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Here, There, And In-Between: On The Civilizing Process And Civilizational Analysis, Michael Palencia-Roth

Comparative Civilizations Review

This essay presents a cautionary tale about certain problems with systematization and abstraction in comparative civilizational studies. It advocates instead for the analysis of single works, limited events, or particular figures, within larger issues pertaining to what is understood as a “civilization” or “culture”. It prioritizes certain aspects of the civilizing process: the here, or the civilizing and interpretive gaze; the there, or the Other that is the object of that gaze; and the in-between. It further suggests that insights and methods from Mikhail Bakhtin, Hans-Georg Gadamer and others from the humanities, social sciences, and philosophy can …

When Big Brother Blinks, Josh Eyre

BYU Asian Studies Journal

When discussing modern Japanese literature, works of the late 1930s and early 1940s are largely left out of the discussion. Stories written during this time are ignored by scholars, forgotten by readers, and at times even excluded from an author’s “complete works” by publishers (Keene 1987, 906–907). These works are often thought to be devoid of literary merit or not worth studying due to the high levels of scrutiny and censorship that Japanese authors were subjected to by the far right and intensely nationalistic Japanese government of the time. I would argue, however, that the near total dismissal of Japanese …

Christianity On Home Brew, Brayden Lane

BYU Asian Studies Journal

In 1659, after enduring three years of torture and refusing to renounce his teachings, a Christian priest was executed in Nagasaki by decapitation under order by local officials. This man, who had taken the name of Bastian at his baptism, had spent the previous several years leading and teaching his fellow Christians in the villages near Nagasaki. He did this in secrecy, for in those days, professing belief as a Christian had been declared illegal by the Japanese government under penalty of death. In the course of his ministry, he saw many of his brethren meet their deaths for their …

Home, Maddie Yamamura

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

I stood in the brightly lit bathroom, a giggle bubbling out of me as I inhaled the coconut and gardenia scented hand soap. The gentle breeze I’d missed tickled my skin. The Hawaiian humidity hugged me. The rustling palm fronds outside the window whispered hello. Welcome home.

Prejudice Against Religion In Japan -And Its Influence On Proselytism Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints-, Shawna M. Lawlor, Dainan Skeem

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Despite missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sharing the Gospel in Japan since 1901, its membership reaches only a little over 128,000, which is approximately one in every 1000 people living in Japan. There have been numerous theories concerning the relatively slow progress of the Church there. However, as I analyzed interviews of Japanese converts, I noticed a common theme in each of their stories; each convert had mentioned that before their conversion to the Gospel, they viewed religion to be something strange and suspicious. Having been born and raised in Japan, I agree that this …

From Freeze To Fire: How Economic Sanctions Against Japan Led To The War In The Pacific, Mitch Rogers

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Praise And Prejudice: American Attitudes Toward Japan In Uncle Ben, Anna Nielsen, Rachel Baron, Emily Orton

FHSS Mentored Research Conference

Uncle Ben in Japan is a 1933 geographical workbook intended to teach American schoolchildren about Japan. This text highlights both positive and negative American attitudes towards Japan in the 1930s. Although this work expresses certain views progressive for its time, it also contains evident assumptions of American national superiority.

The Trek East: Mormonism Meets Japan, 1901-1968, Stephen J. Moody

BYU Studies Quarterly

Shinji Takagi. The Trek East: Mormonism Meets Japan, 1901-1968.

Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2016.

The Papers Of Jay Jensen And The Japan First Mission

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Academic objectives of our research project have been extremely successful. Several of our students produced papers from our research and presented them at a regional conference of the Association for Asian Studies. One of our students published her essay in the Religious Education student journal and won an award for her contribution.
We have produced a whole transcript of the journal of Jay Clair Jensen, including translations and reproduction of thousands photographs. We also produced annotation of the whole journal, which will be submitted for publication at the Religious Studies Center, to add to literature about the worldwide church.

