Professor Rein Raud Acknowledged for His Contribution to Japanese Studies

Rein Raud, Professor of Asian and Cultural Studies at Tallinn University, received commendation from the Foreign Minister of Japan at a reception held at the Embassy of Japan on August 25. Professor Raud was also recently elected President of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS).

Professor Raud received the award for his outstanding contribution in promoting relations between Estonia and Japan. The award was presented by the aAmbassador of Japan in Estonia, His Excellency Hideaki Hoshi. Recently, Professor Raud was also elected as the President of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS); one of the largest organizations in the world which focuses on Japanese Studies.

The European Association for Japanese Studies was established in 1973 with the aim of facilitating research and cooperation in the field of Japanese Studies in Europe. With the current membership of 1200, EAJS is the largest scientific organization working outside of Japan. The 13th conference of EAJS was held at Tallinn University from August 24–27, 2011. More than 700 participants from around the world attended the EAJS's largest conference.

"I am very glad that my work on the study and introduction of Japanese culture has been acknowledged at such a high level. It is, of course, especially pleasant that this acknowledgment comes jointly with many European (and the world's best-known) researchers undertaking Japanese Studies. I hope I can continue this work with the same quality in the future," Rein Raud said, expressing his contentment.

Rein Raud is Professor of Asian and Cultural Studies at Tallinn University. He held the office of Rector of Tallinn University from 2006 to 2011. He graduated from St. Petersburg (Leningrad) University with a major in Japanese Philology and defended his PhD dissertation at the University of Helsinki. Raud has been Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Helsinki since 1995; he was elected as an honorary doctor of the University of Latvia in 2007 and of Vytautas Magnus University in 2011. Rein Raud has been a board member of the European Association for Japanese Studies (and now President since August 2011). He is also the Chair of the Finnish Society of Japanese Studies and a board member of several scientific journals. In 2009, Rein Raud was awarded the state decoration of the Republic of Lithuania for his work on promoting cooperation between Estonia and Lithuania in the fields of education and culture. Rein Raud has translated a lot of classical Japanese literature into the Estonian language, including an anthology of poems entitled "Süda on ainuke lill" and the collection of poetry by Ikkyu entitled "Hullunud pilv" published recently by Tallinn University Press. He has also published many articles on classical Japanese literature and philosophy in international scientific journals.