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Washington State University
History | Noriko Kawamura

Noriko Kawamura

Professor of History
Arnold M. and Atsuko Craft Professor

Wilson-Short Hall 350
509-335-5428
nkawamura@wsu.edu

CV

Education

Ph.D., University of Washington, 1989
B.A., Keio University, Tokyo, Japan 1978

Research and Teaching Interests

Kawamura’s research focuses on the history of war, peace, and diplomacy in the Pacific World. She teaches the history of the United States and the World, U.S. military history, World War II in the Pacific, and the Cold War.

Publications

Kawamura is the author of Emperor Hirohito and the Pacific War (University of Washington Press, 2015), and Turbulence in the Pacific: Japanese–U.S. Relations during World War I (Praeger, 2000). She also coedited Building New Pathways to Peace (University of Washington Press, 2011) and Toward a Peaceable Future: Redefining Peace, Security and Kyosei from a Multidisciplinary Perspective (The Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service, Washington State University Press, 2005).

She has contributed several journal articles and book chapters, including “To Transnationalize War Memory for Peace and Kyosei” in Building New Pathways to Peace; “Emperor Hirohito and Japan’s Decision to Go to War with the United States,” Diplomatic History (January 2007); and “Wilsonian Idealism and Japanese Claims at the Paris Peace Conference,” Pacific Historical Review (November 1997), which is reprinted in Arthur P. Dudden, ed., American Empire in the Pacific: From Trade to Strategic Balance, 1700-1922 (Ashgate, 2004).

Kawamura is currently working on a new book project on Emperor Hirohito’s Cold War under contract with the University of Washington Press.

Emperor Hirohito book cover        Building Peach book cover

Honors & Awards

Her recent awards include Arnold M. and Atsuko Craft Professorship (College of Arts and Sciences, WSU, 2018-2021), Outstanding Achievement in International Activities (College of Arts and Sciences, WSU, 2016), and Edward R. Meyer Project Grant (College of Arts and Sciences, WSU, 2016).