Ben-Ami Shillony was born in Poland on October 28, 1937 and spent the war years as a child in the Soviet Union. In 1948 he immigrated to Israel and settled with his parents on kibbutz Tel Yitzhak. In 1958 he enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and studied History and Philosophy for the B.A. degree, and History for the M.A. degree.  Wrote his Master thesis for Prof. J. Talmon on the atomic bombs and the surrender of Japan in  the Second World War. In 1965, he went to Japan on a Japanese government scholarship and studied for two years at the International Christian University in Tokyo. In 1967 he was admitted at Princeton University in the United States, where he studied Japanese history under Professor Marius B. Jansen. He wrote his doctoral thesis on the February 1936 military revolt in Japan. After receiving his Ph.D. degree in 1971, he returned to Israel and taught Japanese history and culture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem until his retirement in 2006. He also taught at the universities of Harvard, Colorado, and Haifa, and was a research fellow at the universities of Tokyo, Berkeley, Oxford, and Cambridge. He retired in 2006, but continued teaching for five years.

He served as director of the Joseph Saltiel Center for  Pre-academic Studies (1977-1979), as chairman of the Department of East Asian Sudies (1979-1984, 1996-2000), and as chairman of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace (1987-1990). From 1999 to 2003 he was a member of the Standing Committee of the Senate of the Hebrew University, and from 2001 to 2005 he was chairman of the academic committee of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace.  In 1996 and again in 2005 he was awarded the Michael Milken Prize for Excellence in Teaching. In 2000 he was appointed the Louis Frieberg Professor in East Asian studies. In November 2000 the Emperor of Japan bestowed on him the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold and Silver Star (Kun-nitō. zuihōshō).  In October 2010 he received the Japan Foundation Award and was granted an audience with the emperor and empress. In 2007 an international conference on Japan was held in his honor at the Hebrew University. In 2012 he became a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and was elected honorary president of the Israel Association for Japanese Studies (IAJS). That year he was chosen to deliver the Annual Carmen Blacker Lecture at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures in Britain. He is a frequent commentator on Japan in the Israeli media. He has written books on Japanese history and culture in English, Hebrew and Japanese. His two books on Japanese history and culture in Hebrew became the standard textbooks on these subjects in Israel. His book "Japan as I See It" in Hebrew was on the best-seller list. His wife, Lena Shillony, is Professor Emerita of French literature at the Hebrew University, a writer and a literary critic.

תולדות חיים

נולד בפולין ב-1937ושהה בזמן מלחמת העולם השניה כילד ברוסיה. עלה לארץ ב-1948 והצטרף עם הוריו לקבוץ תל-יצחק. למד בבי"ס יסודי בקיבוץ, במגדיאל ובאבן-יהודה ואחר כך בביה"ס התיכון עירוני א' בת"א. שרת בצבא בשנים 1956-1958 והשתתף במבצע קדש. ב-1958 נרשם לאוניברסיטה העברית ולמד הסטוריה ופילוסופיה לתואר ראשון והסטוריה לתואר שני, תחת הנחייתו של פרופ' יעקב טלמון. כתב עבודת גמר על פצצות האטום וכניעת יפן במלחמת העולם השניה. היה פעיל בהסתדרות הסטודנטים ושימש כעורך "פי האתון" . ב-1965 קיבל תואר מ.א. בהצטיינות בהסטוריה ויצא ליפן, על מילגה של הממשלה היפנית, ללמוד את השפה וההסטוריה של יפן. אחרי לימודים של שנתיים בטוקיו, התקבל לאוניברסיטת פרינסטון בארה"ב, שם קיבל תואר דוקטור בהסטוריה של יפן ב-1971. באותה שנה חזר לארץ והתקבל להוראה באוניברסיטה העברית, בחוגים של לימודי מזרח אסיה והסטוריה, שבהם לימד עד פרישתו ב-2006. בנוסף להוראתו, שימש כמנהל המכינה הקדם-אקדמית, ראש מכון הרי ס. טרומן לקידום השלום, ראש החוג ללימודי מזרח אסיה, וחבר הוועדה המתמדת של האוניברסיטה. הוא היה  פרופסור אורח  באוניברסיטאות הארוורד, קולוראדו וחיפה, ועמית מחקר באוניברסיטאות טוקיו, ברקליי, אוקספורד וקיימברידג'.. פרסם ספרים באנגלית, עברית ויפנית. שני הספרים שלו בעברית (בהוצאת שוקן), יפן המסורתית – תרבות והסטוריה ויפן המודרנית – תרבות והסטוריה משמשים כספרי לימוד בנושא יפן בכל האוניברסיטאות בארץ. ספרו "יפן במבט אישי" נכלל ברשימת רבי המכר. ב-1996 וכן ב-2005 הוענק לו פרס מילקן על הצטיינות בהוראה. ב-2000 הוא קיבל מן הקיסר היפני את עיטור האוצר הקדוש בדרגה 2 על פעילותו בהפצת תרבות יפן. הוא פרש ב-2006 ובשנת 2007 נערך כנס בינלאומי לכבודו בירושלים. ב-2010 הוענק לו הפרס של "קרן יפן" לאותה שנה והוא התקבל לפגישה עם הקיסר והקיסרית של יפן בארמונם. ב-2012 הוא התמנה חבר באקדמיה הלאומית הישראלית למדעים ונבחר לנשיא כבוד של האגודה הישראלית ללימודי יפן (איל"י). באותה שנה הוא נבחר לשאת את ההרצאה השנתית על שם כרמן בלקר באנגליה. הוא מופיע לעתים קרובות בתקשורת בנושאי יפן וקוריאה. אשתו, לנה שילוני, היא פרופסורית אמריטה לספרות צרפתית, סופרת ומבקרת ספרות.

