’s Or the blue of the sky, a big world. You’ll have to speak English As I lie on the ground to make the most of your lives.’ Well, of Looking up?

EastAsia@Sheffi eld 5 K-Pop hits Sheffi eld

The phenomenon of K-Pop (Korean First-year students make videos in pop music) has been one of the major the Korean language and here we see cultural forces sweeping the world them enjoying watching the results over the past decade. It fi rst became a craze in Japan and China, then spread to Europe, especially France. Now it is having a major impact on East Asian Studies at Sheffi eld. The number of students wanting to study Korean has gone through the roof. In 2013 record numbers started Korean language – thirty in the Korean Studies degree course, and another thirty from students enrolled in other courses who wish to do some Korean. And we had to turn some away! Mrs Sukyeon Cho, our leading teacher of Korean, and Director of the Korean language programme, said: ‘K-pop is and want to enter a business career and a third high quality partner university the biggest factor attracting students to make their fortune.’ in Korea, so that we can send smaller want to discover Korea and Korean. But groups to each destination – we hope many students also have studied some Like our students of Chinese and the students there make Korean friends, Korean history at A level, and have come Japanese, those enrolled in the Korean rather than spend their time with a large to understand Korea’s rapid growth and Studies degree spend a year ‘in-country’ group of Sheffi eld students! While in modernization. So they too are keen to in their second year, studying at a Korea, students will be able to improve acquire knowledge and understanding Korean university. The rapid increase their language skills and to immerse of the country. Of course, a third group in numbers, with thirty students going themselves in the country’s culture – and see the business opportunities off ered to Korea in September, has meant that maybe even to catch up with a couple of by Korea’s large and growing economy the School is working hard to choose K-pop stars!

The Lithuanian connection The School of East Asian Studies attracts One of the other students, Norgaile students from across the world to study Matuseviciute (the winner of the in Sheffi eld. Recently an increasing Margaret Daniels Prize), also said that number of students from Lithuania have her three years in Sheffi eld (and one seen Sheffi eld as the place to study in Osaka) ‘have not only contributed East Asia. At the graduation ceremony, to my understanding of the region as a Professor Dobson made a special point whole, but also led to many unforgettable of acknowledging the fi ve Lithuanian experiences and valuable friendships students who graduated from the in England, Lithuania, and Japan alike.’ School in July 2013, all having performed She enjoyed the ‘critical thinking very well indeed. The Ambassador of and curiosity’ encouraged by British Lithuania, Asta Skaisgiryt e· Liauškien e· , education and said it was a wonderful recognized the strong link between the experience ‘to study in such environment School and her country and decided with professors from diff erent academic Viktorija is presented with her certifi cate to award certifi cates recognizing the backgrounds and views’. Her role as by Professor Dobson students’ success, which Professor treasurer of Sheffi eld’s Japan Society Dobson presented to them at the ‘was an eye-opening experience, that ceremony. involved entrepreneurship, team work, inter cultural understanding and What attracts Lithuanian students to creativity. In the course of many cultural Sheffi eld? Viktorija Belak, who graduated and language exchange events it led to with a fi rst-class degree, said: ‘Other friendships that last to this day between than having amazing teachers to learn the society members and foreign from, one of the greatest benefi ts of exchange students.’ studying at the University of Sheffi eld was the access to its huge base of study So the Lithuanian students have made materials and literature.’ She also said a major contribution to our School’s of the Language Year Abroad that activities and its student body, and we ‘off ering the experience of living and look forward to continuing to work with studying in Japan for one year has been this part of the world. invaluable.’ Norgaile enjoys a meal in a traditional Japanese inn

6 EastAsia@Sheffi eld Professor Charles Alfred Fisher, the founder Dr Gordon Daniels, who before his retirement was a pillar of both the School of East Asian Studies and the History Department, has been researching the man who was largely responsible for the initial plans to establish Japanese Studies at Sheffi eld, and has come up with a fascinating story with both personal and academic elements. Professor Fisher

