Japan Lecture Series 2003-2004

Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas

Tokyo as the Eastern Jazz Capital by Dr. Sidney DeVere Brown

Daruma: Japan's Seriocomic Saint by Dr. H. Neill McFarland

The New Japan by Dr. David Matsumoto

The End of Samurai Class by Dr. Mark Ravina

Free to public

For more information, contact Mieko U. Peek at mpeek@lyon.edu

Dr. Sidney DeVere Brown received his Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin. He is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Oklahoma, and Regents Professor of History at USAO (University of Science and Arts in Oklahoma), Chickasha. He is a well-known Japan specialist with numerous articles in professional journals. He has also published a three-volume biography and translation of The Diary of Kido Takayoshi (University of Tokyo Press, 1983-1986), for which he received the Japan Cultural Translation Prize of the Japan Translators' Association.

His research has focused on the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the Iwakura Mission to America and Europe, 1871-1873, and Music in Japan.  He collaborated in the production of videotapes on Gagaku: The Court Music of Japan, and Jazz in Japan among others.  In 1987 he was awarded the Third Order of the Sacred Treasure by the Emperor of Japan.

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Dr. McFarland received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is Professor Emeritus of Religion at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. He is also founder and chairman Emeritus of the Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth. Along with numerous scholarly articles, Dr. McFarland has published two books; The Rush Hour of the Gods, MacMillan Co., 1967, and Daruma: the Founder of Zen in Japanese Art and Popular Culture, Kodansha International, 1987. He also contributed a number of articles to the Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981.

Among his many awards and honors are a Faculty Research Fellowship from the American Association of Theological Schools (Japan, 1963 – 64), "M" Award for Outstanding Service to the University from the SMU Students Association (1973), The Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Government of Japan (1986), SMU Alumni Association’s Award for Faculty Excellence (1987), and the Author’s Award from the SMU University Lecture Series (1988).

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Dr. David Matsumoto is an internationally acclaimed author and psychologist. He received his B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1981 with High Honors in two fields – Psychology and Japanese. He subsequently earned his M.A. (1983) and Ph.D. (1986) in psychology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently Professor of Psychology and Director of the Culture and Emotion Research Laboratory at San Francisco State University, where he has been since 1989. He has studied culture, emotion, and social interaction and communication for 20 years, and has written over 250 works in these areas. His newest book, The New Japan has received national and international acclaim, and its Japanese translation is scheduled to be published in 2003. He is the recipient of many awards and honors in the field of psychology, including being named a G. Stanley Hall lecturer by the American Psychological Association. He gives speeches to audiences all around the world and serves as a consultant to many international businesses, especially those engaged in intercultural training. He is also a world-renowned judo coach and official. 

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Dr. Mark Ravina graduated from Columbia University and received an M.A. and Ph. D. in history from Stanford University. He is an associate professor of History at Emory University. He is also director of East Asian Studies at Emory. His specialty is Japan, especially eighteenth and nineteenth-century politics. His major publications included "Wasan and the Physics that Wasn't," Monumenta Nipponica 48:2 (Summer 1993) and "State-building and Political Economy in Early Modern Japan," Journal of Asian Studies (November 1995). His first book, Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan was published in 1999 by Stanford University Press. His most recent book, The Last Samurai: the Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori, was released by John Wiley in November 2003.

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