Shaun O'Dwyer
@shaunodwyer.bsky.social
Professor, Kyushu University
Author, "Confucianism's Prospects" (SUNY 2019), Editor, "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan" (AUP, 2022), editor "Confucianism at War, 1931-1945" (Routledge, 2024)
https://hyoka.ofc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/html/100017990_en.html
Author, "Confucianism's Prospects" (SUNY 2019), Editor, "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan" (AUP, 2022), editor "Confucianism at War, 1931-1945" (Routledge, 2024)
https://hyoka.ofc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/html/100017990_en.html
Important to remember Japanese conservatives are not in lockstep about Japan's wartime past. 20 years ago Yomiuri News magnate Watanabe Tsuneo sponsored an historical inquiry into Japan's WWII responsibility, and denounced the Yasukuni Shrine.
China Daily reviewed it favorably.
China Daily reviewed it favorably.
November 17, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Important to remember Japanese conservatives are not in lockstep about Japan's wartime past. 20 years ago Yomiuri News magnate Watanabe Tsuneo sponsored an historical inquiry into Japan's WWII responsibility, and denounced the Yasukuni Shrine.
China Daily reviewed it favorably.
China Daily reviewed it favorably.
2019 "Japan Times" article by me, "Taiwan's Democracy is worth Defending," which points out that long-term ties between Taiwan and Japan transcend colonial nostalgia and Cold War era geopolitics, reflecting strong civil society relations. web.archive.org/web/20190807...
November 14, 2025 at 11:47 PM
2019 "Japan Times" article by me, "Taiwan's Democracy is worth Defending," which points out that long-term ties between Taiwan and Japan transcend colonial nostalgia and Cold War era geopolitics, reflecting strong civil society relations. web.archive.org/web/20190807...
More details about PRC efforts to shut down Uyghur forced labour research at Sheffield Hallam University - university correspondence shared with BBC News alleges that the *wellbeing* of a university staffer in Beijing was threatened by MSS officers.
It appears they threatened to detain the staffer.
It appears they threatened to detain the staffer.
November 3, 2025 at 1:39 PM
More details about PRC efforts to shut down Uyghur forced labour research at Sheffield Hallam University - university correspondence shared with BBC News alleges that the *wellbeing* of a university staffer in Beijing was threatened by MSS officers.
It appears they threatened to detain the staffer.
It appears they threatened to detain the staffer.
Recent events remind me what an alien, polarized society the US is. The religious, "Holy War" quality of far-right veneration at Charlie Kirk's funeral; and now left gushing over Assata Shakur, whose Black Liberation Army outfit engaged in robberies, gangbanger shakedowns, and horrific murders
September 28, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Recent events remind me what an alien, polarized society the US is. The religious, "Holy War" quality of far-right veneration at Charlie Kirk's funeral; and now left gushing over Assata Shakur, whose Black Liberation Army outfit engaged in robberies, gangbanger shakedowns, and horrific murders
Chilling with European Network for Japanese Philosophy president Alex Mustacea before my presentation at the "Webs of Kinship" conference on Japanese philosophy at Edinburgh University this week
September 7, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Chilling with European Network for Japanese Philosophy president Alex Mustacea before my presentation at the "Webs of Kinship" conference on Japanese philosophy at Edinburgh University this week
A substack following up my "Diplomat" article on Princeton University Press's Xinjiang tour, exploring how foreign academic publishers' dependence upon import agencies for market access in China entangles them in authoritarian clientelism. aussieinkyushu.substack.com/p/regarding-...
July 23, 2025 at 6:26 AM
A substack following up my "Diplomat" article on Princeton University Press's Xinjiang tour, exploring how foreign academic publishers' dependence upon import agencies for market access in China entangles them in authoritarian clientelism. aussieinkyushu.substack.com/p/regarding-...
