Christine Yano has done considerable research on Japan, as well as the Japanese American community in Hawaii. Her books include Tears of Longing: Nostalgia and the Nation in Japanese Popular Song (Harvard), Crowning the Nice Girl: Gender, Ethnicity, and Culture in Hawaii's Cherry Blossom Pageant (University of Hawaii Press), and Airborne Dreams: Race, Gender, and Cosmopolitan in Postwar America (forthcoming, Duke University Press). She serves on the Board of Directors of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.
George Tanabe has published widely on religions in Japan and Buddhism in Hawaii. His books include Myoe the Dreamkeeper (Harvard), Religions of Japan in Practice (Princeton), and Practically Religious: Worldly Benefits and the Common Religion in Japan. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, and is the President of BDK Hawaii, an affiliate of the Numata Foundation in Japan. He was a 2007 recipient of the Japanese government's Foreign Minister's Award for the promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and America.
Willa Tanabe served as Dean of the School for Hawaiian, Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Hawaii and as Chair of the Art Department. Her research focus is Japanese Buddhist art and Japanese crafts. Her published works include: Paintings of the Lotus Sutra (Weatherhill), Sacred Treasures of Mt. Koya (Koyasan Reihokan), The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture (UH Press) and several exhibition catalogs.
