Masako Hattori, Ph.D.
Historian
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Assistant Professor, National University of Singapore, 2022–present.
Assistant Professor, Shujitsu University, 2021–2022.
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Kyoto University, 2019–2021.
Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, 2018–2019.
EDUCATION
Columbia University
Ph.D., History, 2018
Dissertation: “Across War and Peace: Youth, Higher Education, and National Security in the United States, 1917–1945”
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Nominee, Bancroft Dissertation Award, Columbia University
M.Phil., History, 2013
M.A., History, 2012
University of Tokyo
M.A., American Studies, 2008
Bachelor of Liberal Arts, American Studies, 2006
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
The U.S. in the World; Military, War, and Society; Transnational History; Comparative History; Nations and Empires; The Pacific World; U.S.-Japan Relations; Public Policy and Law; Social Inequality; Education and Childhood
CURRENT PROJECTS
The Age of Youth: American Society and the Two World Wars
Forthcoming, Cambridge University Press. This book project challenges a widely held assumption in U.S. historiography—that American society was only affected by war for brief periods—by merging the history of U.S. foreign relations, U.S. social policy, and the history of youth and education. It demonstrates how fluctuations in national security concerns in the first half of the twentieth century shaped adults' views of young people, particularly those of military age, and influenced their educational opportunities.
Layers of Imperialism: U.S. Military Expansion and Urban Tourism in Twentieth Century Japan
This book project contextualizes U.S. military objectives in Asia after World War II within the larger history of imperialism in East Asia, including Japanese imperialism and European and American economic expansion. Through a case study of Kobe city, it explores how the U.S. military's engagement with Japanese society that built on Japan's multi-layered, multi-lateral imperial past gave rise to tourism in modern Japan.
PUBLICATIONS
Peer-Reviewed Articles
“The Second Phase of War: Youth in U.S. Occupied Japan,” Diplomatic History 46, no. 5 (2022): 960–83.
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Honorary mention, 2022 Fass-Sandin Article Prize in English, Society for the History of Children and Youth
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Reviewed on H-Diplo by Kristin Roebuck, June 7, 2023
“Mobilizing American Youth for Total War: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940,” Nanzan Review of American Studies 39 (2017): 3–22.
“Preparing for the ‘Next War’: Civil Defense during the Truman Administration,” Pacific and American Studies 9 (2009): 112–27.
Textbook Chapter
“The Rise of the U.S. as a Superpower,” pp. 231–47, in Introduction to History and Culture of the United States, eds. Yasuo Endo and Yuki Oda (Kyoto: Minerva Shobo, 2023). (In Japanese)
Other Publications
“Becoming a Historian,” Annual Newsletter of the History Department, Shujitsu University 36 (March 2022), pp. 4–7. (In Japanese)
“Research Seminar Report: ‘The Fall of Empires in the Asia-Pacific,’” American Studies Foundation-International Forum for Early Career Scholars, August 2017. (Online, in Japanese)
“‘Reconstructing’ America: Visions of War and American Society in U.S. Social and Educational Thought, 1900–1950,” Suntory Foundation Grantee Report (October 2015): 25–26. (In Japanese)
“Toward the ‘Age of Obama’?—Professor Eric Foner at CPAS,” Center for Pacific and American Studies (CPAS) Newsletter 10, no. 1 (2009): 6–7.
