LCAS Programs 2024-2025
Drums of the Divine: Taiko and Tradition: A Powerful Performance by Nen Daiko
Thursday, April 3, 2025 | 7:30pm | Heslep Ampitheatre (Seacobeck Hall 145 if it rains)
Experience the thunderous energy and spiritual rhythm of Taiko drumming with Nen Daiko, the dynamic ensemble from Ekoji Buddhist Temple in Fairfax Station, Virginia. Rooted in the traditions of Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, their performance blends precision, power, and passion, bringing the cultural and musical spirit of kumi-daiko to life. Join us for an unforgettable journey through rhythm, movement, and tradition! All are welcome – Come feel the beat!
Educational Trip: Swaminarayan Akshardham
Saturday, March 29, 2025 | 7am-11pm | Travel from UMW to Akshardham, NJ
The Leidecker Center for Asian Studies would like to invite you to join a field trip to BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham in Robbinsville, NJ—a modern marvel of spiritual, cultural, and artistic excellence. This breathtaking architectural marvel, built by 12,500 dedicated volunteers from the USA and hundreds of stone artisans from India, embodies centuries of Hindu art, culture, and spiritual heritage. Akshardham includes design elements from ancient Indian culture including 10,000 statues and statuettes, carvings of ancient Indian musical instruments and dance forms. Experience intricate carvings, majestic stonework, and timeless traditions brought to life in this monumental tribute to peace, unity, love, and devotion. Do not miss this unique opportunity to witness a fusion of history, craftsmanship, and cultural splendor. Register here by March 20, 2025: Akshardham Trip Registration
Lessons of Reconciliation in the U.S.-Japan Context
Thursday, March 27, 2025 | 5-6:30pm | Zen Garden (reception), James Farmer Hall 204 | Registration Requested
The year 2025 marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and offers an ideal time to reflect on how the U.S.-Japan relationship has transformed from enemies to close allies and friends. UMW’s Leidecker Center for Asian Studies will host a reception and guest lecture by David Janes ’94, Ph.D. Dr. Janes is vice president, North America, at the International House of Japan and also executive director of the American Friends of the International House of Japan. Dr. Janes will present “Lessons of Reconciliation in the U.S.-Japan Context: Sadako Sasaki, John D. Rockefeller III, and Shigeaki Mori.” In sharing the stories of these three people, he will examine the role they played in building reconciliation between Japan and the U.S. A reception with light refreshments will be held (weather-permitting) in the Zen Garden next to James Farmer Hall at 5 p.m., with the lecture beginning at 5:30 p.m. in Room 204. This event is free to attend. Registration is requested, as spaces are limited. Registration link
Mindfulness Workshop: How to Stay Calm amid College Chaos
Monday, March 24, 2025 | 6-7pm | Seacobeck Hall 145
Led by Neva Trenis, a student of Thich Nhat Hanh, the “Father of Mindfulness” and one of the most influential figures in global Buddhism. Please come and discover the power of mindfulness to navigate the stresses of college life.
Zen Buddhist Art and Culture in Japan
Tuesday, March 18, 2025 | 4-5pm | The Leidecker Center for Asian Studies (next to James Farmer Hall Library)
Presenter: Suzie Kim, Associate Professor of Art History, UMW
Dr. Suzie Kim, Associate Professor of Art History and Co-Director of the Leidecker Center for Asian Studies, will deliver a lecture on Zen Buddhist Art and Culture in Japan to the Zen Garden Club (President: Aidan Emery).
Framing the Cold War: Korean Photography and the US Connection
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 | 5-6pm | Seacobeck Hall 145
Presenter: Jeehey Kim, Assistant Professor of Art History, School of Art, University of Arizona
Dr. Jeehey Kim, Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Arizona, will deliver a public lecture on Korean photography and the US connection during the Cold War. This event is free and open to the public.
The Miraculous Journey of Chests and Screens: Edwin Vernon Morgan (1865–1934)’s Collection of Korean Art
Thursday, November 14, 2024 | 5-6pm | Seacobeck Hall 145
Presenter: Jiyeon Kim, Curator of Korean Art, Peabody Essex Museum
Moderator: Suzie Kim, Associate Professor of Art History, UMW
Dr. Jiyeon Kim, Curator of Korean Art at the Peabody Essex Museum, will deliver a public lecture titled on Edwin Vernon Morgan (1865–1934)’s collection of Korean art at the Peabody Essex Museum. This event is free and open to the public.
