Rate My Professor Kenji Kajiwara

Professor Kenji Kajiwara is a Professor in the Japan Understanding Major within the Faculty of Human and Cultural Sciences at Aikoku Gakuen University, a position he has held since April 2020, following his appointment as Associate Professor in the same faculty from April 2015 to March 2020. Earlier roles include Research Assistant at the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo (April 2004–March 2006) and Teaching Assistant at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, Environmental Systems Course, University of Tokyo (April–September 2003). He earned a Ph.D. in Academic Studies (International Cooperation Studies) from the University of Tokyo in March 2007, a Master's in Academic Studies (International Cooperation) from the same university in March 2003, a Master's in Environmental Studies from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Frontier Sciences (2001–2003), a B.A. in History and Culture (Japanese History Program) from the University of Tokyo Faculty of Letters (1997–2000), and completed undergraduate studies in Literature, Section 3, Faculty of General Education, University of Tokyo (1995–1997). His specialty fields are modern and contemporary river administration history and river and flood disaster research, with guidance themes encompassing flood disasters, infrastructure development, international relations theory and cooperation, Japanese history, postwar history, economic history, and environmental studies.

Kajiwara has authored key books including Postwar River Administration and Dam Development: Structural Transformation of Flood Control and Water Utilization in the Tone River System (Minerva Shobo, 2014), Water as a Common Social Capital (co-authored, Kaden Sha, 2015), Modern and Contemporary Japanese River Administration: Development of Policies and Laws: 1868–2019 (Legal Culture Society, 2021), Postwar History of Urbanization and Flood Disasters (Seibundo Shinkosha, 2023), and Walking the Nagara River Mouth Weir and Yamba Dam (co-authored, Seibundo Shinkosha, 2023). He regularly publishes in the Aikoku Gakuen University Journal of Human Culture Studies (2016–2025), Water Resources and Environment Research, Irrigation Science, and others on topics such as flood control evolution, dam analyses, water supply integration, and historical river projects. Awards include the Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies Outstanding Publication Award (2022) and Water Resources and Environment Research Society Award (2016). He is Director of the Water Resources and Environment Society, member of the Environmental Economics and Policy Society and Economic Geography Society, and serves on the Shiga Prefecture History Editing Committee. Kajiwara teaches courses like Introduction to Japanese History, Japanese Social History, History and Modernity, International Relations Theory, International Cooperation Studies, Japan and Asia, and Japan and the International Community.