The members of the Department of Asian Languages and Literature regret the passing of our colleague, associate professor emerita Tamako Niwa-Kano on May 31, 2015.
Professor Niwa-Kano was born in 1922. She received a Ph.D. from Radcliffe College in 1956 with a dissertation titled “Nakatsukasa naishi nikki,” the diary of a medieval Japanese court lady, and taught with us from 1962 until her retirement in 1982. She was a renowned presence in the field of Japanese-language education.
Her publications include: Basic Japanese for College Students (co-authored with Mayako Matsuda; University of Washington Press, 1964); Kabuki Plays (co-edited with James R. Brandon; S. French, 1966); Introduction to Hiragana and Characters: A Self-Study Workbook (University of Washington Press, 1969); and First Course in Japanese and Character Workbook (University of Washington Press, 1971).