Nihonmatsu Junior High School Student Visit (2014)

  • Laying flowers in front of Professor Asakawa’s headstone.
  • The Nihonmatsu delegation pay their respects.
  • The Nihonmatsu delegation with Professor Asakawa's headstone.
  • Mayor Shinno with Professor Asakawa's headstone.
  • The Nihonmatsu Junior High School Student Delegation in front of Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Including Abbey Newman, Executive Director of the Council in East Asian Studies at Yale University (back row, far left); Haruko Nakamura, Librarian for Japanese Studies at the East Asia Library at Yale Universiry (back row, 2nd from right).
  • At the Asakawa Garden in Killingworth Courtyard, Saybrook College.
August 15, 2014

On July 29, 2014, the Council on East Asian Studies had the pleasure of hosting ten junior high school students from Nihonmatsu, Japan. Coordinated by the City of Nihonmatsu’s Board of Education, two students from five junior high schools in Nihonmatsu are invited each year to take part in a pilgrimage to the United States to honor the memory of Professor Asakawa Kan’ichi.  This year, the Council was also happy to receive Mr. Hiroshi Shinno, Mayor of Nihonmatsu City.

The students began their visit by paying their respects to Professor Asakawa, laying flowers on his grave. They then had a full tour of the East Asia Library and the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and were given the opportunity to see for themselves some of the Professor’s original writings. The group then visited the Asakawa Garden located in the Killingworth Courtyard in Saybrook College, and ended the tour with a lunch at the Berkeley College dining hall.

We are always happy to receive our friends from Nihonmatsu, and we look forward to seeing them again next year!