In its fi rst fi fty years (1905-55) Sheffi eld camp. In October he was transported offi cials. After returning to Britain he University provided no courses in to Thailand to work on the infamous wrote ‘my attitude towards the Japanese Japanese, Chinese or Korean, and had no Thailand-Burma railway. As an offi cer had undergone a complete volte face… staff specialising in the history, politics Fisher may have escaped the worst I was now resolved to do all I could by or culture of East Asia. Even as late as Japanese treatment of prisoners, but he writing, teaching and public speaking 1960 when the Government’s Hayter sub- suff ered from tropical diseases and poor to persuade my fellow countrymen to committee on Area Studies approached nutrition. discard their outdated and all too often the University, the Vice-Chancellor and distorted views about Japan.’ Despite indiff erent health he continued Registrar showed no interest in Asia. some academic activity. He read widely So, how, in 1963, did the Centre for In February 1962 the Hayter sub- in European languages and secretly Japanese Studies, from which the School committee published its Report on worked on a PhD thesis. Unfortunately, of East Asian Studies grew, come to be Area Studies, stating that ‘two centres when Japanese behaviour became more established? In this strange process, covering South Asia, South-East Asia, frantic and violent, Fisher feared that he a single individual, Professor Charles and the Far East should be supported might be severely beaten; and handed his Fisher, played the crucial role. in the provincial universities... but these manuscript to his captors. They promptly centres should not provide language In 1935 Fisher entered St. Catharine’s burnt it. teaching unless... this proves essential.’ College, Cambridge and proved an In August 1945 the Pacifi c War ended, Regarding Far Eastern languages the sub- outstanding student. He gained a double and in January 1946 Fisher returned to committee suggested it ‘would like to fi rst in Geography and was remembered Britain, where over the next few years see one university in the north provide as a cellist, linguist, public speaker and he lectured at Leicester, Aberystwyth these studies, if so Durham would be the comic mimic. On graduation he began and Oxford. He spent the year 1953-54 obvious candidate.’ research on Ireland, but following the at Yale University where he was ‘one outbreak of war he joined the Royal Fisher bought and read his own copy of of the ablest scholars... concerned with Engineers and was posted to Singapore. the report. He then drafted proposals the Asian Tropics’. In 1959 he became for ‘the setting up of a Centre for When British forces in Singapore Professor of Geography at Sheffi eld, South-East Asian Studies’ in Sheffi eld. surrendered to the Japanese in February where he was a dynamic and enthusiastic He also met Sir William Hayter, the sub- 1942, Fisher became a prisoner of war. teacher and researcher and wrote committee’s chairman. Fisher was told Within weeks, and still only twenty-fi ve, extensively on South-East Asia and Japan, that other universities had already made he became a leader in establishing two in particular his 400,000 word book claims for a similar centre. Despite his universities for prisoners in the Changi South-East Asia: A Social, Economic and disappointment he now formulated and Political Geography. submitted a new proposal, advocating a Like many ex-prisoners of war Fisher ‘Centre for Japanese Studies’ in Sheffi eld. suff ered psychological damage and had After all ‘no other university had put little admiration or aff ection for Japan forward proposals for such a centre’ and the Japanese; until, in 1961, a social which was ‘a serious omission’. He also meeting led to a profound change of suggested undergraduate instruction in attitude. At the annual dinner of the Japanese ‘at an early stage’. Geographical Association Fisher found On 9 May 1962 the Chairman of the himself seated next to the Japanese University Grants Committee wrote to Ambassador Ono Katsumi. In their Sheffi eld University broadly accepting conversation Fisher showed a detailed the Fisher proposal. Funding followed knowledge of Japan and, when pressed, and the fi rst two academic appointments mentioned his experience as a prisoner. were made in 1963. In 1964 Fisher left The Ambassador then invited him to visit Sheffi eld for a Chair in London, but Japan as an offi cial guest. without his vision and initiative it is That autumn he spent a month touring unlikely that East Asian Studies would major cities and rural areas, and meeting have found an academic home in Gordon Daniels a wide range of Japanese scholars and Sheffi eld.

EastAsia@Sheffi eld 7 Fifty years of Japanese Studies at Sheffi eld: Graduate careers Japanese Studies at Sheffi eld turned their career goals. Our graduates introduce three alumni who graduated fi fty in 2013. At fi rst in the Centre for have gone on to distinguished careers in the 1990s and went on to develop Japanese Studies and now as part of in a range of fi elds: in academia, careers in business and the wider world. the School of East Asian Studies, the government, business and other sectors All are part of the Sheffi eld family of Japanese Studies team have continued of the economy. Many have helped with graduates working in Britain, Japan and to contribute to capacity building in the fund raising for the Geoff rey Bownas beyond. fi eld (see East Asia@Sheffi eld, January Memorial Fund (www.sheffi eld.ac.uk/ 2013) as well as helping students achieve alumni/support/bownasfund). Here we

Adrian Brindle I returned to the UK in 2009 to set-up Evoia Capital, the European arm of the As an undergraduate, I wanted to Evolution group and parent of Mercury combine my choice of Economics with Securities, which is a boutique Japanese another subject to increase its relevance equities agency brokerage company. and real life applicability. In the 1980s, Japan was at its global economic peak, I currently split my time between London and Tokyo where I am a and I considered the linguistic challenge Director of two companies, Evolution of learning Japanese worth taking on. Japan and eWarrant Securities, both of On graduating in 1991, I joined Baring which are part of the Evolution group. Securities in Japan and spent thirteen On refl ection, my Japanese language years living in Tokyo and working for a ability certainly helped me to get into number of foreign banks and securities the fi nancial services industry (my fi rst companies including Commerzbank, internship was in 1988 during my year CIBC and JPMorgan. out) but I used relatively little Japanese in the foreign companies where I In 2004, I moved to Hawaii (and later worked. However, I am fi nding it of Los Angeles) to take on a role as CEO of critical importance in my current role Evolution Capital Management, a hedge where we have taken over a traditional fund that primarily invests in Japanese Japanese company with a 40 year equities markets. history and 250 staff .