Linguistics Improvements And Correlates In A Japanese Study Abroad Program, Geoffrey Scott Biesinger

Theses and Dissertations

Study abroad (SA) is typically thought to provide an excellent opportunity for second language acquisition, particularly through exposure to and application of the target language within the target culture. However, actual language gains vary greatly among SA participants and some may gain very little (Freed, 1995a). The purpose of the current study is to determine some specific linguistic gains made by 28 second language learners of Japanese studying for two semesters in Japan, and to determine possible correlates with these gains. Specifically, it addresses whether or not these SA students improve their grammatical proficiency, lexical proficiency, narrative ability, fluency, and …

Early Mormon Missionary Activities In Japan, 1901–1924, Reid L. Neilson, R. Lanier Britsch

BYU Studies Quarterly

Reid L. Neilson, PhD, the managing director of the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is well known among LDS Asian and Pacific scholars as a gifted and productive editor and bibliographer. His research and writing on the history of the Church in Japan is informative, enlightening, and enriching. Although the topic of missionary work in Japan has been written about by other authors, Neilson's book adds much to what has already been written.

In Early Mormon Missionary Activities in Japan, 1901-1924, Neilson has created one of the few LDS books dealing with Mormon …

The Fate Of The Davao Penal Colony #502 "Branch" Of The Lds Church, 1944, David L. Clark, Bart J. Kowallis

BYU Studies Quarterly

On September 7, 1944, 668 American POWs were killed when the unmarked Japanese ship in which they were being transported was hit by friendly fire. Among those POWs were several members of an unofficial LDS "branch" that had formed in a penal colony near Davao, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The branch of POWs had contraband scriptures and a hymnbook and met together weekly. This article tells as much of their story as has come to light: who they were, their service, and their capture. The article ends with a discussion of the theological implications of their …

The Contradictions Of Kitabatake Chikafusa's Jinno Shotoki: How The Jinno Shotoki Shows That Japan Is Not Shinkoku, Adam Wheeler

BYU Asian Studies Journal

It is widely held by Japanese and non-Japanese historians alike that Japan has enjoyed an uninterrupted reign by a single royal family for at least the last 1,500 years, if not longer. This unprecedented system of government has given rise to much investigation as to how such a feat could have been accomplished and has also given rise to the belief that Japan is Shinkoku, or “divine land.” Theories on the longevity of the Japanese imperial family have been based on the relationship between them and surrounding families of influence, as well as the tenuous relationship that existed between …

John P. Hoffmann. Japanese Saints: Mormons In The Land Of The Rising Sun, Henri Gooren

BYU Studies Quarterly

John P. Hoffmann. Japanese Saints: Mormons in the Land of the Rising Sun. Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2007

Memoirs Of The Relief Society In Japan, 1951-1991, Yanagida Toshiko

BYU Studies Quarterly

My poems are my tears,

as my eyes are moistened at once

in joy and in sorrow.

—Yanagida Toshiko

Heber J. Grant's European Mission, 1903-1906, Ronald W. Walker

BYU Studies Quarterly

Elder Heber J. Grant landed in Liverpool, England, in November 1903, and by the first of the year he officially assumed his new position as president of the European Mission. The mission began at Tromso, Norway; and ran to Cape Town, South Africa; with Iceland and India serving as distant east-west meridians. While the church had branches in each of these extremities, Grant's field of labor was more compact. Most of the mission's effort was reserved to the Netherlands, Germany, Scandinavia, and Switzerland, where he had a general superintendency, and especially in the British Isles, where he had duties that …

Mormons In The Press: Reactions To The 1901 Opening Of The Japan Mission, Shinji Takagi

