New teacher profile: Hiraku Shimoda

Kyle Nelson Assistant Life Editor

Hiraku Shimoda may be a new professor, but he is a familiar face in the Vassar family. A member of the Class of 1995, Shimoda spent his undergraduate days at Vassar and enjoyed his experience enough to return. Now, as an Assistant Professor in both the History and Asian Studies Departments at Vassar, he can draw on both his education and his personal research.

“What drew me here as a teacher was my experience as a student,” said Shimoda. “My time at Vassar forever defined my idea of undergraduate education—a cozy, protective atmosphere, bright young people gamely trying to find their place in life, just a touch of self-indulgence—all of those things make Vassar quintessentially ‘collegiate’ to me, and I really wanted to be a part of that again.”

Despite “some cosmetic changes,” the overall environment of the College has not changed. “Students remain as intellectually curious and charmingly quirky, as I remember,” said Shimoda.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from Vassar and added degrees in Asian History from Harvard. He also spent time teaching part-time at Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Vassar as a graduate student.

He enjoys teaching through primary sources and likes students to be able to distinguish between actual history and the mediated knowledge of textbooks. Though trained in the fields of early-modern and modern Japanese history, Shimoda is interested in the broader history of Eastern Asia and, more broadly, in the problems related to the history of nation-state formation.

Shimoda is also researching the formation of regional identity during the time of rapid modernization and centralization in ninteenth century Japan, specifically the northeastern region of Aizu. His research has helped him to better understand and appreciate the diversity within Japan and he tries to incorporate this idea in his class.

When he is not teaching, Shimoda is a self-proclaimed “ordinary guy.” He is married (with a pet bamboo) and dreams of one day owning a minor league baseball team. In addition to dabbling in horse racing and stock trading, he is also a New York sports fan. “After my eight-year exile in New England, I’m happy to be back in New York, being able to watch the Yankees, Knicks, and the Jets without feeling like someone’s going to put a brick through my window,” said Shimoda.

Shimoda is once more a part of the Vassar family and plans to continue teaching even though he says that being a professor is much harder than being a student.

“I was hoping to relive my days as a carefree teenager. That hasn’t exactly panned out,” said Shimoda. “Being sure about what to do after college is overrated, at least until you hit 30.”