On November 7th 2009, Chancellor MIZUTA gave a special address at eighteenth annual conference of the Association of Japanese Literary Studies (AJLS, Nov. 6-8) held under the theme of “Rethinking Gender in the Postgender Era” at Rutgers University. Entitled “The Life and Literary Legacy of Oba Minako,” the chancellor’s speech recounted Ms. Oba’s three-day visit as a speaker together with the chancellor to the AJLS conference at Rutgers 16 years ago, where Ms. Oba discussed her poems with conference participants, which later resulted in the publication of “Burning Amber” co-authored by Ms. Oba and the chancellor. For this reason, the chancellor further stated, her speech this time bore special meaning for her. As a literary critic who understands Ms. Oba’s personal life, Chancellor Mizuta evaluated Ms. Oba as a writer who created her own unique woman’s literature.

Three graduates from Josai International University presented their papers at the conference. After her address, Chancellor MIZTUA was almost immediately surrounded by young scholars from America, Germany, Italy and many other countries who studied Ms. Oba’s work; it certainly indicates that the scholarly interest in Japanese women’s literature is spreading across the globe. Encouraged by this global interest in Ms. Oba, the participants from JIU discussed a possibility of holding an international conference about her work at JIU as well on their way back home.