Anna Dingley Japanese senior executives with their global investor relations. Studying Japanese at Sheffi eld and the homestay in Japan that was part of my Prior to JPMorgan, I worked on a degree have been door openers for me London Stock Exchange joint venture ever since I graduated. I have worked with the Tokyo Stock Exchange, in a variety of roles in multinational Bloomberg and NTT Docomo, and as a fi rms and government, and the self-employed consultant for six years. common thread throughout has been On the government side, I designed and a connection with Japan. Both the managed UK export trade missions to actual Japanese language and business Japan for fi rms producing computer skills and the broad network of games and digital content, and ran the contacts with other Sheffi eld Japanese award-winning UK Pavilion at the Aichi graduates have boosted my career. The Expo World Fair in 2005. Japanese dimension to all my work has I have lived in Japan for eight years been very fulfi lling. in all, in Kagoshima, Kyoto, Nagoya I have recently started a new role at and Tokyo. Having lived in the deep UK Trade and Investment, responsible countryside of Kyushu has also given for inward investment from Japan and me credibility when I talk about South Korea. My experience, together experiencing the culture at fi rst hand. with the business connections I have I have also recently started a series of built up since I studied at Sheffi eld, Japan-UK careers seminars in London, were instrumental in helping me secure helping job seekers fi nd roles where the role. My recent work as a Director Japanese skills give them an edge in at JPMorgan in Tokyo was particularly the business world. Sheffi eld graduates useful as I was managing a team helping would be most welcome, of course!

8 EastAsia@Sheffi eld Greg Sutch in the early 1990s, the country still remains an important global player in Studying Japanese at the University of so many fi elds. But more importantly it Sheffi eld provided me with a terrifi c foundation upon which to build my has lost none of the charm that makes it career in and with Japan. It enabled me such an exciting and rewarding place to to secure my position as a coordinator live and work. for international relations on the For the past decade or so, China has Japanese government’s JET programme, been the preferred choice of study for which in turn gave me the opportunity to many undergraduates but, with the spend time in Japan and immerse myself support of SEAS and other universities in all things Japanese. around the UK, the opportunity to Twenty years on, as CEO of Intralink, a study Japan and Japanese continues company that helps fi rms target markets to be aff orded to many students. in East Asia, I am still using my Japanese Congratulations SEAS on its fi rst fi fty every day and employing a team of over years, and, with the support of its thirty Japanese, Chinese and Korean excellent staff , students and alumni, I studies graduates based in offi ces in East am sure it will continue to inspire and Asia, and quite a few from SEAS! reward many hundreds of students of For all the challenges that Japan has Japan, China and Korea for at least the faced since the economic bubble burst next fi fty years!

Golden jubilee of Japanese Studies Professor Glenn Hook reports on two events held in London to celebrate the The roundtable panel (from the left): Sir David Warren, Hugo Dobson, fi ftieth anniversary of the teaching of Mark Pendleton, Graham Healey and Glenn Hook Japanese Studies at Sheffi eld.

The School organized a roundtable and with the fi eld nowadays rich enough to the importance of Japan from the a Golden Jubilee reception for graduates ‘consider Japan’ in all its multifaceted perspective of a practitioner. and those interested in Japan at the complexity. The future poses challenges For anyone who wishes to follow up Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation in both for Japan and for the discipline. the issues discussed, a recording of the London on 3 October 2013. Entitled ‘Why By refl ecting on the past, present and roundtable is available at http://www. Japanese Studies: Considering the Past, future of Japan and Japanese Studies, dajf.org.uk/event/why-japanese-studies- Present and Future’, the roundtable the four speakers at the roundtable considering-the-past-present-and-future aimed to stimulate a discussion on the provided stimulating presentations for fi eld in the United Kingdom and beyond The roundtable was followed by a the audience of over eighty, with a lively in celebration of fi fty years of Japanese reception, where Sheffi eld graduates discussion following their presentations. Studies at Sheffi eld. The two events and invited guests were able to continue From the School, Graham Healey provide us with strong evidence of the the roundtable discussions as well as started the proceedings by refl ecting importance of the department not only meet old and new friends and colleagues. on the history of Japanese Studies and to the fi eld, but also to the individual lives The continuing importance of Japanese his own engagement with Japan and and careers of our graduates. Studies at Sheffi eld was clear from the fi eld. Turning to the present, Mark the congratulatory speeches given by The fi ve decades since the establishment Pendleton questioned Japanese Studies’ Jason James, Director-General, Daiwa of the Centre for Japanese Studies obsession with contemporary relevance Anglo-Japanese Foundation; the Vice- have seen a radical transformation in and the immediate future, and drew out Chancellor, Sir Keith Burnett; graduates both Japan and Japanese Studies. In connections between the department’s Professor Janet Hunter, London School 1962, just before the Centre’s launch, history (extracted from the University of Economics and Robert White, The Economist called on the magazine’s archives) and the ways in which history Partner, Oldfi eld Partners. The Japanese readership to ‘consider Japan’ and its can be used to stretch out the ‘now’. Ambassador, Hayashi Keiichi, followed remarkable economic growth. Yet, at the The future was addressed by his closing speech with a toast to the time, few experts combined the linguistic continuing success of Japanese Studies Hugo Dobson, who highlighted his and area studies skills to be able do so. at the University of Sheffi eld. determination to ensure the continued In the intervening years Japan has become health and vitality of the fi eld. Sir David We are very grateful for the excellent of far greater signifi cance for the UK as Warren, former ambassador to Japan venue provided by Jason James and his well as for an increasingly globalized world. and Visiting Professor at Sheffi eld, team at Daiwa, and look forward to the Japanese Studies has also fl ourished, concluded by off ering his views on centenary event in fi fty years time.

