The Government of Japan has bestowed the ‘Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette’ on Dr Joy Hendry, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University.

The award is in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the promotion of Japanese studies in the UK, and to deeper mutual understanding between Japan and the United Kingdom.

Commenting about the honour, Professor Hendry said: “I am delighted and humbled to receive such an award, but I also need to thank all my Japanese friends, as well as colleagues and grant-giving bodies on both sides of the world that have made my work possible. Anthropologists cannot achieve such things alone.”

In view of Professor Hendry’s sterling work, the Government of Japan considers that she well deserves to be honoured for her outstanding contribution to the promotion of Japanese Studies in the UK

The Embassy of Japan in the UK

A pioneer of Japanese Studies within anthropology, Professor Hendry has carried out research on Japan and conducted fieldwork there for over 40 years. Her research includes Japanese views on families, marriage, education, politeness and cultural display.

Professor Hendry played a leading role in establishing Japanese Studies and the Europe Japan Research Centre at Oxford Brookes University, alongside Japanese colleagues Kumiko Helliwell and Yoko Ono and anthropologists who worked in Japan including Louella Matsunago, Rupert Cox and Catherine Atherton. The Japanese Room at Oxford Brookes, where much of the teaching about Japan takes place, was built by a carpenter Joy met during her field work in a village in Kyushu, Japan.

A spokesperson from the Embassy of Japan in the UK said: “In view of Professor Hendry’s sterling work, the Government of Japan considers that she well deserves to be honoured for her outstanding contribution to the promotion of Japanese Studies in the UK and this to deeper mutual understanding between our two peoples.”

She has published widely, with titles including Marriage in Changing Japan, Becoming Japanese: The World of the Pre-School Child, Wrapping Culture: Politeness, Presentation and Power in Japan and Other Societies, and The Orient Strikes Back. An Anthropological Lifetime in Japan is a recent collection of her papers.

Before becoming Emeritus Professor in 2010, Professor Hendry taught at Oxford Brookes University for 30 years and has acted as the first Director of the Europe Japan Research Centre, the first Secretary-General of the Japan Anthropology Workshop, President of the British Association for Japanese Studies and Vice-President of the European Association of Japanese Studies. She is also a Senior Member of St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, Honorary Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, and she has served as Reader at the Scottish Centre for Japanese Studies, University of Stirling.

Professor Hendry will be presented with the award at the Embassy of Japan in London on Wednesday 26 July 2017.

More information about Professor Hendry’s research and Japanese Studies at Oxford Brookes can be found on the website.