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Genzo Yamamoto
Assistant Professor

On faculty since 2003

Office: Blanchard 205
Phone: (630) 752-5861
Fax: (630) 752-5294

genzo.yamamoto@wheaton.edu
Education

Ph.D. Japanese and Diplomatic History, Yale University, 1999
M.A., M.Phil., Yale University, 1992
B.A., History, Covenant College, 1989
 
Professional and Personal Interests
Professor Yamamoto has been interested in the history of ideas that have tangibly shaped social, cultural, and political policies. While this includes studies of social, cultural, and political philosophies, it also goes beyond philosophical discussions to the thought and behavior of people "on the ground." He has done research on Japanese social, cultural, and political developments leading up to the Pacific War with an eye toward these themes. He is also doing research that casts the net more globally to look at various responses to the European Enlightenment and the modernities that are often perceived as arising from it.

Courses Taught

  • World History
  • History of Modern Japan
  • Enlightenment Modernity and Its Discontents
  • Origins and Consequences of the Pacific War
  • Asian-American History
  • The Art of Historical Imagination
  • History of U.S.-Asian Relations

Membership in Professional Societies
  • Association for Asian Studies
  • American Historical Association
  • The Historical Society
  • Conference on Faith and History

Research
The historical developments of voices around the world engaging with various ideas and institutions attributed to the Enlightenment.

The evolution of social, cultural, and political attitudes of Japanese parliamentary elites in the period between the two world wars.

Papers Published and/or Presented

Publications

  • Yamamoto, Genzo. Review of "Divine Wind," on Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers, by Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney. Books and Culture (Sept/Oct 2008): 27-28.
  • Yamamoto, Genzo. "Navigating the Euro-American Enlightenment: Japan and the Modern World." In Japanese and Asian Modernities, edited by Rein Rand.  London: Kegan Paul, 2005.
  • Yamamoto, Genzo. "Education--Japan," "Racism--Asia," and "Shinto." In New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2004.
  • Yamamoto, Genzo. Review of The People's Emperor: Democracy and the Japanese Monarchy, 1945-1995, by Kenneth J. Ruoff. Journal of Asian Studies 61:4 (2002): 1384-86.
  • Yamamoto, Genzo. "The Pacific War as Civilizational Conflict?" Historically Speaking 4:1 (2002):26-28.
  • Yamamoto, Genzo. Review of Hirohito and War: Imperial Tradition and Military Decision Making in Prewar Japan, by Peter Wetzler. Pacific Affairs 73:2 (2000): 300-301.
Presentations
  • "Missions and Social Reform in Late 19 Century Russia, China and Japan," Panel Chair, Conference on Faith and History, Bluffton University, September 20, 2008.
  • "Navigating Euro-American Enlightenment: Japan, Modernity, and Alternative Modernities," Invited Lecture, Calvin College, October 18, 2007.
  • "Global Modernity and Its Discontents," Invited Lecturer for Symposium on Globalization, Center for the Public Humanities, Messiah College, February 19, 2007.
  • "The World History Survey: Its Place and Prospects," Panel on "Can you pull in the leviathan? Christian approaches to teaching the World History Survey," Conference on Faith and History, September 20-23, Oklahoma Baptist University.
  • "The West and Asia in the 19th and 20th Centuries," Panel on "Colonies, Empires, and Free Markets: The Christian Historian and Intercultural Contacts," Conference on Faith and History, September 20-23, Oklahoma Baptist University.
  • "Competing Christian Criticisms of Western Modernity: Examples from Korea and Japan, Baylor University 2005 Pruit Memorial Symposium on Global Christianity: Challenging Modernity and the West, November 10-12, 2005.
  • "Navigating the Euro-American Enlightenment: Japan and the Modern World," Japan and Modernization Conference, University of Helsinki, Finland, November 11-14, 2002.
  • "Navigating the European Enlightenment: A Path Toward War?" Reischauer Institute Collaborative Research Project, "Tumultuous Decade: Japan's Challenge to the International System in the 1930s," Harvard University, September 28, 2002.
  • Discussant for panel on: "Questioning Racial and Ethnic Identities," at Conference on "Blacks and Asians: Encounters Through Time and Space," African American Studies Program, Boston University, April 12, 2002.
  • "Japanese Prewar Political Philosophy and Its Implications for East Asian and International Relations," Korea Development Institute School of International Policy and Management, Seoul, Korea. June 11, 1999.
  • "Defending Japan's Civilization and Civilizing Mission in Asia: The Resilience and Triumph of Illiberalism in the House of Peers, 1919-1934." Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University. March 19, 1999.
  • "Origins of the Pacific War." Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs Faculty Development Seminar on "Great Power Responsibility in World Affairs." May 1, 1998.
  • "The Power and Resilience of Elite Illiberalism: The Japanese Aristocracy and Universal Manhood Suffrage." 1996 AAS Conference Panel on "Taisho Illiberalism." April, 1996.
  • "The Political Philosophy of the Japanese Aristocracy: The 1925 Universal Suffrage Bill Deliberations." International Studies Colloquium, Yale University. April, 1995.