EastAsia@Sheffi eld 9 Writing lives in China A new book, edited by Chinese Studies lecturers Dr Marjorie Dryburgh and Dr Sarah Dauncey and entitled Writing Lives in China, was published in October 2013. It is the result of a long-term and on-going international collaborative project. Contributors come from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada as well as the UK. Here Marjorie Dryburgh explains some of the thinking behind the book and the issues it raises.

The process of writing a book – convention on one hand, and creativity well represented in presentations any book – and seeing it through or candour on the other. Similarly, it is at conferences such as the biannual to publication can be long and also fruitful to read auto/biographical meetings of the International Auto/ challenging. The task of putting work in the same spirit. Biography Association. And Shanghai together an edited volume brings both Jiaotong University’s Center for additional challenges in co-ordination, This reveals that even apparently Life Writing is active in exploring but also additional rewards, as editors orthodox life stories could be try to use the contributors’ shared undermined by their subjects. Some connections between scholars interests and varying approaches to authors scattered autobiographical within and beyond China, through their core topic to develop a richer writings with departures (some conferences and a new Journal of Life understanding of the fi eld than rather subtle, some less so) from Writing Studies, launched in 2013. we might easily gain from a single- the offi cial narratives. Others used authored work. blogs or fi ction to reassert control So, Writing Lives in China emerges over their own stories. Still others into a growing area of research, in The edited collection Writing Lives wrote gloriously off -message dramas which scholars are applying a range of in China, published by Palgrave that simultaneously defended disciplinary approaches to a growing Macmillan, grew out of papers questionable reputations and body of available material and – in delivered at a workshop in Sheffi eld, mocked the pretensions of offi cial today’s China – rapidly changing social attended by researchers working in biographers to historical authority practice: it is an exciting time to be history, anthropology, and literary or to understanding of others’ lives. working in the fi eld. and cultural studies, affi liated to Examining the conventions themselves, universities in Europe, North America, we do fi nd them used purposefully Marjorie Dryburgh and Sarah Dauncey and East Asia. It incorporates studies to create a canon of approved lives; eds., Writing Lives in China, 1600- of biographical and autobiographical but the status of those conventions works, valued and marginalized lives, 2010: Histories of the elusive self, might also change with a writer’s Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. changing and diffi cult reputations, and circumstances. Were they a mirror or stories written to reveal or to conceal a map of social values? A shackle or a their subjects. It reaches the shelves security blanket? at an exciting time both for Chinese Studies and for the wider subject area No one volume can defi nitively answer of auto/biography, as dialogue expands these questions, but the range of between scholars of diff erent national new work in the fi eld, on paper and traditions of life writing. in progress, reveals an increasingly nuanced understanding of Chinese The workshop was inspired by the life writing. Some of this work falls observation that life writing practice, within established areas of academic past and present, was considerably interest, notably surrounding women more complex than much of the in the late imperial and republican eras existing scholarship suggested. Earlier (fourteenth to twentieth centuries). writers noted that life stories were In a neat reversal of older traditions, generally written for social or political this may soon off er us a better use, but this tended to prompt understanding of women’s auto/ discussions of whether these were biographical work in these times than therefore more or less ‘accurate’. of men’s. There was little further exploration of those uses and their implications Other newer studies explore less for our understanding of lives and familiar areas, examining religious their social and political contexts. We life writings, Daoist and Buddhist, are accustomed to seeing traditional produced between the fourth and Chinese poetry characterized as sixth centuries. Looking beyond words a negotiation between form and on paper, we fi nd China interests

10 EastAsia@Sheffi eld Hong Kong, a view of below

Dr Megan Blake is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography researching food and social justice in urban space. Here she gives a view of Hong Kong that many people don’t see.

Dr Blake worked and lived in Hong also consider that much of that skyline Kong between January 2011 and August represents the global circulation of 2013. While there she began to explore things and money. Populated with 294 the ways that value is produced in and buildings over 150m tall (35-40 fl oors) Megan Blake circulates through urban food systems and 2,354 buildings over 100m tall (New with a specifi c focus on Hong Kong’s York only has just under 800), the city The wealthy look out from the windows markets. She is particularly interested handily wins as being the place with the of the skyline as they dine at Michelin most opportunity to look down from in the way that value circuits are starred restaurants (Hong Kong has above. But what do you see when you constrained by urban policy and (neo- four three-star and thirteen two-star look down? liberal) discourse and the ways in which restaurants), spending on a single meal these circuits are enabled by everyday In her book, The Global City, sociologist what this woman will earn after several moments of creativity. She keeps a blog Saskia Sassen pointed out that global days of collecting boxes. The view from of her observations about Hong Kong cities are as much about the offi ce above is one of economic security and and food justice more generally which cleaners, secretaries, care workers, the aff ordances of excess, but those who you can read at http://geofoodie.org restaurant waiters, and refuse collectors are economically at the bottom eek out their lives by collecting, re-using, and Hong Kong is a city of views. Upon as they are about the fl ows of money remaking that excess. Hong Kong has a arriving one is assaulted with the image that go through them. Indeed, without very limited structure of social support of the famous skyline. This commanding such people doing this work, the city largely because it has a very low tax perspective off ers a view of the top would soon come to a halt. Hong Kong rate. The result is an inadequate care both literally and fi guratively, if we is certainly not an exception. When one pauses to look, the system for the very old – the waiting list An old woman collecting boxes and paper activity of these people is currently estimated to be fi fty years comes into sharp focus. for subsidized care homes. Hong Kong There are, for example, is also a city with higher than normal over 164,000 refuse suicide rates (18.6 compared to the workers in the city. Of global average of 15 per 100,000), but the these nearly 30,000 are rates for elders (those over sixty-fi ve) over retirement age committing suicide are at a staggering (which is sixty in Hong 27.6 per 100,000 population. Kong). Beyond that there So is it not just the view but also what are also uncounted we see that is important. Hong Kong, numbers of elderly like many cities, constructs its image to people, like the woman in focus attention on success, opulence and the picture, who collect the benefi ts of freedom. As the view is cardboard boxes and refocused, however, the values of the city other recyclable paper. are revealed in the image of below.

