The 2021 Noma-Reischauer Prizes in Japanese Studies have been awarded to Chihiro Ishikawa and Yingxue Wang.

The 2021 Noma-Reischauer Prizes in Japanese Studies were virtually presented to Chihiro Ishikawa and Yingxue Wang on December 2, 2021. 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 Graduate Noma-Reischauer Prize is awarded to Yingxue Wang for her paper, “Why Beetle Wings? An Ecological Approach to the Tamamushi Shrine.” Yingxue Wang completed her MA degree in Harvard’s RSEA Program and is currently a G3 Ph.D. candidate in Harvard’s History of Art & Architecture’s Department. Yingxue specializes primarily in Japanese and East Asian art but is also pursuing a secondary field in Medieval Studies at Harvard. She is interested in contributing to the ongoing conversation on the Global Middle Ages and exploring broader issues such as long-distance exchange and global connectivity.

The Undergraduate Noma-Reischauer Prize is awarded to Chihiro Ishikawa for her paper, “The Global Diffusion of the #MeToo Movement: SNS Usage and Anonymity in Japanese and Korean Feminist Activism.” Chihiro was class of 2021 and graduated last May with a double concentration in Sociology and East Asian Studies with a focus on gender in Japan and in Korea. She is currently a first-year student pursuing her MA in the RSEA Program, focusing on Japan and Korea and interested in topics including social movements, gender, media, and visual culture in the context of Japan and Korea. 

Please see the EALC article written about the 2021 Tazuko Monane and Noma-Reischauer prize winners and the virtual awards ceremony.