Miku Ebata

Miku Ebata is a would-be specialist in modern Japanese history, particularly the relationship focusing especially on intellectual discourse on empire and democracy.  She was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan and earned a B.A. in International Liberal Arts from Soka University, Japan. 

During her undergraduate years, she attempted to explore the nature of democracy in imperial Japan through the examination of how Yoshino Sakuzō conceived women and ethnic minorities as the empire expand and required political participation of former alienated groups. At the time, the expanding empire was also trying to expand its reach beyond the former entitled populace, the elite male class. In order to incorporate the former neglected people that had suddenly appeared and to reclaim themselves as part of the empire, intellectuals had to rethink the definition and role of the populace. It was first of all the working-class men, then women and ethnic minorities. She believes that thinking about them is synonymous with thinking about the expansion of imperialism and provides clues to how the Japanese empire extended its rule along with democracy.

MA student