“‘Remembering 9/11: Vernaculars of Trauma,’ A Seminar with Professor Monisha Das Gupta,” CPAS Newsletter 9, no. 1 (2008): 10–11. (In Japanese)
Abridged translation of Karen Shimakawa, “Contemporary U.S. Law and Racialization,” CPAS Newsletter 8, no. 2 (2008): 4. (In Japanese)
AWARDS AND PRIZES
Honorary mention, 2022 Fass-Sandin Article Prize in English, Society for the History of Children and Youth, 2023
Nominee, Bancroft Dissertation Award, Columbia University, 2018
Finalist, Louis Pelzer Memorial Award, Organization of American Historians, 2017
American Political History Institute Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize, Seventh Annual Boston University Graduate Student American Political History Conference, 2015
Thompson Award for the Best Senior Thesis in American Studies, American Studies Program, University of Tokyo, 2006
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Start-up Grant, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, 2022–2026
Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 2022–2024
Postdoctoral Fellowship, JSPS, 2019–2021
Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Research Fellows, 2019–2021
Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up, JSPS, 2018–2019
Conference Travel Grant, Japanese Association for American Studies, 2018
Research Workshop Travel Grant, American Studies Foundation (Japan)-International Forum for Early Career Scholars, 2017
Albert J. Beveridge Research Grant, American Historical Association, 2017
Doris G. Quinn Fellowship, Doris G. Quinn Foundation, 2016–2017
Conference Travel Grant, American Studies Foundation, Japan, 2016
Research Fellowship, Hoover Institution Library and Archives, 2015 (declined)
Research Grant, Roosevelt Institute (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library), 2015
Graduate Student Travel Grant, American Studies Association-Japanese Association for American Studies Collaborative Committee, 2014
Research Fellowship for Early Career Scholars, Suntory Foundation, Japan, 2014
Conference Matching Travel Funds, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, 2014, 2015
Brebner Travel Award, Department of History, Columbia University, 2014, 2015
Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting Travel Grant, Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, 2013
Summer Grants, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University, 2011–2015
Richard Hofstadter Faculty Fellowship, Department of History, Columbia University, 2011–2016
Fulbright Graduate Study Fellowship, Japan-U.S. Educational Commission, 2010–2012
Research Fellowship for Young Scientists, JSPS, 2009–2010
Research Grant for JSPS Fellows, 2009–2010
Research Fellowship for Graduate Students, University of Tokyo, 2008–2009
Research Travel Grant for American Studies M.A. Students, Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission, 2007
Partial Exemption from Repayment for Graduate Students with Outstanding Achievements, Scholarship Loan Programs, Japan Student Services Organization, 2006–2008
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“The U.S. Military, Tourism, and War in Post-World War II Japan,” 2025 Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Chicago, Illinois, April 3-6, 2025 (proposal accepted. Serving also as session organizer).
“Reconstructing America: Ideas about Disaster and Recovery in World War II U.S.,” 117th Annual Meeting of the Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, East-West Center, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, July 31-August 2, 2024 (proposal accepted).
“War, Education, and Military Training in American Society in the ‘Interwar’ Period,” 27th Biennial Conference of the Nordic Association for American Studies, Uppsala, Sweden, May 27, 2023.
“Advancing Reform through War: Educational Leaders, Military Mobilization, and Educational Opportunity in the United States, 1917–1945,” 10th International American Studies Association World Congress, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, November 23, 2022 (online).
“Youth, Social Mobility, and Military Service in the United States from World War I to World War II,” proposal accepted for the 2021 Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Seattle, Washington, January 7–10, 2021 (conference canceled due to COVID-19; served also as session organizer. Virtual session recorded in January 2021 for the AHA's YouTube Channel).
“For Youth and the Nation: Military Service, Access to Education, and Work in the United States, 1919-1941,” IX International American Studies Association World Congress, Alcala de Henares, Spain, July 8, 2019 (served also as session chair).
“Rethinking the Boundaries between War and Peace: Youth, Military Service, and World War II in U.S. History,” “‘A City upon a Hill’ versus ‘A Country of Civilization’: Comparing Chinese and American Self-Perceptions in History” Symposium, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China, October 26, 2018.
“Youth, Higher Education, and National Security in Interwar America,” 2018 Kyoto Proseminar, Japanese Association for American Studies, Kyoto University, June 6, 2018.
“Educating ‘Soldiers of Civilization’: The Military Mobilization of American Youth, 1939–1942,” 2016 Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Providence, Rhode Island, April 8, 2016 (served also as session co-organizer). The session was sponsored by the OAH-Japanese Association for American Studies Historians’ Collaborative Committee.
“The Youth Problem: American Educators in an Era of Total War and Mobilization,” 130th Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association, Atlanta, Georgia, January 7, 2016 (served also as session organizer).
“Mobilizing American Youth at the Dawn of Total War: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940,” Seventh Annual Boston University Graduate Student American Political History Conference, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, March 20, 2015.
・Winner, American Political History Institute Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Prize.
“‘Reconstructing’ America: Times of Crisis and Visions of the Future in the United States, 1898–1945,” Suntory Foundation Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, December 18, 2014.
“Labeling Time, Mapping the Future: American Educators and Their Visions of ‘Postwar Reconstruction’ during World War II,” International Standing Conference for the History of Education 36, London, UK, July 26, 2014.
“Civil Defense in the ‘Atomic Age’: Public Education Programs in the United States during the Truman Administration,” 12th Regular Meeting of the Japanese Association for American History, Tokyo, Japan, April 19, 2008.
OTHER PRESENTATIONS
Discussant, “From Missionary Education to Confucius Institutes: Historical Reflections on Sino-American Cultural Exchange” (roundtable discussion), Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, May 15, 2024.
