The Weatherhead East Asian Institute congratulates Matthew R. Augustine, associate professor of modern Japanese and East Asian history at Kyushu University in Japan, on being named one of three finalists for the 2025 the Modern Japan History Association Book Prize.
Augustine received the recognition for his book From Japanese Empire to American Hegemony: Koreans and Okinawans in the Resettlement of Northeast Asia (University of Hawai'i Press, 2023), an entry in the Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute series.
A comprehensive study of the dynamic and often contentious relationship between migrations and border controls in U.S.-occupied Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands, Augustine’s book recounts how Northeast Asia and its respective populations were remade between the fall of the Japanese empire and the rise of American hegemony.
Asked for a comment via email, Augustine replied: ”This honor would not have been possible without WEAI's generous support over the years. I hope my transregional study contributes towards greater recognition of the lived experiences of migrants and ethnic minorities in postwar Japan.”
The Modern Japan History Association awards the Book Prize annually to scholarly works “substantially illuminating the history of modern and contemporary Japan (1868–present), as well as books exploring the historical roots of modern Japanese society and culture.” Serving on this year’s prize committee are Miriam Kingsberg Kadia (Chair) of the University of Colorado; Paul Barclay of Lafayette College; and Nick Kapur of Rutgers University. The Prize Committee will announce a 2025 first-prize winner shortly.
Augustine’s honor extends a distinguished tradition for the WEAI Studies series. Just last year, for instance, Jessamyn Abel’s Dream Super-Express: A Cultural History of the World's First Bullet Train (Stanford University Press, 2022) won the JMHA Prize, and Brian Hurley’s Confluence and Conflict: Reading Transwar Japanese Literature and Thought (Harvard University Asia Center, 2022) was named one of the three finalists.