The 2019 Noma-Reischauer Prizes in Japanese Studies were presented on December 6. Established by Kodansha Publishers in 1995 and named in honor of Edwin O. Reischauer, the prizes are given annually to the best essays on Japan-related topics written by a Harvard undergraduate and graduate student.

This year’s Noma-Reischauer graduate student paper prize was awarded to Dr. Feng-en Tu. Feng-en for his paper, The Island of Fragrance and the Making of the Modern Smell. Dr. Tu’s received his Ph.D. from Harvard’s East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department in May 2019. He is currently a Harvard-Yenching Library Postdoctoral Fellow working with the library’s Manchukuo Collection.

The Undergraduate Noma-Reischauer Prize was presented to Mr. Devon Gunter for his paper, The Development of Kokugo and Language Reforms During the Meiji Period. Devon is a senior concentrating in Psychology. Devon was also awarded the Tazuko Ajiro Monane prize by Harvard Japanese Language Program. The Monane Prize is also given annually to recognize an undergraduate student who has completed at least two years of Japanese language study at Harvard and demonstrated great effort and commitment to the study of Japanese.