About the Presenters:
Dr. Tosh MINOHARA
Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics at Kobe University, Chairman, Research Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs
Tosh Minohara received his B.A. in International Relations from University of California, Davis, and his Ph.D. in Political Science and Diplomatic History from Kobe University. He is the founder and chairman of the Japan Cabinet Office recognized non-profit, Research Institute of Indo-Pacific Affairs (RIIPA). He also is an appointed lecturer at the Japan Self-Defense Force Staff Colleges of both the Air Force (JASDF) and Navy (JMSDF). His core academic interests deal with the diplomatic, political, and security dimension of US-Japan relations. He is the author of multiple monographs, compiled volumes, journal articles, and is a frequent commentator for newspapers, television, and radio. In addition to having an op-ed column for the Jiyu Minshu, Sankei Shimbun, and the Straits Times (Singapore), he serves as a program advisor to the National Geographic Channel and has appeared in numerous history programs that feature Japan.
Dr. Mitzi Uehara CARTER
Assistant Professor of Global and Sociocultural Studies at Florida International University, School of International & Public Affairs
Dr. Mitzi Uehara Carter is a Cultural Anthropologist and freelance writer. A committed advocate of social justice work, Uehara Carter enjoys applying her academic knowledge to real life issues, particularly in the field of social change.
Uehara Carter served as a Fellow at the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and conducted extensive research and field work collecting personal stories of Okinawan families. Her work on ethnographic methodology and mixed-race Okinawans has been published in numerous books and journals. She also contributed to the documentary Nuchi Du Takara: Tales of the “Battle of Okinawa” Survivors in California.
Uehara Carter received her B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley.
She currently teaches East Asian Studies and Anthropology in at Florida International University. Uehara Carter also serves as an executive board member of Hapa Japan, an organization based at the University of Southern California.
Dr. Ran ZWIGENBERG
Associate Professor of Asian Studies at Pennsylvania State University
Ran Zwigenberg is an associate professor at Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on modern Japanese and European history, with a specialization in memory and cultural history. He has taught and lectured in the United States, Europe, Israel, and Japan, and published on issues of war memory, heritage, atomic energy, psychiatry, and survivor politics. Zwigenberg’s first book, Hiroshima: The Origins of Global Memory Culture (Cambridge University Press, 2014), was the winner of the 2016 Association for Asian Studies’ John W. Hall book award. His second, co-authored book, Japan’s Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace, came out with Cambridge University Press in 2019. For more information on this and other projects, please see https://sites.psu.edu/zwigenberg/.