Susan Pharr

Susan J. Pharr (born March 16, 1944) is an academic in the field of political science, a Japanologist, and Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics, director of Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University.^[1] Her current research focuses on the changing nature of relations between citizens and states in Asia, and on the forces that shape civil society over time.^[2]

In the spring of 2008, the Japanese government acknowledged Pharr's life's work by conferring the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, which represents the third highest of eight classes associated with this award. Accompanying the badge of the order was a certificate explaining the award as recognition of the extent to which Pharr has "contributed to promoting intellectual exchange between Japan and the United States of America, and to guiding and nurturing young Japanologists."^[3]