MA Asian History

The research interests of the Asian History Program within the Department of History include East Asian history centered on China and the history of the Islamic world centered on the Middle East. The program is characterized by research into modern Chinese history, which inherits the empirical historical tradition of historian Suiichiro Tanaka and the study of ancient history of Chinese folklore pioneered by Nobuhiro Matsumoto, professor emeritus of Oriental History at Keio. Current research into the history of the Middle East and the Islamic world is focused on the social history of the Arab region and the history of the Ottoman Empire, inheriting the academic traditions of Shinji Maejima and Toshihiko Izutsu, two pioneers of the field in Japan.