Department/Division Human and Environmental Studies/Studies on Global Coexistence
Undergraduate School Division of Multi-Disciplinary Studies of Civilizations
Other Affiliation
Email tsuchiya.yuka.8m(**at**)kyoto-u.ac.jp
Personal Page Website

Message to the prospective students

Studying U.S. History and Culture to Understand Japan, Asia, and the World
"American Studies" and "American History" in my understanding are disciplines not just intended to learn about the United States. To understand the history and present situation of East Asia, or to understand the current U.S. foreign policy and international relations, it is essential to know the trajectories of American society, culture, and foreign relations. In my lab, students and postdocs are doing researches in U.S.-East Asia relations in relation to space technology, foreign aid, immigration, gender, and so on. The foundation of their research methodologies is the skill to read and analyze primary sources (such as diplomatic documents). If you are interested in this kind of historical study, please visit my lab.
Research areas Historical Study of U.S. Public and Cultural Diplomacy during the Cold War
Keywords United States, Cold War, culture, information, science and technology
Themes 1. My primary research interest lies in the U.S. cultural and public diplomacy during the Cold War, especially from the 1950s to the 70s. My research methodology is mostly multi-archival research using English and Japanese historical documents. In particular, the focus of my research in recent years has been how science and technology, such as atomic energy, medical aid, and space flight, was perceived as diplomatic means, and how they interacted with international relations.
2. Aside from the main research interest mentioned above, I am also interested in the history of U.S.-Japan relations seen from the ocean. More concretely, I have been exploring the transition of pelagic fisheries from the pre-Second World War to the postwar years, and how those changes affected international relations in the Cold War era. My research methodologies include oral history interviews with fishermen and others involved in pelagic fisheries, and analysis of historical materials stored in local archives and libraries.
Major publications Yuka Tsuchiya, Cultural Cold War and Science, Technology and the Cultural Cold War in Asia: From Atoms for Peace to Space Flight (Routledge, forthcoming in 2022).
Yuka Tsuchiya, et al. eds., Knowledge as Diplomacy: U.S. and Asia in the Cold War (forthcoming in 2022).
Yuka Tsuchiya, "Japan's Decision to Introduce U.S. Nuclear Reactors in the late 1950s: U.S. Information Campaign to Influence the Japanese Industry," conference paper, Workshop on Cold War and Knowledge in East Asia (National Chengchi University, Taipei, January 29, 2018).
Yuka Tsuchiya, "Tuna-fishing as Sussistence and Migrant Work: Cases of Two Japanese Fishing Communities during the 1960s," conference paper, XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (Tronto, Canada, July 18, 2018).
Yuka Tsuchiya, "Japanese Tuna Fishermen and Thermonuclear Tests: Gender and a Dilemma of the Protest," conference paper, International Federation for Research in Women’s History (IFRWH) 2018 (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, August 12, 2018)
Yuka Tsuchiya, "Chicken of the Sea and Thermonuclear Tests: Japanese Tuna Fishermen in the 1950s as Boundary-Crossers," conference paper, Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference (Toronto, Canada, March 2017).
Yuka Tsuchiya, "The Cold War and the U.S. State-Sponsored Films: A Focus on India and Japan," invited lecture, Japan-India Roundtable, Jawaharlal Nehru University (New Delhi, India, January 28, 2015)
Yuka Tsuchiya, "The Atoms for Peace USIS Films: Spreading the Gospel of the 'Blessing' of Atomic Energy in the Early Cold War Era," International Journal of Korean History, vol. 19, no. 2 (August 2014).
Yuka Tsuchiya, "Provoking Desire to be Part of the Family of Nations: The CIE and USIS Films on the United Nations" in Japanese Cinema Book, forthcoming.
Professional societies/Research and synergic activities Japanese Association of American Studies
The Japanese Association for American History
The Japan Association of International Relations
Japanese Political Science Association
American Studies Association
Organization of American Historians
Society for the History of American Foreign Relations
Teaching Areas
  • Undergraduate courses Studies on Multicultural Society 1A, 1B
    Seminar in Multicultural Society, 1A, 1B
  • Graduate courses (Master's program) Lecture on Multicultural Society 2
    Seminar in International Society 5
  • Graduate courses (Doctor's program) Seminar in Multicultural Society
  • Undergraduate courses open to all departments English Reading ER28 1S3
    English Reading ER24 1E5
    English Reading ER11 1P2
    Reading in Humanities and Social Sciences
Background 2016-present: Professor, Kyoto University
2009-2016: Professor, Ehime University
2004-2009: Associate Professor, Ehime University
2004: Ph.D. at University of Minnesota, Department of American Studies
1993-2000: Research Assistant and Lecturer, Hiroshima University, Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences
1992 M.A. at University of Maryland, Department of History
人間・環境学研究科パンフレット
日本語