Join the Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University on Friday, April 5th from 1:15 to 2:30 p.m. for “Blind in Early Modern Japan,” a presentation by Wei Yu Wayne Tan. Tan is an Associate Professor of History at Hope College. His presentation explores the cultural and historical contexts of blindness in early modern Japan (1600-1868) and asks: what was blindness and how did people live with blindness? The answers challenge us to think about disability in Japanese History and the field of disability studies in new and interesting ways.

Professor Tan is a disability historian and historian of medicine of Japan and East Asia. His first book, Blind in Early Modern Japan: Disability, Medicine, and Identity received awards and honors from the American Historical Association, the Disability History Association, and the Social Science History Association.