In May 2013, the Department of Town and Professor of Urban Sociology. Korea and and Regional Planning extended its Discussions continued into the evening research links with the College of Urban over a traditional Korean meal in the city Science at the University of Seoul by and plans are being made for a follow- sustainable visiting South Korea for a workshop up second workshop in Sheffi eld in the on sustainable cities. Offi cials from the summer of 2014. cities Seoul Metropolitan Government as well as researchers from the College Sheffi eld’s Department participated. Academic staff and PhD students gave presentations in order to of Town and Regional open up debate and identify key areas Planning is building for future collaboration. The delegation was led by Professor on long-standing Gordon Dabinett and included Dr Aidan While, Dr Nick Taylor Buck and Rachel collaborative links Wileman. Students enjoyed a week when they met public offi cials and had with Korea with a the opportunity to discuss planning and programme of visits by urban development issues. Sheffi eld’s representatives were welcomed by students and staff . Kun Lee, the President of the University Town and Regional Planning students during the Seoul trip

EastAsia@Sheffi eld 11 Dr Philip Harvey and recent graduates concentrate on the introductory presentation given by Mr Miles Stevenson (out of shot) Developing alumni networks in China Dr Philip Harvey, the University Registrar, Mr Miles Stevenson, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, and Dr Sarah Dauncey, of the School of East Asian Studies, hosted two events in Beijing in October aimed at establishing new alumni groups in China.

International students have been coming them with vital pre- and post-graduation Manager at the British Council), Zhang to the University of Sheffi eld since its networking. Just as importantly, they Tingting (MA Teaching Chinese as a foundation in 1905 (our fi rst Chinese wished to relive their time at Sheffi eld Foreign Language 2012, Editor at Yilin student graduated in 1907, see East through Chinese-style ‘Give it a Go’ Publishing Group), Ge Xiaomeng (MA Asia@Sheffi eld, June 2007), and the activities! Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language University now has over 4,600 alumni 2012, Chinese language teacher at The main reception on the following who live and work in China, most of day was attended by over 170 former Tsinghua University) and Austen Toone whom graduated in the past ten or so students, some of whom had graduated (BA Chinese Studies and History 2013, years. In view of this rapid and recent in the 1980s. Following a welcome Advanced Chinese language student at growth, the University decided it was National Taiwan University). high time to celebrate with a series of speech by Dr Harvey, Ms Susannah Chiu, high profi le events in Beijing. who graduated in 1982 with a BA in Aff ectionately dubbed ‘Sarah’s Club’ Economics, reminisced about her time by Miles Stevenson, they helped out The two main events, both held at the at Sheffi eld (including a mention of her throughout the evening. ‘The School Hilton hotel in the heart of the city, fi rst trip on the paternoster in the Arts has maintained strong links with its had several key aims: to reconnect Tower!) and how this changed her life. graduates,’ said Dr Dauncey, who has with alumni living and working in China Now Senior Vice President of Operations developed a range of new ways to and enable them to meet up socially at the IT fi rm Li & Fung Trading Ltd., connect with and support students and build networks; to cultivate better Ms Chiu is an enthusiastic supporter of after graduation. ‘We are proud of their relationships with alumni and with alumni events in Hong Kong and will work achievements once they leave and the research and business partners, and with mainland groups in future. graduates, for their part, are extremely to (re)engage them in the life and appreciative of their Sheffi eld education, work of the University; and to identify Former students from the School of the doors it has opened for them, as well alumni in China who may be able to East Asian Studies were naturally out in as the follow-on services we off er, such act as ambassadors for the University force at both events and included Aidan as the East Asia careers distribution list. and help Sheffi eld to attract the best Teare (MSc East Asian Business 2011, Visa students in future. The events were Writer at the British Embassy), Robynne They are keen to be ambassadors for hosted by Dr Philip Harvey, the University Tindall (BA Chinese Studies 2011, Front our department and have welcomed the Registrar, Mr Miles Stevenson, Director of House and Marketing at Cicada chance to take the lead in establishing of Development and Alumni Relations, Ultralounge), Adon Lawley (MA Chinese new alumni groups for the whole of the and Dr Sarah Dauncey from our own Studies 2012, Education Marketing University in China.’ department. On the fi rst evening, Miles Stevenson led a focus group of 24 recent undergraduates and postgraduates from subjects as diverse as Medicine, Engineering, Business and, of course, East Asian Studies. The former students discussed their experiences of applying for their respective courses, attending classes, and living in Sheffi eld. They all enthused about the city, its people and the Students’ Union, as well as the ease and speed of the application process and the benefi ts of studying at the University of Sheffi eld. They were all keen to see an Sarah’s Club – from left to right Austen Toone, Adon Lawley, alumni group established in China to help Dr Sarah Dauncey, Robynne Tindall, Aidan Teare

