In 1998 Reischauer Institute inaugurated the publication of a series of Occasional Papers to encourage the dissemination of important ideas in various fields of research concerned with Japan. The papers have their origins in public presentations given in the Japan Forum lecture series as well as in contributions by Harvard faculty and graduate students.

To date, the series is comprised of the following papers: 

• Prof. Akiko Hashimoto of the University of Pittsburgh, "Japanese and German Projects of Moral Recovery: Toward a New Understanding of War Memories in Defeated Nations" (PDF) (No. 1999-01, March 1999)
• Prof. Thomas Conlan of Bowdoin College, "The Culture of Force and Farce: Fourteenth-Century Japanese Warfare" (PDF) (No. 2000-01, January 2000)
• Prof. Yutaka Yabuta of Kansai University, "Rediscovering Women in Tokugawa Japan" (PDF) (No. 2000-02, May 2000)
• Prof. Jeffrey P. Mass of Stanford University, "Family, Law, and Property in Japan, 1200-1350" (No. 2000-03, December 2000)
• Prof. Gavan McCormack of Australian National University, "Reflections on Modern Japanese History in the Context of the Concept of 'Genocide'" (PDF) (No. 2001-01, July 2001)
• Prof. Emanuel Pastreich of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, "The Projection of Quotidian Japan on the Chinese Vernacular: The Case of Sawada Issai's 'Vernacular Tale of the Chivalrous Courtesan'" (PDF) (No. 2002-01, May 2002)
• Prof. Royall Tyler at the Australian National University, "The Hidden Tale of Genji" (No. 2002-02, May 2002)
• Prof. Kenji Kimura of Shimonoseki City University, Ms. Jun Uchida of Harvard University, Prof. Jae-Won Sun of Pyongtaek University, and Prof. Louise Young of New York University (discussant), "Japanese Settler Colonialism and Capitalism in Japan: Advancing into Korea, Settling Down, and Returning to Japan, 1905-1950" (PDF) (No. 2002-03, June)
• Prof. Corrado Molteni of Universita degli Studi di Milano, "The Economic Performance of Italy and Japan: Comparative Reflections" (PDF) (No. 2002-04, November 2002)
• Prof. Robert Eskildsen of Smith College, "'Leading the Natives to Civilization': The Colonial Dimension of the Taiwan Expedition" (PDF) (No. 2003-01, March 2003)
• William Johnston of Wesleyan University, "From Feudal Fishing Villagers to an Archipelago's Peoples: The Historiographical Journey of Amino Yoshihiko" (PDF) (No. 2005-01, March 2005)
• Bruce L. Batten, "Climate Change in Japanese History and Prehistory: A Comparative Overview" (PDF) (No. 2009-01, January 2009)

For more information on the Reischauer Institute Occasional Papers please contact Margot Chamberlain.