Herman Ooms, Professor Emeritus in Department of History. His main research interests are Pre-modern Japanese History and Cultural Theory. In his research and teaching, he combines anthropological approaches, intellectual history and critical theory. His publications include Imperial Politics and Symbolics in Ancient Japan: The Tenmu Dynasty (University of Hawai’i Press, 2009) and Tokugawa Village Practice: Class, Status, Power, Law (University of California Press, 2008).