12 EastAsia@Sheffi eld Dr Lily Chen Training the next generation of teachers of Chinese Sheffi eld conference puts the spotlight on postgraduate supervision

The Sheffi eld conference was part of a series of on-going activities organized by Dr Lily Chen’s Symposium for the Supervision of Research Students in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL). It highlighted the School’s increasing profi le in teaching Chinese. Gate in a garden in Baoding, north China This summer the University of Sheffi eld topics as varied as Chinese linguistics and hosted an international conference second language acquisition; approaches focussing on the supervision of research to teaching Chinese as a foreign language East-West studies students working in the growing fi eld based on analysis of specifi c features of Teaching Chinese as a Second (or of Chinese grammar; and the design in architecture Foreign) Language (TCSL/TCFL). and provision of courses for MA and PhD students of TCFL/ TCSL. Research and landscape The conference was hosted by the students also spoke about their own Symposium for the Supervision experiences of research and supervision. of Research Students in TCSL, an Sheffi eld’s Architecture international organization set up by During the conference, Dr Chen Dr Lily Chen of the School of East Asian announced that further White Rose and Landscape Studies and Dr Yang Lan of the University funding had been secured to enable the of Leeds, with the support of White Rose Symposium to continue the work it had departments have funding and the participation of two begun – including the establishment of a strong interests in East partner universities in China, Nanjing and new journal. ‘In addition to further annual Wuhan. conferences in future, and the building of Asia and recruit many a network of researchers and supervisors, The aim of the Symposium is to improve we also plan to establish in future an research students from the quality of supervision for the international journal of TCSL,’ she told increasing number of research students delegates. the region. working in Chinese language teaching. It will do this by building up an international The conference had been a great success, In October 2013, Professors Peter network of researchers and supervisors; said Dr Chen. ‘By bringing together Blundell Jones and Jan Woudstra held sharing expertise, research fi ndings and established researchers and research an open seminar focussing on the best practice; promoting co-operation students from around the world, we have question of why the timber frame in between universities and schools; and already gone some way towards achieving traditional buildings in China and other not least hearing from research students our initial goal of setting up a network of East Asian cultures is seen as something themselves. researchers, supervisors and research separate from the bounding wall. This is students working in the important and a major diff erence in comparison with This summer’s conference, held from growing fi elds of research into the Western architecture, in which the wall 16 to 18 August and chaired by Dr Chen, teaching of the Chinese language. has tended to be dominant. Although a was the second to have been held by simple answer might be the dominance ‘We very much hope that by facilitating the Symposium. It followed an initial of carpentry as a discipline, the threshold the sharing of experiences and by conference held at Leeds in 2012. More is quite diff erently expressed through fostering research collaborations and than thirty-fi ve delegates from around this practice, and also has climatic greater co-operation between universities the world – including the UK, China, implications. Japan and France – attended. They were and schools, the Symposium will help mainly researchers and supervisors, but to raise standards in the supervision of The seminar was organized by a research students in the fi eld, and will also included for the fi rst time a number of collaborative centre for East-West help generate interesting new avenues of research students. The keynote speakers studies established by Professors research. – Professors Lu Jianming and Ma Zhen Blundell Jones and Woudstra to support the many PhD students from China, of Beijing University, and Dr Boping Yuan ‘The launch of an international journal will Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia who of the University of Cambridge – are all go a long way to cementing the work we are studying architecture, buildings, leading fi gures in the world of TCSL/ TCFL have begun and will provide an important landscape, or gardens. The regular research. platform for the kind of research projects open seminars give the students an we hope to foster.’ The conference took the form of a series opportunity to present their work of presentations, followed by discussion Next year’s conference will be held at and discuss broader issues of general and debate. Papers were presented on Nanjing University. interest.

EastAsia@Sheffi eld 13 Leading global historian speaks at Sheffi eld Professor Akira Iriye, Charles Warren In his presentation, Professor Iriye Research Professor of American History reviewed the growth of interest in global at Harvard University, visited Sheffi eld in and transnational history since the November to give a talk to a joint seminar 1990s. He showed how our whole way of of the Department of History and the thinking on these topics – for example School of East Asian Studies. Introduced the periods into which we divide modern by Dr Seung-young Kim, Professor Iriye history – is excessively focussed on state has for the past fi ve decades been one of actors. He welcomed the emergence of the world’s leading global historians, and new interests in human rights across remains the pre-eminent scholar in the all nations, in environmentalism and international and transnational history of in non-government organizations. Professor Iriye addresses the seminar the Asia-Pacifi c. These new ideas also attempt to avoid Korea and Vietnam among others the Eurocentrism of our previous His early work on the international – would come to recognize shared understandings of world history – for system in East Asia in the 1920s (After memories of their history as a basis example a periodization that emphasizes Imperialism) remains infl uential today, for moving towards a higher level the First World War as a turning point, and he has recently undertaken the of integration along the lines of the when in fact that war had little impact editing of a six-volume history of the European Union. He himself was speaking outside Europe and the United States. world, published jointly in Germany up in Japan on the need for that country and the US. The latest volume Global Reviewing recent trends in East Asia, and its government to acknowledge Interdependence: The World After 1945 he expressed the hope that the major more fully the atrocities that make it was published in December 2013. countries of the region – China, Japan, diffi cult for others to share memories. New book on Korean composer

