Alumni Imperial Honors

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eaturesALUMNI PROFILE:

IMPERIAL HONORS RECIPIENTS

the ambassador WINTER 200918 WINTER 2009 the ambassador


IMPERIAL HONORS R

Order of the Rising Su

Fred G. Notehelfer 57

A

ter graduating rom ASIJ in 1957,

I went to Harvard College with the

goal o becoming a painter. While at

Harvard I was treated very kindly by Edwin

O. Reischauer 27 and his wie Haru 33

(Ann Reischauer 57 had been a classmate

o mine at ASIJ). Reischauer asked me one

day why I was not studying anything on

Japan, particularly with my background.

So in sel-deense I took the year-long East

Asian History Survey which he and John

Fairbank taught, and which we students

called Rice Paddies. That got me very

interested in Japanese and Chinese history.

Thereater I studied Japanese ormally,

including a year at ICU in 1960, where I

recall I was presented Jay Rockeellers bed

with great anare at Tsuji House.

Finishing Harvard in 1962, I went onto Princeton to do my doctoral work in

Japanese history with Marius B. Jansen and

received my PhD in 1968. Much o the

middle sixties ound me back in Japan doing

research, but I also took the advice o Mark

Bloch to see Japan rom the ground up, so

I walked rom Tokyo to Kyoto with a riend

rom Geidai. On my way home rom Japan

in 1966, I met my wie, Ann, who was

returning to Vancouver rom Great Britain,

on the same Pacifc Orient Line steamer.

We enjoyed three years in Princeton,

where I taught until 1969. The year prior I had

taken a position in the History Department

at UCLA, but stayed at Princeton to fnish

my frst book. In the all o 1969 we moved

west. For the orty years rom 1968 to 2008

I taught at UCLA.

In 1969 UCLA was still a minor player

in the feld o Asian History, but by 2006 its

Asian History feld was ranked third in the

nation by US News and World Report. It

was a pleasure to be part o this process and

to see a university built during ones lietime.

I always enjoyed working with students,

both undergraduates and graduates, and

among them were a number o ASIJers.When I frst arrived, Southern Caliornia

was something o a desert or Japanese

studies, but with the help o colleagues at

USC, UC Santa Barbara, Occidental and the

Claremont Colleges, we ounded the lively

Southern Caliornia Japan Seminar which

was the mainstay o the Japanese studies

community o the region. With time I helped

ound the Joint Center o East Asian Stud

linking UCLA and USC. Then came

Center or Japanese Studies at UCLA, wh

I helped ound in 1991 and which I direc

until 2007. Many prominent Japan

Americans, including Herbert and He

Kawahara, George and Sakaye Arat

and Paul and Hisako Terasaki genero

provided unds to endow the center (n

the Terasaki Center or Japanese Stud

which has become one o the major sites

Japanese studies in the United States.

Beyond my research work on Jap

I also remained active nationally

supported programs and institutions crit

to the feld o Japanese studies. One o th

was the Inter-University Center or Japan

Language Studies (now in Yokohama).

fve years I served as Chair o the Boo Governors o this important langu

institute and helped to guide it throu

difcult fnancial waters. For a time I

served on the board o the Japan-Ame

Society o Southern Caliornia.

I mention the oregoing because

Japanese government award was given

me or contributions in three areas: 1)

Order of the Sacred Treasure

Peter Grilli 59

A

SIJ classmates may remember

Peter Grilli 59 as president o the

Honor Society, editor o Chochin,

and a distinguished student who went on

to Harvard University where he pursued

Japanese studies and took courses rom

Edwin Reischauer 27. Arriving in Tokyo as a

5-year old in 1947 with his parents Maurice

and Elise, and a younger sister, Diane 62,

his childhood experience in Japan shaped

his lie and work in a proound way. In act,

although Grilli has lived in the US most o the

time since high school graduation, he eels

intimately tied to this country. In a sense,

he says, I have never really let Japan.

Currently President o the Japan Society

o Boston, Peter Grilli began his career as

an editor o books on Japan at Weatherhill

Publishing Co. and subsequently movedon to become director o education,

flm and perorming arts at the Japan

Society o New York. He pioneered in the

introduction o Japanese traditional art

orms to American audiences, bringing the

Grand Kabuki on three occasions to the

Metropolitan Opera House and bunraku

puppet theater to the New York City Center.

