An Evening With Eiko Maruko Siniawer

From sleepy fishing village to samurai capital to vibrant global metropolis, Eiko Maruko Siniawer takes readers through Tokyo’s rich history, revealing four centuries of transformation deeply woven into its fabric. This accessible guide introduces a world of shoguns and Kabuki theater, riots and earthquakes, wartime devastation and reconstruction, booms and busts, bright lights and skyscrapers, all viewed through the lived experiences of those who have inhabited and shaped a city of distinctive neighborhoods and different personalities. Emphasizing the city’s human heart, Siniawer conveys a vivid sense of time, culture, and place through ten moments that have shaped Tokyo’s many lives.

Eiko Maruko Siniawer is a historian of Japan who has researched and written about a wide range of topics, from the relationships between political violence and democracy to ideas about what is wasteful, to the fascinating past of a remarkable city.  Siniawer is the author of three books, Ruffians, Yakuza, Nationalists: The Violent Politics of Modern Japan, 1860-1960; Waste: Consuming Postwar Japan; and Tokyo.  She has also published articles in leading academic journals including “‘Affluence of the Heart’: Wastefulness and the Search for Meaning in Millennial Japan” in the Journal of Asian Studies, and “‘Toilet Paper Panic’: Uncertainty and Insecurity in Early 1970s Japan” in the American Historical Review.  Her research has been funded by the American Council of Learned Societies, National Endowment for the Humanities, American Historical Association, Association for Asian Studies, Japan Foundation, and Social Science Research Council.

Siniawer is the Charles R. Keller Professor of History at Williams College, where she teaches a variety of courses on the history of Japan.  She holds a Ph.D. in history and an A.M. in East Asian studies from Harvard University, and a B.A. in history from Williams College.