Staff

Sainsbury Institute’s academic staff, including Professor Simon Kaner (Director of the Sainsbury Institute, specialising in Japanese archaeology, currently on study leave), Dr Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer (Acting Director of the Sainsbury Institute, Course Director for the MA programme, expert in modern Japanese art and calligraphy), Dr Ryoko Matsuba (Lecturer in Japanese Digital Arts and Humanities, specialist in Japanese print culture and digital technologies), Professor Toshio Watanabe (Professor for Japanese Arts and Cultural Heritage, expert in modern Japanese art and Japonisme), and Professor Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere (Research Director of the Sainsbury Institute, specialist in Japanese ceramics, globally renowned art curator) are all excited to welcome students to the programme, and to share their knowledge and appreciation for Japanese culture. They will be teaching Japanese art history, sharing their experiences of understanding Japan through its visual and material culture, introducing students to the latest developments in the field, and offering guidance to jump-start their professional careers.

The students of this course will additionally benefit from access to UEA’s Centre for Japanese Studies (CJS) and the wide range of scholarly expertise on Japan that the UEA faculty, who all contribute distinct disciplinary perspectives, have to offer. Japan specialists at UEA currently include Dr Sherzod Muminov (School of History and current Acting Director of the Centre for Japanese Studies) specialises in Japanese history, in particular Japan-East Asia and Japan-Russia relations; Dr Ra Mason (based in the School of Politics, Philosophy and Language and Communication Studies), who researches Japan’s international relations and Okinawan Studies, and has extensive knowledge of Japan’s foreign relations within East Asia; Dr Nadine Willems (UEA’s School of History), a cultural historian on Japan, researching on modern Japanese history and the history of ideas; Dr Hannah Osborne, lecturer in Japanese Literature in the School of Literature and Drama, specialises in modern Japanese literature through the perspectives of gender and body; and Dr Eriko Tomizawa-Kay, based in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies, is an expert in modern Japanese art, diaspora studies, and Okinawan art.

Find out more about the lecturers through one-on-one interviews in Beyond Japan.