Dr Andrew Killick, senior lecturer in Ethnomusicology, has known the Korean composer Hwang Byungki since 1988 and learnt to play some of his music on the kayagum zither. His 25-year study of Hwang’s music has now reached fruition in the fi rst Western book devoted to an Asian composer writing primarily for traditional instruments.

As a composer, performer, scholar, and administrator, Hwang Byungki (b. 1936) The has had an exceptional infl uence on the focuses on a particular area of interest world of Korean traditional music for or activity – such as Hwang’s unique Railway Man over half a century. During that time, position in the traditional genre kayagum Western-style music (both classical and sanjo, his enduring interest in Buddhist The fi lm, The Railway Man, was popular) has become the main form of culture and a meditative aesthetic, and released on Boxing Day 2013. Starring musical expression for most Koreans, his adoption of extended techniques and Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, and Sanada while traditional music has retained a approaches from Western avant-garde Hiroyuki, it is an adaptation of Eric special role as a powerful emblem of music. An accompanying CD provides Lomax’s autobiography and focuses on national identity. excerpts from Hwang’s works analysed in his experiences as a PoW in Thailand, Dr Killick’s book Hwang Byungki: the book. and his eventual reconciliation with Traditional Music and the Contemporary the Japanese interpreter involved Through an examination of Hwang’s Composer in the Republic of Korea in his brutal interrogation. That life and works, the book addresses the has been published in the Ashgate interpreter was Nagase Takashi, broader question of traditional music’s SOAS Musicology Series. Against mentor and friend of Gill Goddard, place in a rapidly modernising yet the background of ever-increasing the East Asian Studies Librarian at intensely nationalistic society, as well as interaction between Asian and Western Sheffi eld. Nagase’s writings concerning the issues faced by a composer working music since the mid-twentieth century, it the Japanese as captors and as in an idiom in which the very concept examines in detail how Hwang has been captives have been edited by Gill of the individual composer was not able to extend the range of traditional Goddard as Crosses and Tigers and traditionally recognised. It explores how Korean music in various directions The Cowra Incident of 1944, available new music for traditional instruments without simply ‘Westernising’ it. from The Paulownia Press [http:// can provide a means of negotiating www.paulowniapress.co.uk/books/ Following a thematic rather than a rigidly between a local identity and the modern Crosses_and_Tigers.html] chronological approach, each chapter world order.

14 EastAsia@Sheffi eld East Asia for all!

The School of East Asian Studies In addition, Professor Hugo has been delighted to welcome Dobson, head of the School, gave a number of students from a mini-lecture explaining how the local schools and colleges to countries of East Asia had spread the University with the aim of their global infl uence through introducing them to the world’s the Beijing Olympics, Japanese most dynamic region and its anime and manga, and Korean languages. pop music. On two occasions, over fi fty There was also an opportunity students and teachers came to to interview students currently Sheffi eld from schools and colleges enrolled in the School of East including Hope Valley College in Asian Studies about university North Derbyshire, Clifton School in life and their studies. The day Rotherham, Brookfi eld Community ended with a light-hearted quiz School in Chesterfi eld and Fir Vale that ensured nobody went home Students practicing their new Asian language skills School in Sheffi eld. empty-handed. Both days included a number According to Professor Dobson: of activities. With the invaluable ‘The staff of the School of East assistance of a team of our current Asian Studies strongly believe in students, Dr Lily Chen, Dr Lucy explaining to the local community Zhao, Ms Sukyeon Cho and Ms what they do and giving Yuki Kittaka introduced students to everybody the opportunity to join the Chinese, Korean and Japanese in.’ A number of similar events languages. By the end of the day, are currently being planned for 2014. with no previous experience of studying East Asian languages, We will be advertising upcoming students could write their name, events on the Faculty of Social introduce themselves and hold Sciences Outreach Team’s a brief conversation in the three website: www.sheffi eld.ac.uk/ languages. faculty/social-sciences/outreach Learning to write characters

Japan in our futures – A conference of undergraduate and postgraduate research on Japan James White, who is researching a PhD in the School, reports on a student conference held at Sheffi eld’s Interdisciplinary Centre for the Social Sciences (ICOSS), which he helped to organize.

