Tazuko Ajiro-Monane and Noma-Reischauer Prizes Awarded to Students

December 12, 2014

Neil Gat receives the Tazuko Ajiro-Monane Award presented by Professor Wesley Jacobsen (left); Dana Mirsalis (right)

Last Friday, students and faculty convened to honor and celebrate the recipients of this year’s Tazuko Ajiro-Monane Award and Noma-Reichauer Prizes in Japanese Studies. The event, cosponsored by the Japanese Language Program and the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (with support from the Tazuko Ajiro Monane Memorial Fund), was well attended, with appearances from Jenni Ting, last year’s recipient of the Monane Award, and the Consul General of Japan in Boston, Tsutomu Himeno. Cheerful remarks and lively conversation made for an enjoyable occasion, which culminated in an end of semester sushi party for students in the Japanese Language Program.                     

Each year, the Monane Award is granted to an outstanding student who has completed at least two years of Japanese language study at Harvard and who displays exceptional promise for a future academic or professional career in which he/she will make use of his/her Japanese ability. This year’s winner, Neil Gat ’15, a concentrator in Computer Science, graciously accepted the honor in both English and Japanese. Yasuko Matsumoto, preceptor of Japanese at the advanced level, spoke to Mr. Gat’s strengths as a student and to his enthusiasm for “Manzai,” a form of Japanese stand-up comedy. One of the top students in the program, Gat commenced studying the language at the 3rd year level when he was a sophomore. He is currently studying at the 5th year level and has recently accepted a job offer to work for Microsoft upon graduating in May.

Dana Mirsalis, recipient of a Noma-Reischauer Prize, discusses her topic with Tsutomu Himeno, Consul General of Japan in Boston

The Noma-Reischauer Prizes in Japanese Studies, awards granted to the best essays on Japan-related topics written by Harvard students, were received by Midori Takasaki ’14, an East Asian Studies concentrator, and Dana Mirsalis, a Ph.D. candidate in East Asian Religion and Philosophy in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. Ted Gilman, Executive Director of the Reischauer Institute, noted that this year’s awards ceremony marked the 19th anniversary of conferring the prizes. The winning graduate essay, “Modernizing Ōmoto: Legitimacy, Authority, and Gender in Ōmoto’s Chinkon Kishin Boom (1916-1921),” authored by Ms. Mirsalis, details the emergent popularity of Ōmoto, a new religious movement in Japan founded during the early 20th century. Mirsalis thanked Professors Helen Hardacre and Edwin Cranston for their guidance in advising her on her thesis.

A Noma-Reischauer Prize was also granted to Ms. Midori Takasaki for her undergraduate thesis. Ms. Takasaki graduated in 2014 in East Asian Studies, with a focus on Japan and the Social Sciences. Her thesis, entitled, “Just Because You Say It, Doesn’t Make It True: Revealing the Illogic Behind Arguments for Article 9 Revision,” was in part informed by research conducted abroad at the Japanese House of Representatives in Tokyo, made possible by the Henry Rosovsky Travel Grant sponsored by the Reischauer Institute. Takasaki accepted the award and expressed her gratitude in absentia. After the awards ceremony, students and guests of the Japanese Language Program enjoyed an informal party, bringing to a festive end the day's celebrations.        

See also: Japanese