Benjamin Boas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benjamin Boas (born 1983[1]) is an American author, translator, and contemporary Japanese culture consultant. He has been appointed as a Cool Japan Ambassador by the Japanese government[2] and as a Tourism Ambassador for Nakano, Tokyo.[3]
Born in New York, he grew up with a fondness for Japanese games and comic books, which motivated him to study the Japanese language and culture.[1][4][5] After graduating from Brown University, he studied at Kyoto University on a Fulbright scholarship from 2007. He has also held research positions at the University of Tokyo as a Monbukagakusho scholar, at the Osaka University of Commerce, and at the anthropology department at Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus.[6]
In 2015, he published his experiences of learning Japanese culture and language into a manga from Shogakukan. The same year, he was appointed as a Tourism Ambassador by the Nakano Tourism Association, to spread word about Nakano City.[5]
In 2016, after Studio Ghibli commissioned him to write a critical essay on the Japanese government's self-promotion activities,[7] he was appointed as a Cool Japan Ambassador by the Japanese Cabinet Office as part of their Cool Japan initiative.[2] In this role, he regularly appears in programs on Japan's public broadcaster NHK, such as Tokyo Eye 2020[8] and Journeys in Japan.[9] While spreading the appeal of contemporary Japan through these activities, he also writes critically about how the country could improve its efforts,[10] and has been quoted in news articles for his views of the Cool Japan strategy.[11] He is a frequent speaker at universities and institutions in Japan and the United States.[12][13][14]
Boas holds a 2nd-degree black belt and instructor certification for aikido from Yoshinkan.[6] He also represents the United States in international competitions of mahjong and took third place in the 2007 Open European Mahjong Championship[15][16] and second place in the 2008 European Riichi Championship.[4][17]
