Ryan Masaaki Yokota さん
Teaching Professor at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, USA
Through the Hosei International Fund (HIF) Foreign Scholars Fellowship I was able to conduct doctoral program dissertation research on postwar Okinawa and issues related to Okinawan nationalism. I was quite grateful for this research support and was able to develop relationships with the Institute for Okinawan Studies (Okinawa Bunka Kenkyūjo) under the guidance of Professor Yaka Munehiko. Through the support I received I was able to attend talks on Okinawa presented at Hosei University, network with other scholars in the field, and learn about Uchināguchi (the Okinawan language). All of these experiences were pivotal in enhancing my understanding of Okinawan Studies, Japanese Studies, and the academic field related to my work.
Through the work completed under the fellowship I was able to build out many important parts of my dissertation, which I would go on to publish. Publications that were developed through this assistance included “Reversion-Era Proposals for Okinawan Regional Autonomy” published in the book Rethinking Postwar Okinawa: Beyond American Occupation and “The Okinawan (Uchinānchu) Indigenous Movement and its Implications for Intentional/International Action” published in Amerasia Journal. In addition, my current research interests continue to build on the research work I was able to accomplish while at Hosei University.
Currently I am working as a Teaching Professor at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, USA. There I teach a number of courses on topics related to Japanese and East Asian History, including both survey courses and more specific courses highlighting minority issues in Japan and Japanese popular culture.