The inaugural ‘Japan in Our Futures’ Student presentations were supported publishing (provided by Japan Forum conference, held in April 2013, by a roundtable Question Time-inspired co-editor Dr Matanle) and funding showcased emerging scholars in the discussion, which added a dynamic opportunities, with a representative of fi eld of Japanese studies from White and interactive component to the the Japan Foundation, Hal Parker, kindly Rose East Asia Centre (WREAC) partners day’s events. Dr Mark Pendleton – the venturing north to attend. Sheffi eld and Leeds, as well as a wide School’s own ‘David Dimbleby’ – hosted A catered lunch and closing reception range of universities from across the event, and Dr Dolores Martinez of enabled both emerging and more the country, including Oxford, SOAS, SOAS, Professor Ian Neary of Oxford and established scholars to make and Manchester, Lancaster, Newcastle, Sheffi eld’s Dr Peter Matanle engaged re-form connections. The day would not Northumbria and Warwick. Over thirty and debated with each other and with have been a success without the expert presentations were made on topics as the audience about where Japan and the guidance of Dr Pendleton, the valiant diverse as soft power, the ukiyo-e fan, fi eld of Japanese Studies in the UK would organizational eff orts of the students the Japanese motorcycle industry and fi nd themselves in the year 2030. (thanks to Sharleen Estampador- single mothers in Japanese television Staff from the School joined participants Hughson, Nicolas Garvizu, Robert drama. Part of the celebrations of from other institutions within the UK Horn, Kelly Ing, Seongjo Kim, Rosemary the fi ftieth anniversary of Japanese and from Japan as discussants, providing Pennells, Rebecca Whitter, and Fabio Studies at Sheffi eld, the undergraduate- student presenters with guidance and Zaca) and the assistance of the staff postgraduate conference was hosted by probing questions from established of ICOSS and SEAS, most notably Kylie WREAC’s National Institute of Japanese academics. The students also benefi ted Wheeler. Studies and funded by the Arts and from professional advice concerning Humanities Research Council.

EastAsia@Sheffi eld 15 Wide range of career options The career of Philip Shetler-Jones, who graduated from the School with a BA and a PhD in Japanese Studies, tells us about the wide range of opportunities that are open to graduates. Here he brings us up to date with the development of his career.

I work in the European Union Monitoring subject the degree was in, so I felt free to academic studies and practical work in Mission in Georgia, which was choose something that appealed to me. the fi eld. established to monitor implementation After completing my PhD (looking at of the agreement that ended the war I chose to study Japan because I was Japan’s defence policy as a case study on between Russia and Georgia in 2008. enchanted by its culture. Before starting the relationship between globalization I have been with this mission only a the degree course I wanted to feel more and security), I found it even easier to couple of months, but I have worked in confi dent that I was making the right keep a foot in each camp. I teach at the the fi eld of peacekeeping for most of my choice so I spent six months in Tokyo Hiroshima Peacebuilders’ Centre on career since the mid 1990s, when I was teaching English. It was a turning point in planning peacekeeping operations and, deployed as a Royal Marine to the United my life. I was going from being a military while working as a freelance contractor Nations operation in Bosnia. offi cer back to being a civilian and moving from a world of action to one of in Brussels with NATO and the UK’s I joined the Royal Marines out of school ideas. Stabilisation Unit, I started blogging on partly because I had no idea what I connections between European and wanted to do in life, and it seemed like Soon after beginning my studies in Asian Security. It keeps me in touch a good way to have an adventure. After I Sheffi eld’s School of East Asian Studies, with developments and helps me fi nd went to Bosnia I knew I wanted to work I learned to combine the things that opportunities in consulting. If this story in peacekeeping but I would need a interested me. After writing my means anything, maybe it’s that you don’t university degree. From the UN’s point undergraduate dissertation on Japan’s have to just choose one thing and stick of view, it didn’t seem to matter what peacekeeping policy, I moved between with it.

East Asian Studies Degrees The School of East Asian Studies off ers a wide range of single and dual honours degrees, as well as postgraduate taught and research degrees. For further information, contact seas@sheffi eld.ac.uk, or visit: http://www.shef.ac.uk/seas

BA degrees Japanese Studies with/German, Russian, Postgraduate research degrees Spanish Unless otherwise stated, BA Degrees PhD supervision is available in a wide range involve four years of study. French/Germanic/Hispanic/Russian of subject areas on China, Japan, Korea Studies with Japanese and intra-regional studies. In addition, Single honours Korean Studies and/Management, Music scholarships may be available through the Chinese Studies University of Sheffi eld. Korean Studies with Japanese Japanese Studies Korean Studies East Asian Studies and/Music (three years) East Asian Studies (three years) EastAsia@Sheffi eld Postgraduate taught degrees is published by the School of East Asian Dual honours Studies at the University of Sheffi eld. MA/Diploma/Certifi cate in Chinese Studies Chinese Studies and/History, Enquiries to: MA/Diploma/Certifi cate in Japanese Management, Music Prof Tim Wright, Editor Studies Chinese Studies with/French, German, School of East Asian Studies, Japanese, Russian, Spanish MSc/Diploma/Certifi cate in East Asian University of Sheffi eld, Business Shearwood Road, Japanese Studies and/History, Sheffi eld S10 2TD, UK. Linguistics, Management MA/Diploma/Certifi cate Teaching Chinese Tel: +44 (0)114 222 8406 as a Foreign Language (TCFL) Email: T.Wright@Sheffi eld.ac.uk

16 EastAsia@Sheffi eld