The Frank B. Gibney Student Essay Award
The Frank B. Gibney Student Essay Award will be given each year by the Editors to an essay in the field of American–East Asian relations written by a graduate or undergraduate student and submitted by his or her instructor to the Journal. Inquiries should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief (chayford@aol.com) The winning essay will be published in the Journal.
The Award honors the work and life goals of Frank Gibney (1924–2006). Without romanticizing or exaggerating, Gibney worked both in East Asia and in the United States for more than fifty years to educate the peoples of the Pacific Basin about each other. He wrote or edited fourteen books and retired as President of the Pacific Basin Institute and Professor of Politics at Pomona College. He began his study of Japan as a military intelligence officer during World War II and the Occupation of Japan, and then became a correspondent and editor at Time, Life, and Newsweek magazines. He joined Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1966 and developed its Asian presence. In 1979, he co-founded the Pacific Basin Institute to promote public understanding through lectures, conferences, and publications. The Institute’s accomplishments include an award-winning PBS series, "The Pacific Century." He edited The "Library of Japan" series, published by M.E. Sharpe, which commissioned and published translations of Japanese fiction and nonfiction works. In 1997, the Institute moved from Santa Barbara to Pomona College in Claremont, California.
In 1976, the Japanese government awarded Gibney the Order of the Rising Sun, Third Class, for his work in cultural affairs. The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Second Class, followed a few years later. His publications include: Five Gentlemen of Japan: The Portrait of a Nation’s Character (1953; Reprinted, with a new preface, D’Asia Vue Series #1, EastBridge Press, 2002.); Miracle by Design: The Real Reasons Behind Japan’s Economic Success (Times Books, 1982); "The First Three Months of the War: A Journalist’s Reminiscences of Korea," Journal of American-East Asian Relations 2 (Spring 1993),101–10; Japan, the Fragile Superpower (Tuttle, 3rd rev., 1996); and Unlocking the Bureaucrat’s Kingdom: Deregulation and the Japanese Economy (Brookings Institution Press, 1998).
Past Recipients of the Gibney Award
Tristan Grunow for his article, "A Reexamination of the ‘Shock of Hiroshima’: The Japanese Bomb Projects and the Surrender Decision," published in Vol. 12, Nos. 3-4.
Aiko Takeuchi-Demirci for her article, “Birth Control and Socialism: The Frustration of Margaret Sanger and Ishimoto Shizue’s Mission,” published in Vol. 17, No. 3.
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