On June 29 and 30, JIU’s Faculty of International Humanities’ Comparative Cultures Center hosted the Herbert Plutchow Memorial Symposium and the Oba Minako International Symposium under the theme “travels and tales from foreign lands” at Josai University Educational Corporation’Tokyo Kioicho Campus.

This symposium, organized as part of JIU’s 20th anniversary festivities, was so named to honor the lives of Japanese literary scholar Herbert Plutchow (1939-2010, former Chair of JIU’s Faculty of International Humanities and Director of the Comparative Cultures Center) and Japanese novelist Oba Minako (1930-2007).
    Professor Plutchow was a diligent reader of Japanese travel journals and used his own unique perspective to articulate the significance of Japanese travels during the Edo period as seen in these works. Oba Minako, on the other hand, used her many experiences abroad as material for her literature, developing her own “foreign land” theory from a Japanese female perspective.

Taking “travels to foreign lands” as its concept, this symposium aimed to celebrate the accomplishments of these two thinkers through presentations from both Japanese and foreign scholars, panel discussion, and a diverse array of other activities.

The opening day of the symposium began with opening remarks from the current chair of JIU’s Faculty of International Humanities Paul Schalow, followed by a greeting from Chancellor and President of JIU’s graduate school Noriko Mizuta. This was followed by a keynote address from Kazuhiko Kasaya of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, which reflected on the research and accomplishments of Professor Plutchow. The keynote address continued with Indiana University-Bloomington Professor Sumie Jones who used “travels to foreign lands” as a theoretical framework for viewing Professor Plutchow’s work. Toshie Marra of UCLA closed out the keynote speech by relating several episodes of her time teaching alongside the late Professor Plutchow. The afternoon session, coordinated by UCLA’s Seiji Mizuta Lippit, featured presentations from five different scholars whose research centers on the spirited travels both home and abroad of Herbert Plutchow and Oba Minako.
    Following closing remarks from Miki Sumito of JIU’s Faculty of International Humanities, Josai held a reception where renowned scholar Donald Keene—a former teacher of Plutchow, Yoshiko Plutchow, and Oba Toshio gave speeches, relating their memories of the two great literary figures.

Oba Minako International Symposium

The Oba Minako International Symposium began on the following day with a keynote speech delivered by Chancellor Mizuta and continued by Professor Egusa Mitsuko, who spoke about the influence of Chinese literature on Oba’s writing, and Toyoeiwa University Professor Yonaha Keiko who spoke about her work on Oba Minako’s Complete Works, drawing attention to particular aspects of the collection.
    The lecture was followed by a roundtable discussion with editor Miyata Marie, Honorary Professor Sumie Jones, and the panel of scholars from the previous day’s presentations in which participants shared their thoughts on the works of Oba’s that left them with the deepest impression.

In addition, the symposium held an exhibition on the 1st floor gallery of Oba Minako’s personal items including handwritten manuscripts, first edition books, oil paintings, drawings, as well as her collection of Alaskan portraits. And the foyer of the basement hall featured a display of the works Professor Plutchow had collected over the years as well as a panel of photographs that looked back on his life. More than 250 people including relatives of Oba and Plutchow, Japanes and foreign scholars, students, and members of the media gathered for the event, perusing the exhibition with great interest.

Overall, the 2-day symposium was a rousing success with a diverse number of presentations and lively discussions that allowed participants to reflect upon the great literary accomplishments of Oba and Plutchow.