Reischauer, Edwin O.

Reischauer, Edwin O.

▪ American historian and diplomat
in full  Edwin Oldfather Reischauer  
born Oct. 15, 1910, Tokyo, Japan
died Sept. 1, 1990, La Jolla, Calif., U.S.

      American historian, diplomat, and educator and a leading expert on Asian, particularly Japanese, affairs.

      Reischauer was born in Japan to American missionary parents. Living there until the age of 17, he gained complete fluency in the Japanese language, as well as an intimate knowledge of Japanese culture and customs. Returning to the United States for further schooling, he attended Oberlin College (B.A., 1931) and Harvard (M.A., 1932). He did postgraduate work at the Sorbonne (1933–35), at the universities of Tokyo (1935–36) and Kyōto (1937–38), and in China. He received his Ph.D. in Far Eastern languages from Harvard in 1939. An instructor at Harvard from 1939 to 1942, he then worked for the War Department (1942–43) and U.S. Military Intelligence (1943–45). After the war he worked with the State Department in the Office of Far Eastern Affairs. He returned to Harvard as a professor of Far Eastern languages (1946–50) but was soon made a professor of Japanese history (1950–61, 1966–81) and achieved national acclaim as an educator.

      Long an outspoken critic of U.S. cultural ignorance of Asia, especially of Japan, which he felt was of central importance to the West, Reischauer produced scholarly works and conducted educational seminars that were directed at improving U.S. cultural understanding of Japan. This failure to understand Asian affairs, he contended, led directly to U.S. political failures in the area. The academician had a chance to put his theories into practice when, in 1961, Pres. John F. Kennedy appointed him ambassador to Japan in the wake of the riots that had greeted the U.S.–Japan Mutual Security Treaty of 1960. His appointment was an enormous success, owing in no small measure to his personal popularity with the Japanese. By the time that he resigned (1966), he had done much to improve relations between the two countries.

      Reischauer wrote many books, including translations of Chinese and Japanese works. Among his works are East Asia: The Great Tradition (1960; with John King Fairbank), a work regarded as a classic; The Modern Transformation (1965); Japan, The Story of a Nation (1970; rev. ed. 1981); The Japanese (1977); and Japan Society 1907–1982 (1982).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Edwin O. Reischauer — Demande de traduction Edwin O. Reischauer → …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Edwin O. Reischauer — Edwin Oldfather Reischauer (* 15. Oktober 1910 in Tokio; † 1. September 1990) war ein US amerikanischer Japanologe und Begründer der McCune Reischauer Umschrift für die koreanische Sprache. Leben Edwin O. Reischauer wurde als US Bürger in Tokio… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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  • Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House — The Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House is the former home of American diplomat and Japanese scholar Edwin O. Reischauer in Belmont, Massachusetts.After Reischauer s death, the house was purchased by Kodansha Publishers. It is now used for special …   Wikipedia

  • McCune Reischauer — Koreanische Schreibweise Hangeul: 매큔 라이샤워 표기법 Revidiert: maekyun raisyawo pyogibeop McCune R.: maek yun raisyawo p yogipŏp McCune Reischauer ist zusammen mit der revidierten Romanisierung und der Yale Romanisierung eine der am meisten gebrauchten …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • McCune–Reischauer — Korean writing systems Hangul Hanja Hyangchal Gugyeol Idu Mixed script Korean transliteration Revised Romanization McCune–Reischauer Yale ISO/TR 11941 Kontsevich (Cyrillic) McCune–Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean… …   Wikipedia

  • McCune-Reischauer — romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. Another …   Wikipedia

  • McCune-Reischauer — La romanización McCune Reischauer (hangul: 매큔•라이샤워 표기법, Romanización revisada: Maekyun Raisyaweo Pyogibeop, McCune Reischauer: Maek yun Raisyawǒ P yogibǒp) es uno de los dos sistemas más utilizados de romanización del coreano, junto a la… …   Wikipedia Español

  • McCune-Reischauer — Koreanische Schreibweise koreanisches Alphabet: 매큔 라이샤워 표기법 Revidierte Romanisierung: maekyun raisyawo pyogibeop McCune Reischauer: maek yun raisyawo p yogipŏp McCune Reischauer ist zusammen mit der revidierten Romanisierung und der Yale… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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