PUBLICATIONS

Books

In English:

1.  Revolt in Japan: The Young Officers and the February 26, 1936 Incident (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973. Translated into Japanese:  Nihon no hanran, Tokyo: Kawade Shobo Shinsha, 1975).

2. Politics and Culture in Wartime Japan (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981. Revised paperback edition 1991. Translated into Japanese:  Uotaimu Japan, Tokyo: Gogatsu Shobo, 1991).

3. The Jews and the Japanese: The Successful Outsiders (Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle, 1992.   (Translated into Japanese: Yudayajin to Nihonjin no fushigina kankei, Tokyo: Seiko Shobo, 2004; translated into Bulgarian: Evreite i Yapontsite, Sofia: Shalom Publishing Centre, 1996)

4. Collected Writings of Ben-Ami Shillony (Richmond: Japan Library, Curzon Press, 2000).

5. Enigma of the Emperors: Sacred Subservience in Japanese History (Kent: Global Oriental, 2005).
6. ed., The Emperors of Modern Japan (Leiden: Brill, 2008)

In Japanese:

1. Tennō heika no keizaigaku [The Economics of the Emperor] (Tokyo: Kūbunsha, 1982).

2. Goyaku sareru Nihon [Mistranslation of Japan] (Tokyo: Kōbunsha, 1986).

3. Haha naru tennō [The Emperor as a Mother Figure] (Tokyo: Kōdansha, 2003).

In Hebrew:

1. Hashkafot yapaniot al yehudim ve-yahadut [Japanese Views on Jews and Judaism] (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shazar Library, 1993, booklet).

2. Yapan hamesoratit: tarbut ve-historia [Traditional Japan: Culture and History]  (Tel Aviv: Schocken Publishing House, 1995. Revised and expanded edition, 2001).

3. Yapan hamodernit: tarbut ve-historia [Modern Japan: Culture and History]  (Tel Aviv: Schocken Publishing House, 1997. Revised and expanded edition, 2002).

 4. Yapan bemabat ishi [Japan as I see It] (Tel Aviv: Schocken Publishing House, 2011).

In English:

1. "The February 26 Affair: Politics of a Military Insurrection" , in George M. Wilson, ed., Crisis Politics in Prewar Japan. (Tokyo: Sophia University, 1970), pp. 25-50.

2. "Prince Chichibu and the February 26 Rebellion", in Princeton Papers in East Asian Studies, No.1 (August 1972), pp. 123-144.

3. "The Showa Restoration", in Studies on Japanese Culture (Tokyo: Japan Pen Club, 1973), vol. 2, pp. 148-162.

4. "Myth and Reality in Japan of the 1930s",  in W.G. Beasley, ed., Modern Japan: Aspects of History, Literature and Society (London: Allen & Unwin, 1975), pp. 81-88.

5. "Wartime Japan: A Military Dictatorship?", in Harold Z. Schiffrin, ed., Military and State in Modern Asia. (Jerusalem:  Jerusalem Academic Press, 1976), pp. 61-88.

