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New East
Asian Concentration initiated
By Irene Burgo
Dr. Matthew Perry, a fourth-generation descendant of
Commodore Matthew
 C.
Perry, delivered a talk on the life and career of the U.S. Navy commander to
celebrate the inauguration of the East Asian Studies concentration in the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as commemorating the
anniversary of 150 years of diplomatic relations between the United States
and Japan.
In 1853, Commodore Perry was sent on a mission by
President Millard Fillmore to establish trade with Japan. He became the
first successful foreigner to open up Japan after a 250-year period of
isolation. Japan had been isolated from the outside world since the 17th
century.
Dr. Perry, who is a research biologist at the
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Maryland, is directly descended from
the commodore’s brother, Raymond Perry. In his discussion, Perry noted that
his historic relative needed the skills of a diplomatic as well as a naval
officer in order to succeed at his ambitious task.
The Rev. Kail C. Ellis, dean of the College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, delivered the invocation prior to celebratory
dinner which followed the talk. Father Ellis congratulated the faculty
committee who worked on the project, as well as Dr. Maria Toyoda, assistant
professor of political science, who serves as director of the concentration.
“To have this concentration come to fruition is a
great source of joy to all of us,” said Father Ellis. “With this tradition
that we are initiating today, we are encircling the world with our
concentrations. We have Russian Area Studies, Latin America Studies,
Africana Studies, and now East Asian Studies.”
Referring to the opening of diplomatic relations
between Japan and the United States, Father Ellis also cited a Villanova
connection. “In our relations with Japan even today, there is a Villanova
connection that is very key and contemporary and one that relates to our new
concentration. The commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Walter
Doran, a 1967 graduate of the College and former history major, whom I met
several weeks ago when he visited campus, is responsible for the world’s
largest combined fleet command, which encompass 102 million square miles and
includes key areas of Asia such as Taiwan, China and Korea. Doran oversees
more than 190 ships and submarines, 1,400 aircraft, and some 191,000
sailors, marines and civilians. And he too needs the skills that Dr. Perry
talked about in that you have to be a diplomat as well as a naval officer
when you are meeting with heads of state, conducting negotiations, meeting
with the North Korean leader, for example, trying to work out peace.” Father
further noted that Admiral William Fallon, also a 1967 graduate of the
College and classmate of Doran’s, was sent in February 2001, by President
George W. Bush to apologize to Japan after a U.S. submarine was involved in
a collision with a Japanese fishing trawler off the coast of Honolulu.
The
event was sponsored by Villanova’s Japanese Club, the department of
classical and modern languages and literatures, the concentration in East
Asian Studies and the Center for Multicultural Affairs. For more
information, call Dr. Toyoda at 95969 or Dr. Masako Hamada at 94701. |
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