His work in developing flm series or the

Society led him to produce several award-

winning documentary flms, among them

biographies o the eminent composer

Toru Takamitsu and the renowned flm

director Akira Kurosawa. Peter Grilli has

also served as director o the Donald

Keene Center o Japanese Culture at

Columbia University and is a prolifc author

o books and articles on Japan.

Peter Grillis story, however, is unique in

the annals o imperial awards. In 2003, in

recognition o his achievements in cultural

exchange between Japan and the United

States and his contributions to promoting

riendship and understanding between

the two countries, he was awarded the

Order o the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays

with Neck Ribbon. Interestingly, his ather,Marcell (19071990), longtime Japan

Times music critic who made important

contributions to cultural exchange between

Japan and the United States, also received

the Order o the Sacred Treasure in 1986,

making this ather and son the only multi-

generational honorees in ASIJ history and

perhaps in the history o the honors,

which date back to the Meiji period.

Further recognition is in store or Peter

Grilli. On December 18, 2009, in Tokyo, Grilli

will receive the Shigemitsu Mamoru Award

or International Cultural Communications.

The honor is named or the wartime

oreign minister who signed the surrender

documents ending World War II and later

worked tirelessly to get Japan accepted into

the United Nations. Only the third person

to ever receive this award, he joins Donald

Keene, the prominent scholar o Japanese

literature and proessor emeritus at

Columbia University and the late Kenneth

Butler, the longtime director o the Inter-

University Center or Japanese Language

Studies as a recipient.

Grilli recently attended the Class o

1959s 50th Reunion in San Francisco. Hecommented, in his class reunion book,

that It has been a long journey rom ASIJ

in 1959, and it has been an extraordinary

tripvaried, constantly stimulating, and

always un! Peter and his wie, Susan, are

based near Boston in Harvard, MA., in a

modern house inspired by Japanese design.

In work and in lie, Japan is never ar away.

photoscourtesyofPeterGrilli

photoscourtesyofFredNotehelfer


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IMPERIAL HONORS R


IMPERIAL HONORS RECIPIENTS

Order of the Rising Sun

John M. Powles 66

research work on Japan; 2) my eorts

to develop Japanese studies locally and

nationally; and 3) or my contributions to

Japanese-American relations.

In March o 2008 I retired rom UCLA

and my wie and I now live on Salt Spring

Island o the coast o British Columbia in

Canada. Retiring was a very conscious

decision. It was time, as Pete Seger put

it, to hand the guitar to young hands

stronger. Then, I wanted to go back to

painting, something I had started at ASIJ

many years earlier and have not had the

time to pursue properly since. We also

enjoy hiking in the Canadian Rockies.

Few things have pulled us back to

Los Angeles rom our idyllic island lie,

but one was the award, which Consul

General Junichi Ihara presented to me

at the Consul Generals Residence onMay 12, 2009. With the award came a

splendid party, and as I told those present,

the award should really have gone to the

broader community o scholars, donors

and participants who had made this

interesting journey possible. I know that

my parents, who spent their lives in Japan

as missionaries, would have enjoyed

being there. I suspect they might even

have been proud.

B

orn in Canada, I spent most o my frst

18 years in Japan. Home-schooled by

my mother or grade 1 in Niigata,I attended US military school in Nagoya,

arriving at The American School in Japan or

grades 4 through 12. Following graduation

rom ASIJ in 1966, I took a general arts

program ocusing in Asian studies at the

University o British Columbia. In my third

year I was recruited to work or the Canadian

government at the International Exposition in

Osaka (Expo 70).

But my lie in Japan really began with my

grandparents who set out rom Montral

in 1916 to become Anglican missionaries in

the town o Takada on the Niigata-Nagano

border. My ather, Cyril, and his fve siblings

were all born in Japan and home-schooled

by their mother until the age o 15. The

children returned to Montral to complete

high school and to attend McGill University.

My ather and mother, Marjorie, met at

McGill and were married in Winnipeg

in 1946. Having decided to go to Japan

as missionaries, both attended Harvards

Japanese language school where one o

their proessors was ASIJ alumnus Edwin

Reischauer 27. I was born in Winnipeg,shortly beore my parents and I embarked

on what wasin the immediate post-

World War II Pacifca circuitous ship

route to Japan, taking almost three

months and routing through Shanghai the

day Mao marched into that city. Arriving

in Yokohama, our amily proceeded to

Takada where my ather assisted in re-

establishing the church and kindergarten.