Panelist, “Teaching Gender in Japan,” in “Teaching and Writing U.S. History in French and Western European Academia: American History and Civilization in a Comparative Perspective,” an international workshop at the University of Tokyo, March 9, 2020. (Postponed due to COVID-19)
Guest Lecturer, “Rethinking the ‘Interwar Period’ in U.S. history,” Graduate Seminar, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, May 24, 2019.
Invited Lecturer, “Towards a ‘Transwar’ Perspective on U.S. History, 1917–1945,” Department of History, Peking University, Beijing, China, October 27, 2018.
Guest Lecturer, “The Youth Problem: Military Mobilization, Citizenship, and Democratic Governance in the United States, 1917–1945,” Graduate Workshop on American and Pacific Studies, University of Tokyo, December 8, 2015.
Panelist, “Diversity Symposium: Fostering Engagement and Inclusion of International Students and Scholars,” co-sponsored by State University of New York Global Center, City University of New York Office of International Student and Scholar Services, and Diversity Abroad, New York, NY, October 11, 2013.
Invited Lecturer, “Why Study American Culture?” Hyogo Prefectural Kobe High School, July 4, 2010.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
National University of Singapore, Department of History
-The Political History of the United States
-The U.S.: From Settlement to Superpower
-The Craft of History
-Approaches to American History (graduate seminar)
-Graduate Research Seminar
Assistant Professor, Department of History, Shujitsu University
-War and Society in U.S. History
-The Early Cold War in U.S. History
-Transatlantic History from the Age of European Expansion to the Present
-The U.S. Occupation of Japan
-Postwar American Society
-History of the American Presidency
-American History through Holidays
-American History through New York City
-Introduction to Academic Studies
-Senior Thesis Seminar
-MA thesis supervision
Adjunct Instructor, Department of English Studies, Kobe City University of Foreign Studies
-English Composition
Teaching Fellow, Department of History, Columbia University
-U.S. Foreign Relations, 1890-1990
-American Presidency from Washington to Obama
-America, 1918–1945
-American Civilization to the Civil War (Barnard College)
Teaching Assistant, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo
-Academic Writing
-American History to the Civil War
-English Language
TEACHING CERTIFICATION
Teaching Certificate, Teagle Summer Teaching Institute, Columbia University, June 2014
SELECTIVE PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE AND SERVICE
Committee member, Willi Paul Adams Award Committee, Organization of American Historians, 2023–2027.
Committee member, Graduate Studies Committee, Department of History, National University of Singapore, 2022–present.
Member, Task Force on History Department Core Curriculum Reform, Department of History, National University of Singapore, 2022–present.
Member, Faculty Working Group on the Reform of Graduate Education, Shujitsu University, 2022.
Committee Member, Entrance Examinations and Prospective Student Affairs Committee, Shujitsu University, 2022.
Instructor, “JSTOR Tutorial for History Majors,” Shujitsu University, December 7 and 13, 2021.
Co-chair, “Session A: Asia and Asian America,” 55th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association for American Studies, online, June 5, 2021.
Committee Member, International Affairs Committee, Shujitsu University, 2021.
Paper Reviewer, 10th Research Showcase-Historians’ Workshop, Nagoya University, February 18, 2020.
Paper Reviewer, 9th Research Showcase-Historians’ Workshop, Kyoto University, October 11, 2019.
Co-Founder and Co-Organizer, Japan-New York Association of Scholars, May 2012–October 2015.
Graduate Committee Member, The U.S. History before 1900 Search, Department of History, Columbia University, Spring 2012.
Seminar Moderator, “Object-Centered History,” Graduate Seminar by Professor Laurel T. Ulrich (Harvard University), Center for Pacific and American Studies, University of Tokyo, May 27, 2009.
Research Assistant for Professor Jun Furuya, University of Tokyo, Spring 2009.
Editorial Assistant, Pacific and American Studies and CPAS Newsletter, Center for Pacific and American Studies, University of Tokyo, 2008–2009.
Research Assistant, Center for Pacific and American Studies, University of Tokyo, 2008–2009.
Seminar Moderator, “The Digital Resources and Approaches to Using Digital History for the Study of American History and Culture,” Graduate Seminar by Professor David Jaffee (Bard College), Center for Pacific and American Studies, University of Tokyo, February 18, 2008.
Organizing Member, Japanese Association of Graduate Students in American Studies Programs, 2008–2010.