Movie Night: Parasite
Thursday, October 31, 2024 | 7 pm | Ball Circle
Once the sun sets, come embark on a cinematic journey with the Asian Student Association. Our movie night will feature Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite (2019). Follow a low-income family whose lives have always been handed the short end of the stick. Now that they have an opportunity to live among the wealthy, they’ll do anything they can to stay there. Not only has Parasite won several awards in Korea, but Joon-Ho’s film also won 2020’s Academy Award for Best Picture.
Asian Cultural Celebration Major Performance: Somapa Thai Dance Company
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 | 3 pm | Dodd Auditorium, George Washington Hall
Co-Sponsored by the UMW Music Department and the Leidecker Center for Asian Studies
The Somapa Thai Dance Company, based in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area, has been actively giving dance and music performances, presentations, classes, and workshops since 1999. Key performers have over 30 years of performance experience, having been trained in Thailand with the most celebrated dance masters including National Artists and others from the prestigious Department of Fine Arts in Bangkok, Thailand. The group has performed extensively in the D.C. Metropolitan area and has been invited to perform in many prestigious locations in and outside the U.S. The Somapa ThaiDance Company’s mission is to preserve and promote Thai culture and arts in the Americas. Through performances and workshops, the Company hopes to encourage understanding and appreciation of the arts between people of different countries, cultures and ethnicities in the communities in which we are invited.
LCAS Programs 2023-2024
A Hands-On Exploration: Experiencing Buddhism and Hinduism in Washington, D.C.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
Ten UMW students and Professors Kalpesh Bhatt (Religious Studies) and Angela Pitts (Classics) went for an educational trip to various Buddhist and Hindu places of worship in and around Washington DC. This immersive experience aimed to explore the lived expressions of religion—unveiling its beliefs, practices, rituals, festivals, and celebrations—while bridging classroom teachings with firsthand encounters.
Indian Music Concert
Thursday, March 21, 5:30 pm | Seacobeck 145
Indian Music Concert “Tunes of Unity: Harmony in India’s Musical Heritage.”
Sadako Sasaki: Cranes for Peace Presentation and Origami Folding Workshop
Wednesday, Oct. 25th, 2023, 6:00 p.m. | Leidecker Center for Asian Studies (James Farmer Hall 107B)
This workshop was led by Origami artist, martial arts instructor, acupuncturist, and UMW Alumnus Kiyoshi Yamamato in recognition of the UN International Day of Peace and Gardens for Peace Initiative. Kiyoshi Yamamato discussed the story of Sadako Sasaki, who lived through the Hiroshima bombing to die of radiation poisoning in 1955 at the age of 12, and how her story inspired the peace symbolism of the origami crane. Participants folded their own origami cranes with Kiyoshi’s instruction.
LCAS Programs 2021-2022
Meditation and the Inner Path of Practice
Miles Kessler Sensei
Friday, September 3, 2021
Gardens for Peace,
in conjunction with the United Nations International Day of Peace
Japanese-American Garden Association
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Bonsai Demonstration & Exhibit
Todd Stewart & Bob Chilton
of Gardens Unlimited, Lady Smith, VA
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Koto Lecture & Recital
Dr. Miyuki Yoshikami
University of Maryland
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
LCAS Programs 2017 – 2018
Wild Words, Living Kyogen:
Traditional Japanese Comedy
Professor Carolyn Morley
Wellesley College
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
LCAS Programs 2016 – 2017
Japan’s Escape from Zombie Capitalism:
Lessons from Anime, Manga and Music
Professor Ian Condry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Monday, April 10, 2017
The U.S. – Japan Alliance:
Key Concepts and Contemporary Issues
Dr. Yukinori Komine
Harvard University
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
The Sound of Zen
Live Concert with Master Musicians
Yodo Kurahashi-sensei and Miyuki Yoshikami-sensei
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Japanese Bonsai Trees: Ancient Art, Modern World
Lecture and Q & A with Bob Chilton and Todd Stewart
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Mindfulness Week
September, 2016
LCAS Programs 2015 – 2016
Mindfulness Week
September, 2015
LCAS Programs 2014 – 2015
The History and Design of Kare San Sui in Zen Monasteries
Shin Abe
March 18, 2015
Cranes of Peace: The Memory and Meaning of Hiroshima’s Trauma
David Janes, U.S. – Japan Foundation
November 14, 2014
The Moral Dimensions of Japanese Aesthetics
Yuriko Saito
October 8, 2014
Japanese Tea Ceremony
Chado Urasenke Tankokai Association of Washington D.C.