Third, how much are international academic publishers in the China market already bending to authoritarian pressure? At minimum, they have complied/been forced to comply with restrictions on marketing books that cross (often arbitrary) censors’ standards 4/
July 21, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Third, how much are international academic publishers in the China market already bending to authoritarian pressure? At minimum, they have complied/been forced to comply with restrictions on marketing books that cross (often arbitrary) censors’ standards 4/
Second, regarding Perry Link’s suspicions over PUP’s 2021 cancellation of an advance contract for his co-authored book about Liu Xiaobo: Henry rejects these suspicions, but the tour has been unhelpful in rekindling them. 3/
July 21, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Second, regarding Perry Link’s suspicions over PUP’s 2021 cancellation of an advance contract for his co-authored book about Liu Xiaobo: Henry rejects these suspicions, but the tour has been unhelpful in rekindling them. 3/
I started a Substack. First post is an update on my October 2024 Meanjin journal article, "Taiwan and The Australian Left" open.substack.com/pub/aussiein...
July 8, 2025 at 8:37 AM
I started a Substack. First post is an update on my October 2024 Meanjin journal article, "Taiwan and The Australian Left" open.substack.com/pub/aussiein...
A brief book review from "Religious Studies Review" of my recently published edited volume "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945"
June 30, 2025 at 7:48 AM
A brief book review from "Religious Studies Review" of my recently published edited volume "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945"
A well-deserved award for my Hx East Asia colleague Joseph Yi. Yi's work addressing the Comfort Women controversy has attracted accusations that he is rightist-aligned; yet he also writes extensively on, and advocates for, Korean LGBT - an issue with little mainstream center-left support in S Korea.
June 25, 2025 at 3:58 AM
A well-deserved award for my Hx East Asia colleague Joseph Yi. Yi's work addressing the Comfort Women controversy has attracted accusations that he is rightist-aligned; yet he also writes extensively on, and advocates for, Korean LGBT - an issue with little mainstream center-left support in S Korea.
Video of Heterodox East Asia webinar on Comfort Women scholarship, 06/04/25. Joseph Yi (HanyangU), Kenji Yoshida, Marie Seong-Hak Kim, Chizuko Allen (U of Hawaii), Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law), Tanya Goyal (Jawaharlal Nehru U). www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cwy...
June 12, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Video of Heterodox East Asia webinar on Comfort Women scholarship, 06/04/25. Joseph Yi (HanyangU), Kenji Yoshida, Marie Seong-Hak Kim, Chizuko Allen (U of Hawaii), Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law), Tanya Goyal (Jawaharlal Nehru U). www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cwy...
Heterodox East Asia bilingual (Korean-English) webinar ft 2 contributors to my "Confucianism at War" book: Chungjae Lee (Gettysburg College), Junhyun Park (Jeonbuk National University), and response from Yutang Jin (University of Hong Kong). Video edited by Frances An
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Im...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Im...
May 22, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Heterodox East Asia bilingual (Korean-English) webinar ft 2 contributors to my "Confucianism at War" book: Chungjae Lee (Gettysburg College), Junhyun Park (Jeonbuk National University), and response from Yutang Jin (University of Hong Kong). Video edited by Frances An
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Im...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Im...
This month, Kyushu university will commence an exhibition of its archive of papers of Toshio Tono, a doctor who spent much of his long life investigating an infamous war crime he witnessed as a medical student in the University's medical faculty in May 1945: the vivisection of 8 US POW airmen.
May 14, 2025 at 8:44 AM
This month, Kyushu university will commence an exhibition of its archive of papers of Toshio Tono, a doctor who spent much of his long life investigating an infamous war crime he witnessed as a medical student in the University's medical faculty in May 1945: the vivisection of 8 US POW airmen.
First book panel for my just published edited book "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945" at Rutgers University Center for Chinese Studies, Feb 6, 7-8:30 pm EST. Ft discussions by 3 contributors - me, Wenqing Zhao (Baruch College) and Dongxian Jiang (Fordham U). rccs.rutgers.edu/events/event...
January 19, 2025 at 10:45 PM
First book panel for my just published edited book "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945" at Rutgers University Center for Chinese Studies, Feb 6, 7-8:30 pm EST. Ft discussions by 3 contributors - me, Wenqing Zhao (Baruch College) and Dongxian Jiang (Fordham U). rccs.rutgers.edu/events/event...
My new edited book "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945" is now out with Routledge. It brings together original research by East Asian and European scholars – some of it published for the first time in English – on an under-studied topic in Anglophone East Asia studies. www.routledge.com/Confucianism...
January 12, 2025 at 3:20 AM
My new edited book "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945" is now out with Routledge. It brings together original research by East Asian and European scholars – some of it published for the first time in English – on an under-studied topic in Anglophone East Asia studies. www.routledge.com/Confucianism...
