Rotem Kowner

Rotem Kowner is professor of Japanese history and culture at the University of Haifa, Israel. His background includes early childhood in a Kibbutz, military service as an executive officer aboard a missile boat, and work as a chef in an Italian restaurant in Melbourne. Kowner's active interest in Japan has developed gradually. After majoring in East Asian studies and psychology in Jerusalem, he studied in Berlin and then moved to Tsukuba, Japan, where he obtained his Ph.D. Following postdoctoral studies at Stanford he returned to Israel to pursue an academic career. His research interests include wartime behavior in modern Japan, modern naval history in East Asia, race and racism in East Asia, Asian Jewish communities, and learning methods of Japanese scripts.