Naoko Shimazu

Naoko Shimazu is a History Professor and Senior Professor at Tokyo College, where she serves as Head of Research and Deputy Director. She was invited by the Collège de France assembly on Professor Anne Cheng's proposal to deliver the 2025 lecture series "War and Peace: A Global History of Japan, 1904-1943".

Her research examines modern Japanese history through four key lenses:

• Personal war diaries from the Russo-Japanese War revealing conscripts' emotional experiences versus official narratives
• Construction of heroic war myths like the "God of War Commander Hirose" cult
• Japan's diplomatic role at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference and racial equality proposal
• Symbolic performance in wartime diplomacy, particularly the 1943 Tokyo Conference

Professor Shimazu's methodology bridges historical analysis with emotional and symbolic dimensions of international relations. She investigates how Japan navigated its geopolitical position through competing visions of "Asia" while analyzing both state narratives and individual perspectives. Her work reveals tensions between official propaganda and personal accounts, particularly regarding attitudes toward death in warfare and diplomatic representation on global stages.

Her scholarship represents dual intellectual inquiries: examining historical constructions of "Asia" and developing frameworks for understanding symbolic meaning in political performance. Through comparative analysis of war diaries, diplomatic conferences, and ceremonial statecraft, she provides nuanced perspectives on Japan's twentieth-century international engagements.