Kawasaki Reading Room

Events and Services

• Academic Speaker Series
• Music Events
• Japanese Craft Workshops (Origami, Shodo)
• Conversation Tables/Japanese Language Tutoring
• Cultural Outreach (LPS, Pre-schools)
• Tea Ceremony

Collections

Our ever-growing collection of more than seven thousand books, magazines, and journals were selected to support the learning of Japanese language and culture within the University of Nebraska and amongst Lincoln’s diverse communities.

The collection includes texts and movies discussing art, business, geography, history, law, language, literature, politics, and religion. We also have a variety of popular Japanese novels, children’s books, martial arts, cooking, crafting, and travel guides.

For fans of Japanese cinema and anime, there is a large assortment of over four hundred DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. From Akira Kurosawa to Hayao Miyazaki, the Kawasaki Reading Room has a selection of some of the finest films and animation from Japan.

Advisory Board

The Kawasaki Reading Room is advised by faculty members of the university community:

• Ikuho Amano, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
• Parks Coble, Department of History
• Rumiko Handa, College of Architecture
• Yaroslav Komarovski, Department of Classics and Religious Studies

History

UNL’s Kawasaki Reading Room is a unique center for Japanese studies in Nebraska. It is operated by the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at UNL. The Reading Room acts as a bridge between Lincoln’s Japanese and international communities by facilitating language learning and cultural understanding.

Made possible by generous contributions from the Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., USA , the Kawasaki Reading Room for Japanese Studies first opened on September 24th, 1992. The Reading Room is a product of the vision and educational aspirations of Takehiko Saeki, the former president of Kawasaki Motors, USA.