GJS Lecture Report

On May 15, 2018, Professor Peter Nosco from the University of British Columbia gave a talk entitled ‘Individuality in Early Modern Japan: Thinking for Oneself', which is based on his recently published monograph of the same title both in Japanese and in English. His talk revolved around a provocative question: whether individuality in Japan was prominent two centuries ago than today. Beginning from the explanation of how he found his way to this inquiry, Professor Nosco, by drawing on some examples, effectively demonstrated how individuality is considered to have been more prevailing in Edo Japan than in the Meiji period and possibly in this Heisei period. The lively discussion that followed the talk ultimately converged into the question of if “individuality” can be translated into “kosei” in Japanese, which highlighted the importance of language and contexts in historical bilingual research.

Pictures of GJS Lecture Series