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For specific information related to your program or area of interest

Including how to apply, please visit the following pages:

Undergraduate Programs Information

Major or minor in Asian Studies.

Graduate Programs Information

Including: Master of Arts in Asian Studies, Master’s in Asian International Affairs, and Graduate Certificates in Asian Studies.

Student Testimonials

Christina Geisse

The Asian Studies Program was incredible because most professors were undertaking their own research, passionate about their subject of study, and enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge with students. It felt fresh and profound at the same time. Inspiring! 

Christina Geisse
Kim Sluchansky

I was able to delve deep and focus on the areas of Asian Studies that truly interested me, and therefore gained a much more thorough and developed understanding of my fields of interest, which are applicable to my current career path. Also, the professors are extremely helpful and want their students to succeed. They were very supportive both while I was at UH and after I graduated.

Flyer for Asia Past & Present: Okinawa, Spring 2022 course at UH Manoa. Tuesday-Thursday 3:00-4:15 pm.

Study Okinawa with Dr. Gregory Smits

ASAN 320O: Asia Past and Present: Okinawa

Dr. Gregory Smits is the visiting Andrews Chair at UH Manoa this semester, Spring 2022. He will be teaching the course Asia Past and Present: Okinawa (ASAN 320O; see course listings or access STAR to register). Join this course to study Okinawa!

This course is a rare opportunity to study Okinawa and the Ryukyu islands with Dr Gregory Smits, a world-renowned expert on the history of this region. Professor Smits has written a textbook specifically for this course, History and Culture of the Ryukyu Islands, which will be available via Laulima to all enrolled students.

In terms of geography, this course covers all of the Ryukyu islands and situates them within the larger context of the East China Sea region and (in the modern era) world history. Temporally, the course begins with the earliest known human habitation of the Ryukyu islands (~30,000 years ago) and continues to the twenty-first century. Along the way the course examines fundamental aspects of Ryukyuan culture such as utaki (sacred groves), stone-walled gusuku (fortresses), the Omoro sōshi (a collection of classical songs). This course is a distillation of the latest academic research, and anyone with an interest in the Ryukyu islands will benefit from it.

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