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For the first time ever, the prestigious Jiro Osaragi Prize for Commentary—Japan’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize—has been awarded to a foreigner, Kenneth Ruoff, history professor and director of PSU’s Center for Japanese Studies.

Ruoff won for the Japanese translated version of his 2001 book, The People’s Emperor: Democracy and the Japanese Monarchy, 1945–1995. The prize comes with an award of 2 million yen or about $19,000. He will travel to Tokyo January 27 to accept the prize, named for a famous postwar writer and sponsored by Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest daily newspapers.

Ruoff is recognized as a leading expert on the contemporary Japanese monarchy. In the book he analyzes the remaking of the once-sacrosanct throne into a “monarchy of the masses” embedded in the postwar culture of democracy. He interviewed right-wing nationalists for the book, an action that few Japanese academicians would undertake. His book is particularly pertinent given the problems in Japan’s imperial family. Crown Princess Masako is thought to be suffering from a nervous breakdown brought on by the pressure to produce a male heir. She and Crown Prince Naruhito have a three-year-old daughter, but women are barred from ascending to the throne.

The current issues have left Japan’s younger generation questioning the throne’s relevance, says Ruoff.

The Center for Japanese Studies, which Ruoff directs, is considered one of the best on the West Coast. More than 500 students have taken Japanese language, literature, and linguistics courses each year since 1986. The center brings internationally known scholars of Japanese culture, literature, history, and economics to Portland.

Ruoff, who came to PSU in 1999, speaks Japanese.