Yasuko Hassall Kobayashi

Profie photo of Yasuko Hassall Kobayashi

Associate Professor

Ph.D., Australian National University

Email:
yasukohk [at] fc.ritsumei.ac.jp (Replace "[at]" with "@")
Office Location:
AC5404
Office Hours:
Friday 11:00-12:00 (Make an appointment by email in advance)

Education

  • Ph.D., Australian National University
  • M.A., School of Oriental African Studies, University of London
  • M.A., Tokyo Women's Christian University

Message to Students

I was educated and trained mainly in our region, Asia and the Pacific, and I have also taught at several universities in the region. I feel privileged to have formed who I am with and through the region. With my background and experience, I can say that the College of Global Liberal Arts at Ritsumeikan University with the Australian National University will provide you with inimitable experience to learn about this region. What does this special experience entail? You have to join us to feel it, taste it, create it, transcend it and own it. See you at GLA RU!

Courses Taught

  • Introduction to Global Liberal Arts I & II
  • Postcolonial Studies
  • Asia and the World in Historical Perspective
  • Research Seminar I & II
  • Thesis
  • Capstone Studies in Geohistorical Perspective to Globalization

I have been trained in several countries (Japan, UK & Australia) and worked in several countries (Singapore, Australia and Japan) to become an Asian Studies specialist, and my research topic is inter-Asia and Pacific migration in both a historical and contemporary context. In these courses, students will be learning about our region, Asia and the Pacific, where both Japan and Australia are located, through both contemporary and historical issues. Often, I am surprised to see how little students know about our region. So come and join us to learn more about our fascinating region, Asia and the Pacific.

Research Interests

Asian Studies, History of Asia-Pacific Connections, Mobilities, Inter-Asia Migration, Postcolonialism

I specialise in inter-Asian and Pacific migration / mobilities, and my research covers both historical and contemporary migration issues. I am currently working on two research projects: one is historical migration project on Japanese POWs in Papua New Guinea during and after WWII, funded by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Project Title: “Soldiers as mobile subjects: Japanese POWs Experiences in PNG during and after WWII”): the other is a contemporary migration project on disaster prevention and immigrants. This collaborative project with University of Canberra (UC), Australia, is funded by the Murata Science Foundation, and the co-investigator is Associate Professor Hitomi Nakanishi at UC.

Supervision Information

International Migration in the Asia and Pacific Region, Migration History (Asia and Pacific Region), Transnational History (Asia and Pacific Region)

Representative Publications

To be added.

Career History

My career path is unique, as I have worked in different sectors. I have worked in universities both as an academic (National University of Singapore, Australian National University, Keio University & Osaka University) and as a professional staff (Australian National University). I also worked for both an Australian federal government agency and a Japanese government agency. Through these past work experiences, I was given great opportunities to work with incredible people and be mentored by them. I hope that my unique career path and experience will be useful to our students when they start thinking about their future career.

Professional Associations

Academic Service

Honorary Appointments

  • Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Culture, History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University (Oct 2016 - present)
  • Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University (Jan 2018 - present)
  • Visiting Research Fellow at Area Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo (July 2015 - Dec 2015)