6. "Japanese Intellectuals During The Pacific War", in Gordon Daniels and Peter Lowe, eds., Proceedings of The British Association for Japanese Studies. vol. 2 (1977), pp. 90-99.

7. "Conflicting Attitudes Toward the West: The Problem of Cultural Orientation in Wartime Japan", in Ian Nish and Charles Dunn, eds., European Studies on Japan (Kent: Paul Norbury, 1979), pp. 149-156.

8. "Patterns of Violence: Political Terrorism in Prewar Japan", Asian and African Studies, vol. 13, No. 3 (November 1979), pp. 242-263.

9. "Traditional Limitations on Dictatorships: The Bureaucracy vs. Tojo Hideki", in P.G. O Neil, ed., Tradition and Modern Japan (Kent: Paul Norbury, 1981), pp. 123-129.

10. "The Japanese Experience", in Nissan Oren, ed., Termination of Wars (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, 1982), pp. 91-101.

11. "Traditional Constraints on Totalitarianism in Japan" , in Totalitarian Democracy and After (Jerusalem:  The Magnes Press, 1984), pp. 158-164.

12. "The Princess of the Dragon Palace: A New Shinto Sect is Born", Monumenta Nipponica, vol. 34, No. 2 (Summer 1984), pp. 177-182.

13. "Japanese Students in The Pacific War", in Gordon Danierls, ed., Europe Interprets Japan (Kent: Paul Norbury, 1984), pp. 108-116.

14. "The Japanese and The Jews: Two Societies that Surprised The World", IHJ (International House of Japan) Bulletin, vol. 5, no. 3 (Summer 1985), pp. 1-5. (Reprinted in Speaking of Japan, vol. 6, no. 60, Dec. 1985,  pp. 12-18).

15. "Japan and Israel: The Relationship that Withstood Pressures", Middle East Review, vol. 18, no. 2 (Winter 1985/86), pp. 17-24.

16. "Japan and Israel: A Special Relationship", in Ronald A. Morse, ed., Japan and The Middle East in Alliance Politics (Washington: The Wilson Center and The University Press of America, 1986). pp. 81-91.

17. "Universities and Students in Wartime Japan", Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 45, no. 4 (August 1986), pp. 769-787. 

18. "Management by Consensus: The Historical Background", in Tuvia Blumenthal, ed., Japanese Management at Home and Abroad (Beer Sheva: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Press, 1988), pp. 5-14.

19. "Victors without Vanquished: A Japanese Model of Conflict Resolution", in S.N. Eisenstadt and Eyal Ben-Ari, eds., Japanese Models of Conflict Resolution (London: Kegan Paul International, 1990), pp. 127-137.

20. "The Jewish People and World Peace: The Central Roles of Nation and Peace in The Jewish and Korean Experience", in Tae-Yeung You, ed., Nation State and World Peace (Seoul: The Institute of Korean Cultural Studies, 1990), pp. 63-64.

21. "Friend or Foe: The Ambivalent Images of the U.S. and China in Wartime Japan", in  J. White, ed., The Ambivalence of Nationalism (New York: University Press of America, 1990), pp.  187-212.

22. "Restoration , Emperor , Diet , Prefecture , or How Japanese Concepts Were Mistranslated into Western Languages", in Adriana Boscaro and others eds., Rethinking Japan (Kent: Japan Library, 1990), vol. 2, pp. 297-304.

23. "The Political Tradition of Japan and its Impact on the Development of Japanese Democracy", in S.N. Eisenstadt, ed., Democracy and Modernity (Leiden: C.J. Brill, 1992),  pp. 103-110.

24. "The Meiji Restoration: Japan's Attempt to Inherit China" , in Ian Neary, ed., War, Revolution and Japan (Kent: Japan Library, 1993), pp. 20-32.

25. "The Jews and the Japanese: Cultural Traits and Common Values", JPRI (Japan Policy Research Institute) Occasional Papers, no. 6 (November 1995), pp.1-3.

26. "Divinity and Gender: The Riddle of the Japanese Emperors", Nissan Institute Occasional Papers no.30 (Oxford: The Nissan Institute, Oxford, 1999).

27. "Emperor and Religion in Twentieth Century Japan", in Janet Hunter, ed.,  Japan: State and People in The Twentieth Century  (London, LSE-STICERD, 1999), pp. 1-16.

28. "The Flourishing Demon: Japan in The Role of The Jews?", in Robert S. Wistrich, ed., Demonizing The Other: Antisemitism, Racism, and Xenophobia (Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1999), pp. 294-309.

