The Way of Tea Club invited CJS Faculty and Professor of Theatre Julie Iezzi, Kabuki Master Ichikawa Monnosuke VIII, Mrs. Yukika Soma, Kabuki Master Ichikawa Komazo XI, and CJS staff to the Jaku’an Tea House on Wednesday, April 24, 2024 for a tea ceremony. It was an honor to be served tea alongside two Kabuki masters, both here in Hawai’i supporting The Maiden Benten and the Bandits of the White Waves, a famous Kabuki production now in English at Kennedy Theatre until April 28, and made possible by the hard work of Dr. Iezzi and many others, including CJS Graduate Students, MFA, and PhD students.

CJS concluded the Spring 2024 seminar series with “Oink in Okinawa: Rooting through changes in Okinawa’s heirloom pigs and cuisine” by Dr. Ben Schrager and Dr. Sayaka Sakuma. Both distinguished CJS alumni recently embarked on their academic careers at Utsunomiya University in Tochigi prefecture, Japan. They earned their Ph.D. in Geography at UH Mānoa in 2019 and 2020, respectively. They gave an update on their latest research about the  evolution of Okinawa’s relations to heirloom pigs and cuisine.

CJS Director and Law Professor Mark Levin welcomed the Consul General of Japan, Dr. Yoshinori Kodama, to the William S. Richardson School of Law for a long awaited visit on Friday, April 12, 2024.  After the Consul-General toured the school including the Law Library, he and Consul Keiko Okawa enjoyed a bento lunch with several of the Law School’s specialists in international law, including Professors Tae-Ung Baik, Richard Chen, David Forman, Carole Petersen, and Melissa Stewart.