Tribute to the late Professor Tsuneo Akaha

Tsuneo Akaha was born in Japan in 1949. He first went to America as a high-school exchange student, but after graduating from Waseda University he returned to America to pursue graduate studies at the University of Southern California (USC). After earning a PhD in international relations from USC in 1981, he taught at several universities in the US before settling in 1989 at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS).

There he published or edited 11 books and numerous journal articles. He taught courses focusing on human security, international migration, multiculturalism, East Asia, and Russia- East Asia relations. He also attended many international conferences and organized panels with scholars from America, Europe and Asia. Professor Akaha thus became not only a very popular professor at MIIS but also established a large network of scholars and practitioners in the US, Russia, Japan, and other countries in Asia and Europe. His friends were impressed not only by his intellect but also by his ability to embrace people with different views, his warmth and his sense of humor.

In June 2020 Professor Akaha retired from MIIS and together with his wife, Janet, moved to Hawaii to be closer to his two children, Mitzi and Yoshi. In December of that year he embarked on a new project: editing a book entitled “Handbook on Japan-Russia Relations” to be published in English in Tokyo by a new publishing company established by a long-time American resident of Japan.

Given Professor Akaha’s large network in Japan, Russia and the US, it did not take very long for him to select 22 scholars and create a formidable structure where each contribution would fit. In January 2021 each contributor signed a contract agreement and at the end of September each received “a friendly reminder” that his or her first draft was due in early December. However, when some of the contributors began sending in their first drafts, they were met with a totally unexpected and shocking message: Professor Tsuneo Akaha had passed away on Wednesday, 17 November 2021. It was a severe blow for the “Akaha Project.” On November 19 the MIIT put up a farewell message “Remembering Tsuneo Akaha” on the university home page. On December 29 the Akaha family organized an internet farewell gathering which was joined by some of the project participants who spoke with the family.