29. "Introduction" , in Keiichirō Komatsu, Origins of The Pacific War and The Importance of Magic (London: Japan Library, 1999), pp. xvii-xx.

30. “The Beginning of the End? The Problem of Imperial Succession in Modern Japan”, in Bert Edström, ed., Turning Points in Japanese History (Kent:   Japan  Library, 2002),  pp. 232-241.

31. "The Japanese Imperial Institution: Crisis and Continuity", in Japanese Monarchy: Past and Present (London: Suntory Centre. LSE, 2006), pp. 1-17.
32. "The Memory and Significance of the Russo-Japanese War from a Centennial Perspective", in Rotem Kowner, ed., Rethinking the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5, Vol. 1 Centennial Perspectives (With Rotem Kowner. Folkestone,
England: Global Oriental, 2007), pp. 1-9.
33. "The Jewish Response to the War," in Rotem Kowner, ed., Rethinking the Russo-Japanese War, 1904-5, Vol. 1: Centennial Perspectives (Folkestone, England: Global Oriental, 2007), pp. 393-400.
34. "The Soft Power of the Emperors and the Soft Power of Japan", in Prakash Nanda, ed., Rising India: Friends and Foes (New Delhi: Lancer, 2007), pp.76-88.
35. "The Emperor at War: Recent Revisionism in the West and Japan", in Martin Collcutt, Katō Mikio, Ronald P. Toby, eds., Japan and Its Worlds: Marius B. Jansen and the Internationalization of Japanese Studies (Tokyo: I-House Press, 2007), pp. 231-239.
36. "Auschwitz and Hiroshima: What Can the Jews and the Japanese Do for World Peace?" in International House of Japan Bulletin, vol. 27, No. 2 (2007), pp. 1-18.
37. "Conservative Dissatisfaction with the Modern Emperors", in Ben-Ami Shillony, ed., The Emperors of Modern Japan (Brill, 2008), pp. 137-162.
38. "Emperors and Christianity", in Ben-Ami Shillony, ed., The Emperors of Modern Japan (Brill, 2008), pp. 163-183.

In Japanese:

1. "Nihon no tennō-sei ga ikinobita nazo" [The Riddle of The Survival of The Imperial Institution of Japan], in Sekai no naka no nihon [Japan in The World] (Tokyo: Takushoku Daigaku, 1998), vol. 17, pp. 372-387.

2. “Tennō-sei  keizoku no nazo”  [The Riddle of The Continuity of The Imperial Institution], in Katayama Fumihiko, ed., Ima shintō ga hataraku [Shinto is Now Working]  (Tokyo: Shinjimbutsu Ōraisha, 2001), pp. 16-23.

3. “Yudayajin to nihonjin, bunka to rekishi no hikaku” [The Jews and the Japanese, a Cultural and Historical Comparison], in Miyamoto Hisao & Ōnuki Takashi, eds., Isshinkyō bummei kara no toikake [Queries from Monotheistic Civilizations] (Tokyo: Kodansha, 2003), pp. 156-173.
4. “Gaikoku-jin kara mita shōwa tennō no sensō sekinin” [Emperor Shōwa’s War Responsibility as Seen by a Foreigner], Jiyū, May 2004, pp. 33-38.
5. “Shōwa tennō to sensō wo meguru shomondai – ōbei to nihon ni okeru kinnen no ribijonizumu” [The Shōwa Emperor and the Problems Concerning the War – Recent Revisionism in the West and Japan], in Zenkindai nihon shiryō no kōzō to jōhō shigenka no kenkyu [Research on the Structure and Computerization of Sources for Premodern Japanese History] (Tokyo: The Historiographical Institute, The University of Tokyo, 2005), pp. 463-468.

In Hebrew:

1.   "Sinat Yisrael lelo yehudim: ha-ideologia ha-antishemit shel Yapan bitkufat milchemet ha-olam ha-shniya" [Antisemitism without Jews: The Anti-Jewish Ideology of Japan during The  Second World War], Zion, vol. 46, no. 2 (1981), pp. 125-145.

2.  "Tofa'at ha-hagira be-Yapan ha-modernit" [The Phenomenon of Emigration in Modern Japan], in A. Shinan and S. Ettinger, eds., Hagira ve-hityashvut bi-Yisrael uve-amim [Emigration and Settlement in Jewish and General History] (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Centre, 1982), pp. 335-341.

