Ambassador Reischauer Resigns As Japanese History Professor

Edwin O. Reischauer has resigned as professor of Japanese History to continue in his post as United States Ambassador to Japan.

Reischauer's two-year leave of absence from the University would have expired March 16. He did not apply for an extension of the leave, and his resignation had been expected for several months.

But there is general agreement among his colleagues that there will always be a professorship of Japanese History open to Reischauer should he ever choose to return.

The 52-year-old historian, America's first Japanese-speaking ambassador to Tokyo, has been extremely popular in Japan. "He and his Japanese-born wife are treated like movie stars or sumo champions," Time commented early last year.

Criticized U.S. Policy

Before his appointment, Reischauer was a strong critic of American policy in the Far East. In Wanted: An Asian Policy (1955) he called developments in U.S.-Asian relations "profoundly disturbing and extremely dangerous," and called for several changes in American policy, including recognition of Communist China.

Reischauer was born in Tokyo and has spent more than 20 years in Asia. He has written several studies of Japanese history and literature, and has translated a number of Japanese works.

His association with Harvard began in 1931, when he was the only student in several classes on the Far East while studying for his M.A. He traveled and studied in Asia for six years before the war as a fellow of the Harvard-Yenching Institute.

Reischauer also served in the State Department's bureau of Far Eastern affairs before returning to Harvard. From 1956 to 1961 he served as professor of Far Eastern History and was director of the East Asian Research Center.