Daniel Botsman, an historian of Japan, whose interests span the period from the 17th century to the present, was recently appointed the Sumitomo Professor of History, which is intended to support research in Japanese studies.

Botsman, who joined the Yale faculty in 2010, is a member of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) in the Department of History.

He is the author of the influential monograph "Punishment and Power in the Making of Modern Japan" (Princeton University Press, 2005), in which he analyzes the evolution of penal practices and law during the centuries of samurai rule that preceded the Meiji Restoration of 1868, and the rise of the modern prison system in Imperial Japan. In so doing, Botsman illuminates the underside of the country's "successful" modernization.

Botsman is a noted translator, and in addition to translating academic texts, he published a translation of the memoirs of Okita Saburō, one of the architects of post-war Japan's "economic miracle." Botsman has co-edited two influential collections of essays, "Commemorating Meiji: History, Politics and the Politics of History" (Routledge, 2021), and "'Meiji 150' nen de kangaeru" (Yamakawa shuppansha, 2018), which offer insightful responses to the Japanese government's efforts to celebrate the 150 anniversary of the Meiji Restoration in 2018. In addition to his books, Botsman has published numerous articles in both Japanese and English in journals including the American Historical Review, Rekishigaku Kenkyū, Japanese Studies; East Asian History; and Nihon Rekishi. He is currently working on two books, "A People's Guide to Tokyo" (an alternative guidebook to the world's largest city) under contract with the University of California Press and expected later this year, and "Untouchable Freedoms: Caste, Cattle, and Liberation in 19th Century Japan," currently in progress.

In recognition of his scholarship's influence on understandings of Japanese modernity, Botsman has received fellowships from the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. He has convened workshops and conferences both at Yale and at institutions in Australia and Japan, advancing and shaping his field. Botsman has also given scores of invited talks at institutions around the world, including Osaka City University, Tokyo University, the École des hautes études en sciences sociale, the University of Heidelberg, the National University of Singapore, Cambridge University, and the National Museum of Japanese History.

At Yale, Botsman has played a critical role in highlighting the Japanese collections of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library: he co-edited "Treasures from Japan in the Yale University Library" in 2015 and, with colleagues from across the university, convened a symposium on these collections. In addition, he has organized collaborative workshops for graduate students at Yale and beyond to learn new methods in Japanese history. A dedicated university citizen and sought-after mentor, Botsman served as Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of History from 2016 to 2018 and is currently the Associate Director of Graduate Studies. He was Chair of the Council on East Asian Studies from 2011 to 2014 and now serves as Associate Head of Pierson College.

Botsman earned a B.A. (Hons.) in Asian Studies at the Australian National University. He was the 1991 Rhodes Scholar from his home state of Queensland in Australia and completed an M.Phil. in economic and social history at Oxford, and his Ph.D. in history at Princeton. Before joining Yale's faculty he previously held faculty appointments in Law at Hokkaido University, and in History at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.