3. "Yapan be-milchemet ha-olam ha-shniya" [Japan in the Second World War], Ma'arachot, nos. 300-301 (November-December 1985), pp. 56-61.

4. "Kehuna u-melucha be-Yapan" [Priesthood and Monarchy in Japan], in  I. Gafni and G. Motzkin, eds., Kehuna u-melucha [Priesthood and Monarchy] (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Centre, 1987), pp. 105-114.

5. "Milhemet ha-okiyanus ha-shaket: kishlonot modiiniyim ve-sodiyut she-hizika" [The Pacific War: Intelligence Failures and the Secrecy that Harmed], in Z. Offer and A. Kober, Modiin u-vitahon leumi (Tel Aviv: Ma'arachot, 1987), pp. 85-91.

6. "Klitat ha-tarbut ha-ma'aravit be-Yapan: hatma'a bli hitbolelut" [The Absorption of Western Culture in Japan: Assimilation without Loss of Identity], in Yosef Kaplan and Menahem Stern, eds., Hitbolelut ve-hatma'a [Acculturation and Assimilation] (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Centre, 1989), pp.249-260.

7. "Sod ha-tsimtsum shel ha-omanut ha-yapanit" [The Secret of Condensation in Japanese Art], Machshavot, April 1990, pp. 15-19.

8. "Tfisat ha-yichud be-Yapan: mabat shel hashva'a" [The Concept of The Unique Nation  in Japan: A Comparative View], in Shmuel Almog and Michael Heyd, eds., Ra'ayon ha-bechira be-Yisrael uve-amim [Chosen People, Elect Nation and Universal Mission] (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Centre, 1991), pp. 299-310.

9. "Yapan ve-Yisrael: yechasim mitmashchim u-mitpatchim" [Japan and Israel: Continuing and Developing Ties], in Binyamin Neuberger, ed., Milchamot ve-hesderim [War and Peacemaking] (Tel Aviv: The Open University of Israel, 1992), pp. 441-452.

10. "Yapan: yachasei gomlin bein kalkala ve-arachim, lo bein kalkala ve-dat [Japan" [Interaction between Economy and Values, not between Economy and Religion],  in Menahem Ben-Sasson, ed., Dat ve-kalkala [Religion and Economy] (Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar Centre, 1995), pp. 419-429.

11. "Yapan kenokem moshia: ha-milchama vehaolam ha-Yehudi" [Japan as a Revenging Savior: The War and the Jewish World], in Rotem Kowner, ed., Hama'aracha hanishkachat: milkhemet Rusia-Yapan umorashta [The Forgotten Campaign: The Russo-Japanerse War and Its Legacy] (Tel Aviv:  Ma'arachot, 2005), pp. 401-414.
12. "Mehalelim et sin vehorgim et hasinim: yachas hayapanim klapei sin kreka lemilchemet sin-yapan hashniya" [Praising China and killing the Chinese: the attitudes of the Japanese toward China as the background to the Second Sino-Japanese War], in Zmanim, No. 105 (Winter 2009), pp. 42-53.
13. "Min ustriptease beolam ha-elim: sipurim erotiyim min hamitologya hayapanit" [Sex and Striptease in the World of the Gods: Erotoc Stories from the Japanese Mythology], in Erotika (Tel-Aviv: Masmerim, 2009), pp. 121-126.
14. "Hapezaza ha-atomit ukniat Yapan al reka petihata shel hamilhama hakara" [The Atomic Bombs and Japan's Surrender in the Context of the Opening of the Cold War], in Hayo Haya, No. 7 (fall 2009), pp. 105-118.

1. “February 26^th Incident”, “Nishida Mitsugi”, Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan (Tokyo and New York: Kodansha, 1983). Reprinted and updated in Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993).

2.  “Aizawa Incident”, “Akihito”, “February Twenty-sixth Incident”, “Inoue Nisshō”, “Kita Ikki”, “Kokuryūkai”, “Nohonshugi”, “Okada Keisuke”, “Uchida Ryōhei”, “Yoshihito”, Encyclopedia of Asian History (Edited by Ainslie T. Embree. New York: The Asia Society and Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1988).

3.  “Tōjō Hideki, General”, The Oxford Companion to the Second World War (Edited by I.C.B. Dear. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).

Japan Thirty Years After the Occupation. A special issue of Asian and African Studies, vol. 118, No. 1 (March 1984).