Prof. Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska from the Faculty of Oriental Studies, one of Poland’s top scholars researching Japanese history, received the Japan Foundation Award 2019.

The UW scholar, together with a poet Shuntaro Tanikawa and the Association of Indonesian Alumni From Japan, are among this year’s laureates of the Japan Foundation Award 2019. They have been selected of the 73 applications nominated by experts and the general public.

The Japan Foundation awards individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to promoting international mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and other countries through academic, artistic, and other cultural pursuits.

Prof. Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska is the chair of Japanese Studies at the University of Warsaw. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in carrying out joint research projects with Japanese institutions, especially the University of Tokyo.

She is the author and co-author of numerous books on Japan. One of her most noteworthy academic contributions has been her research on the history of Poland’s relations with Japan from the time of the Russo-Japanese War to the end of World War II. Her History of Polish-Japanese Relations 1904-1945, the first and still only comprehensive chronicle of a previously obscure part of history, has been translated into Japanese and remains an authoritative resource.

Prof. Ewa Pałasz-Rutkowska has also disseminated Japanese culture, organized international academic meetings, and engaged in other activities that have greatly contributed to the advancement of mutual understanding and friendly relations between Japan and Poland, and between Japan and the world.

The awards ceremony will take place on 7th November.