BYU Studies Quarterly

During the first month when a Mormon Apostle and three missionaries arrived to begin proselytizing work in Japan, the local and national press published at least 160 articles on Mormonism, many of the articles appearing on the front page. The media attention was unprecedented for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in that country. Here the author explores the reaction from the Japanese press toward Mormons, the social and historical context that led to such interest, and some of the media controversies that arose. The author concludes that one of the biggest reasons Mormons received such attention when …

The Japanese Missionary Journals Of Elder Alma O. Taylor, 1901-10, Reid Larkin Neilson

Theses and Dissertations

On 14 February 1901, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the opening of the Japan Mission and the selection of Elder Heber J. Grant as its first president. The idea of sending Mormon missionaries to Japan had earlier been entertained by President Brigham Young and several other church leaders and lay members.

Until 1854, Japan was closed to western nations and their religious influences. Finally, Commodore Perry forced the Japanese to open their borders and minds to the economic and political entreaties of the United States. In time, other western nations and their …

Tomizo And Tokujiro: The First Japanese Mormons, Shinji Takagi

BYU Studies Quarterly

In August 1901, Heber J. Grant and his companions arrived in Japan to open the first permanent mission in Asia and begin their difficult proselyting labors among the Japanese. It took them almost seven long months to claim the first fruit of their labors. On March 8, 1902, on the shore of Omori in Tokyo Bay, Hajime Nakazawa, a professed Shinto priest, was baptized, confirmed, and ordained an elder. This event was symbolic indeed. For one thing, Nakazawa was presumably affiliated with a religious sect whose roots went back to the ancient indigenous religion of Japan. For another, more interestingly, …

Kai Eduard Rasmussen: A Danish American Hero, Val Hempel

The Bridge

Over the years, ever since immigration to the United States began, hundreds and thousands of Danes have crossed the Atlantic to begin new lives, to work, to settle and to become Americans. The vast majority of them have helped strengthen and build their adopted land, enrich its culture and add durable strands to that multicolored fabric that is America. Many stepped lightly and left few tracks while others broke bold new trails. A few fashioned memorable evidences of their journeys. Names such as Peter Lassen, Jacob Riis, William S. Knudsen, Jean Hersholdt, Victor Borge and others are known to millions. …

A History Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Japan From 1948 To 1980, Terry G. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

The history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan from 1948 to 1980 is a study in cross-cultural interaction. Compared to the earlier attempts of the Church in proselytizing the Japanese in the period 1901 to 1924, there are some significant contrasts. The earlier mission is seen as an attempt by a small, relatively unknown, provincial religion, in financial straits, just emerging into the twentieth century, trying to establish itself in a non-christian, fiercely nationalistic, culturally closed nation.

From very humble beginnings, starting with second and third generation Japanese in Hawaii, and with LDS members of …

The Closing Of The Early Japan Mission, R. Lanier Britsch

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

The Pair Of Japanese Bronze Lanterns At Brigham Young University, Schuyler Cammann

BYU Studies Quarterly

Two bronze Japanese lanterns, or kane doro, acquired by Brigham Young University date to 1716 and originally were placed in a courtyard of a mausoleum of a member of a noble family in Japan. The author describes the lanterns and their symbolic meaning.

China And Japan: An Analysis Of Conflict, Lee W. Farnsworth

BYU Studies Quarterly

In analyzing the conflict between China and Japan in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the author asserts that the conflict resulted from a series of incidents. The article gives a brief overview of China and Japan's relations with each other and with Western powers, such as American's Open Door policy. By examining this conflict, the author hopes that he can bring to light principles and concepts that will lead to international cooperation.

History Of The Japan Mission Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, 1901-1924, Murray L. Nichols

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this work is of course to fulfill thesis requirements, but more important to me is a desire that those who read it may gain a greater understanding of the mission in Japan. The membership of the church seems to have shared the traditional American opinion that the Far East is of little consequence in our affairs, and have given the area little attention. Missionaries have been and still are reluctant to go there; feelings of failure have persisted because of the early experiences in Japan. However, those who have seriously given their attention to missionary labors in …