On March 16, 2026, Nagoya University held a ceremony for the bestowal of the Mizuta Award, which recognizes promising young researchers in the humanities and social sciences who study intellectual history. The Mizuta Award is funded by an endowment from Nagoya University’s Professor Emeritus Hiroshi Mizuta, who was a world-renowned scholar of the philosopher Adam Smith. In this, the 14th year of the award, the award was presented to Assistant Professor Xiaolin Chang (University of Tsukuba, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences).
Assistant Professor Chang researches 19th-century debates surrounding Mitogaku – a school of thought in Japan that emerged in the 17th century – and theories of civilization. By comparing thinkers who sought to preserve Japan’s traditions and morals (the Mitogaku scholars) with theorists of civilization who advocated learning Western civilization, Chang found that, contrary to the conventional view that these groups were adversaries, they in fact exerted an influence on one another.
Chang’s research was evaluated highly for its reexamination of Japanese thought in the late Edo period (1603-1868). At the award ceremony, Chang said “Going forward, I want to compare the intellectual histories of Japan and China, deepen my understanding of Western thought, and be able to grasp the movement of ideas at the global level.”
Chang says that when she was an undergraduate in China, she wanted to be a physics teacher. While doing a teaching placement in a rural area, she noticed how it differed socially from the city, which sparked her interest in the foundational role of thought and philosophy in society. This led her to study philosophy at graduate school. “My advisor recommended that, in order to understand China, it’s good to see it from abroad, so I came to Japan for my PhD.”
At the award ceremony, Nagoya University President Naoshi Sugiyama expressed his high expectations for Assistant Professor Chang’s future research, saying, “I hope that you become a researcher like Professor Mizuta himself, who was a ‘giant of knowledge.'” Professor Emeritus Takaho Ando, who served on the selection committee, commented, “It is very significant that, in the 14th year, we have, for the first time, a recipient of foreign nationality.”
Originally published in Japanese on March 19, 2026.