A positive (and constructively critical) review of my 2022 edited book "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan" by @ernils.bsky.social for "Japan Review." www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/japa...
December 29, 2024 at 3:02 PM
A positive (and constructively critical) review of my 2022 edited book "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan" by @ernils.bsky.social for "Japan Review." www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/japa...
My article "Peng Chun Chang and the Justification for Human Rights in East Asia" now out with "Comparative Political Theory. It confronts the fading of Chang's Confucian vision for human rights in E Asia after 1949; and Confucianism's reputational deficit in human rights struggles of that era.
November 23, 2024 at 7:20 AM
My article "Peng Chun Chang and the Justification for Human Rights in East Asia" now out with "Comparative Political Theory. It confronts the fading of Chang's Confucian vision for human rights in E Asia after 1949; and Confucianism's reputational deficit in human rights struggles of that era.
My article "Taiwan and the Australian Left", just published in Meanjin, calls on the Australian left to go beyond parochial obsessions with the US-AU alliance, to comprehend the humanity and aspirations of Taiwanese themselves - and find solidarity with them. meanjin.com.au/essays/taiwa...
September 13, 2024 at 11:10 PM
My article "Taiwan and the Australian Left", just published in Meanjin, calls on the Australian left to go beyond parochial obsessions with the US-AU alliance, to comprehend the humanity and aspirations of Taiwanese themselves - and find solidarity with them. meanjin.com.au/essays/taiwa...
My new edited book, "Confucianism at War 1931-1945," out with Routledge in December. "The chapters in this book show that Confucianism remained a potent, and also contested cultural resource for promoting national cohesion, war mobilisation and expansionism in East Asia" between 1931 and 1945.
September 2, 2024 at 10:50 PM
My new edited book, "Confucianism at War 1931-1945," out with Routledge in December. "The chapters in this book show that Confucianism remained a potent, and also contested cultural resource for promoting national cohesion, war mobilisation and expansionism in East Asia" between 1931 and 1945.
Chapter 2 from my "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan", by associate professor Han Shuting at Kansai University, discusses the Confucian element in Sakuma Shōzan's mid-19th century arguments for the study of western thought and technology. shorturl.at/fsNT4
January 8, 2024 at 3:26 AM
Chapter 2 from my "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan", by associate professor Han Shuting at Kansai University, discusses the Confucian element in Sakuma Shōzan's mid-19th century arguments for the study of western thought and technology. shorturl.at/fsNT4
Now all abstracts for my "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan" chapters are available on Cambridge Core, I thought I'd introduce them. The first, by Jiangxi University of Science and Technology Lecturer Song Qi, is on Edo era loyalist Matsumiya Kanzan. shorturl.at/glDEW
January 7, 2024 at 1:52 AM
Now all abstracts for my "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan" chapters are available on Cambridge Core, I thought I'd introduce them. The first, by Jiangxi University of Science and Technology Lecturer Song Qi, is on Edo era loyalist Matsumiya Kanzan. shorturl.at/glDEW
The 1890 Japanese Imperial Rescript on Education is in the news again - some politicians think parts of it still educationally "useful". This 2017 Japan Times piece by me gives reasons why in a 21st century liberal society like Japan...it isn't useful. shorturl.at/lu135
December 19, 2023 at 4:45 AM
The 1890 Japanese Imperial Rescript on Education is in the news again - some politicians think parts of it still educationally "useful". This 2017 Japan Times piece by me gives reasons why in a 21st century liberal society like Japan...it isn't useful. shorturl.at/lu135
私の先輩で、中国学者である中里見先生が翻訳した私の論文「日本の儒教と戦争」が、今週、大学の紀要に掲載されました。中国、韓国、台湾の研究者が行う「斯文会」と呼ばれる日本儒教団体に関する研究と共に、この論文が日本思想史における「儒教の戦争責任議論」に貢献することを期待しています。
December 10, 2023 at 3:48 AM
私の先輩で、中国学者である中里見先生が翻訳した私の論文「日本の儒教と戦争」が、今週、大学の紀要に掲載されました。中国、韓国、台湾の研究者が行う「斯文会」と呼ばれる日本儒教団体に関する研究と共に、この論文が日本思想史における「儒教の戦争責任議論」に貢献することを期待しています。