KU News Release

KU professor emeritus earns award for teaching Japanese traditions

LAWRENCE — Andrew T. Tsubaki, professor emeritus of theatre and film at the University of Kansas, has been awarded one of Japan’s highest honors.

On Nov. 3, Tsubaki was granted the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Zuihou Shojushou) in recognition of his lifetime devotion to using education to pass along the traditions of Japanese culture.

Tsubaki taught and directed productions at KU from 1968 to 2000 in the Department of Theatre and Film and in Japanese language and culture. He was a driving force behind the annual Greater Kansas City Japan Festival and was executive director of the two-day event since 1997. Tsubaki has also been active with the Lawrence Sister Cities organization for several years and is on the group’s advisory board.

The award will be presented Jan. 19 by the Consulate General of Japan at Chicago during the annual New Year’s gathering of the Greater Kansas City Japan-America Society. The Order of the Sacred Treasure was awarded to three Japanese natives this year. The two other recipients live in Thailand and Australia.

Tsubaki said he hopes this award will inspire others in the community to keep Japanese traditions alive.

“I hope what I was able to accomplish with much cooperation of the local organizations and great individuals will stimulate their devotion to the communities in which they live so that they, in turn, will receive a recognition and reach at the point of receiving another order of the Sacred Treasure in the near future,” he said. “I am very appreciative that I received so much positive cooperation from kind people in the area that led to my recognition. I am certainly determined to devote a few more years of my life to the cause and live happily in the community with the great sense of being a useful part of it.”

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