October 1, 2014
Contemplative Studies and the Liberal Arts
Hal Roth
September 15, 2014
Mindfulness Week
September, 2014
LCAS Programs 2013 – 2014
Buddhism and Psychotherapy
Mark Unno
April 16, 2014
Koto Music: Cherry Blossoms, the Sea, and Seabirds
April 16, 2014
Risk Reduction in the East China Sea
Sheila Smith
March 24, 2014
Making and Faking Kinship: Marriage and Labor Migration between China and South Korea
Caren Freeman, University of Virginia
November 8, 2013
The challenge of involving communities and citizens in development
Vijayendra Rao, World Bank
co-sponsored by LCAS as part of the Dept. of Political Science Fall Globalization Lecture Series
November 4 2013
Access to New Cancer Drugs: the United States vs. poor cancer patients around the world
James Packard Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International
co-sponsored by LCAS as part of the Dept. of Political Science Fall Globalization Lecture Series
October 16 2013
Mindfulness Week September 30 – October 4, 2013
Co-sponsored with Campus Recreation, The UMW Wellness Program, and Student Affairs. LCAS sponsored events included:
No Mud, No Lotus: An Introduction to Mindfulness Practice
David Ambuel and Angela Pitts
September 30, 2013
Once Dumb, Twice Crazy, Third Time Wise
Documentary Film Showing
David Ambuel
October 2, 2013
Mindfulness and Stress Management – the Practice and the Science
Hugh Byrne
October 2, 2013
LCAS Programs 2012 – 2013
An Afternoon with Indian Documentary Filmmaker
Pankaj Rishi Kumar
In God’s Land
Punches and Ponytails
April 10, 2013
Symposium: Japan – Two Years after the 3/11 Earthquake and Tsunami
April 5, 2013:
– Aftershocks: Political and Social Reverberations of Fukushima and other Recent Earthquakes in Japan
Prof. Steve Rabson, Professor Emeritus, Brown University
Sichuan 2008, Fukushima 3/11 and Sino-Japanese Relations
Susan Fernsebner, Professor of History, University of Mary Washington
Live Performance of Traditional Japanese Koto Music
Miyuki Yoshikami
Live Your Dream
Documentary Film by Regge Life centering on the life of Virginia native Taylor Anderson, one of the two Americans to die in the tsunami at Fukushima, where she taught English after graduating from Randolph-Macon College. The film features interviews of local residents, including her students, and of her family who describe her lifelong interest in Japan and her adjustments–sometimes humorous–to living there.
Buddhist Nuns in the 21st Century
guest lecture by Alison Melnick, University of Virginia
March 27, 2013
Disclosing Divine Forms?
guest lecture by Andrew Guffey
March 18, 2013
Film: Once Dumb, Twice Crazy, Third Time Wise: A Tale of Buddhist Pilgrimage
David Ambuel
March 13, 2013
Whatever happened to comrade? Gender mainstreaming, training and development in Vietnam
guest lecture by Kristy Kelly, Drexel University
Nov. 13, 2012
(co-sponsored with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Department of Political Science as part of their globalization lecture series.)
LCAS Programs 2011 – 2012
Korean Film: Jean Woo Chi – The story of Jean Woo-chi, a Taoist from the Joseon era, who ends up in present day Korea, causing mayhem with his knack for magic.
Nov. 1, 2011
When Lineage Speaks: personal and Scholarly Reflections on Buddhist Monkhood
Wijitha Bandera
University of Virginia
October 27, 2011
WHEN ROME FACED EAST lecture series fall 2011
Ancient Roman Contacts with South and South East Asia
Dr. Sethuraman Suresh, Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC
Wed. Sept. 7, 2011
Roman Coin Finds in India and Sri Lanka
Dr. Sethuraman Suresh, Fulbright Senior Research Fellow, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Washington, DC
Thurs. Sept. 8, 2011
The Site of Berenike in Roman Egypt and its Maritime Trade Connections with the East
Dr. Steven Sidebotham, Professor of History, University of Delaware
Thurs. Sept. 22, 2011
Rome vs. Parthia: The Cold War that Never Was
Dr. Rose Mary Sheldon, Professor of History, Virginia Military Institute
Thurs. Oct. 27, 2011
Trading Equality for Talent: The Troubled Turn in Korean K-12 Education
Dr. Hyunjoon Park, Associate Professor of Sociology and Education at the University of Pennsylvania
September 28, 2011