Masako Osada
Masako Osada was born in Shimonoseki, Japan. She holds a PhD in international relations from the University of the Witwatersrand and was founding programme director of the Centre for Japanese Studies, University of Pretoria. A writer, translator and visual and martial artist, her first book, Sanctions and Honorary Whites – an analysis of diplomatic ties between Japan and apartheid South Africa – was published in 2002. Osada has hosted eight solo exhibitions of her visual art, and teaches tai chi and Ryukyu kobujutsu. A committed environmentalist, Osada is an adviser to the not-for-profit, Tears of the African Elephant.