Retired Georgia Tech Professor Brian Woodall, a political scientist with deep expertise on East Asia and three books on Japan to his credit, has received one of the Japanese government’s top honors.
The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, was conferred upon Dr. Woodall for “promoting academic exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and the United States.”
Georgia Tech Professor Emeritus Brian Woodall.
The Consulate General of Japan this week announced Dr. Woodall as the only honoree with connections to the state of Georgia among more than 100 conferments revealed this fall by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Woodall has been an Abe fellow, a Fulbright scholar and a Japan Foundation dissertation fellow. He has also enjoyed visiting appointments at three of Japan’s top universities. His expertise has followed closely the development of democratic governance and disaster recovery in Japan, a topic he addressed in this 2014 Global Atlanta story on the Fukushima meltdown. (His first comments appear in the publication in 1995).
Born in Idaho, raised in Utah and educated in California, where he earned a Ph.D. at UC-Berkeley, Dr. Woodall has also spent a total of six years living in Japan. He has met prominent members of Japanese society, from prime ministers and Diet members to top business leaders.
While at Georgia Tech’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, he frequently accepted invitations as a visiting lecturer at schools around the world while regularly sharing his expertise at local Japan-focused events. He also led a study abroad program to Japan focused on sustainable development, a key priority for the country’s government, and, by extension, major corporations.
His rank sits two rungs below that of former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who was inducted into the same order, but with gold and silver stars. Georgia honorees from 2024 include Day Lancaster and Robert Marsh.
This fall, honorees were light in the Southeast U.S., with the only other conferment in the region going to former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam.
In Washington this week, Japanese Ambassador Shigeo Yamada presented U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, also from Tennessee, with a conferment that had been announced earlier this year.
In Tokyo last week, Mr. Yamada spoke last week to a group of some 400 Southerners and Japanese companies with investments in the Southeast at the SEUS-Japan association annual conference. He is visiting the region this week, meeting with Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia before heading to Alabama.
Learn more about Dr. Woodall here.
From the archive:
AloJapan.com