Joshua Batts

Joshua Batts is a historian specializing in early modern Japan’s international engagements. Currently, he serves as a Distinguished Researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, leading the ERC Horizon Europe Starting Grant Project Material Authority. He previously held roles including Postdoctoral Researcher at the Aftermath Project (2022–2024), JSPS Fellow at the University of Tokyo (2017–2019), and Research Associate at the University of Cambridge (2019–2022). His research focuses on Japan’s diplomatic and economic interactions, resource management, and the socio-political impacts of wars and trade.

Education: PhD from Columbia University (2017), followed by postdoctoral fellowships in Tokyo and Cambridge. His first monograph, Pacific Overtures: Tokugawa Outreach to Habsburg Spain, 1600–1625, forthcoming from Cambridge University Press, examines trans-Pacific trade ambitions and geopolitical challenges. Ongoing projects include studies on mining, minting, and governance in Tokugawa Japan.

Key Research Areas

• Early modern diplomacy and globalization
• Resource extraction and governance
• East Asian history and transoceanic networks
• Impact of the Imjin War on Tokugawa administration

Awards & Grants

• JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship (2017–2019)
• ERC Horizon Europe Starting Grant (current)

His work integrates technological transfers from Korea and Spain, analyzing how Tokugawa authorities managed mineral resources and social mobilization. Projects often bridge domestic governance with external relations, challenging narratives of Japan’s isolationism.