From DiscoverNikkei.org
**Under development
Kan'ichi Asakawa
Issei historian and curator, (b. Dec. 20, 1873 – d. Aug. 10, 1948)
The first Japanese professor at a major university in the United States, Kanichi Asakawa was a historian credited with the founding of Asian Studies in the United States. He dedicated himself to serving as a bridge between the United States and Japan to promote amicable relations.
Asakawa first learned English as a junior high school student in Japan and later went on to graduate of Dartmouth and the Yale University Graduate School in the United States. At Yale he taught history for thirty-five years and was also curator of the East Asian Collection at Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library from 1907 to 1948.
Some of his remains are interred at Konjiki cemetery in his hometown of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, Japan. Others are interred at Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven, Connecticut.
As of August 26, 2006
- "The Dreamer of Fukushima: Kan'ichi Asakawa" (Fukushima Prefecture website)
- Archives: "Guide to the Kan'ichi Asakawa Papers: Manuscript Group 40" (Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library)
- Naoyuki Agawa, "150 Years of Japan-US Relations: Kan'ichi Asakawa's Predictions". Japan Economic Currents no. 49 (October 2004):1-3.