Three years later we moved to the city o

Niigata, then three years later to Nagoya.

In the winter o 1957-58 we moved to

Tokyo and I joined Mr. Swindells 4th

grade class at ASIJ. With the exception o

grade six spent in the Boston-area while

my ather did graduate work at Harvard,

ASIJ was my educational home through

high school graduation.

From the standpoint o my Japanese

education, I was lucky because I arrived

at ASIJ speaking Japanese and having

experienced Japan outside o Tokyo. This

was true or less than hal my classmates.

ASIJ had the educational responsibility

o making the Japanese experiencemeaningul; not an easy challenge when

up against 1960s-era teens! Some o

my most memorable experiences were

the Japan Language Area and Program

(JLAP) started by Ray Downs 50.

My career started as a host in the

Canadian Pavilion at Expo 70 in Osaka.

Work there led to my frst career phase,

with the Canadian government, advancing

to a management position where I was

responsible or all international expositions

in which Canada participated. These

included the three expos in Japan: 1970

in Osaka, 1975 in Okinawa and 1985 in

Tsukuba. In late 1985, I was seconded as

Chie Operating Ofcer or the government

corporation responsible or building and

operating Canadas host pavilion at Expo

86 in Vancouver. This provided a logical

break rom my government career and as

the expo wound down I started looking

around or options.

In May 1987, I joined the Council

o Forest Industries o British Columbia

as Asia Manager and Director o Japan

Operations, based in Tokyo. In reality,

the job was 95% Japan with about

5% Korea making up the Asia and

was ocused on introducing new housing

techniques while generally promoting the

broader use o wood in construction. It was

a ascinating time to be working in Japan

in the midst o the real estate bubble and

during a period when Japan Inc became

convinced that anything was possible. But

the social aspect o the job was probably the

most ascinating, taking me into every nook

and cranny o Japanese societymeeting

the presidents o the largest Japanese

corporations and being invited into the

homes o Japans small home builders

and their clients. These eorts were notwithout reward. In 1994, I was the frst

non-Japanese to receive the Ministry o

Construction Award or my eorts to better

Japanese housing and I also served as the

Canadian representative on the Japanese

Prime Ministers Import Advisory Board and

as the President o the Canadian Chamber

o Commerce in Japan.

For eight o the past 11 years I have

been president o the Canada-Japan

Society. This has given me entre to high

level visiting Japanese business and political

delegations and has led to a number o

other voluntary appointments, particularly

with the local universities and colleges

as well as government. The University

o British Columbia houses one o the

most amous Japanese gardens outside

Japan. In the early 2000s, I was asked to

chair a committee to coordinate a major

renovation o the garden and to chair the

committee planning the Universitys Year

o Japan. In 2003, I became head o

External Advisory Committee or the A

Pacifc Management Cooperative Progr

at Capilano University, a unique (at t

time) program oering a post-gradu

certifcate in Asia Pacifc manageme

including a co-op placement progr

with Asian and Asian-based ore

companies. This cross-Canada progr

recruits engineering and science stude

and places them with major Japan

corporations involved in advanced scien

and technology research.

In 2005, I was appointment by t

Premier o British Columbia to head t

Japan Market Advisory Group under t

aegis o the Asia Pacifc Trade Coun

This was a two-year project culminat

in a report to the province recommend

ways in which trade and investment twith Japan could be enhanced. T

report was well received and a ew

the recommendations have been act

upon. This activity, in terms o prof

was also the culmination o over thi

years working in the Canada-Jap

feld as a government ofcial, indus

representative, consultant and volunte

In October 2008, the Japane

Government announced that I wo

receive the Imperial Order o the Ris

Sun Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon

recognition o my lielong work in t

feld. Through the experience o m

upbringing and the language and cro

cultural skills I acquired, I have been a

to provide a bridge between Cana

and Japan and hope that some o my

activities have improved

that relationship.

WINTER 2009 the ambassadorthe ambassador WINTER 200920

photoscourtesyofJohnPowles

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