Kenny Fries
Faculty, Creative Writing Program, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT
Research: "Genkan"
Host: University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
September 2005 - June 2006

Kenny Fries giving a Fulbright seminar on “Demon Amputees and Disfi gured Survivors- Closeted Presidents and Blind Lovers: Images of the Disabled Body in Western and Japanese Culture,” February 2006.

Kenny Fries, an author and adjunct lecturer at Goddard College in Vermont, undertook his Fulbright Scholar research grant to Japan in 2005-2006 to gather material for his book, Genkan: Entries Into Japan. In his book, Fries uses his experience in Japan as a foreigner with a disability to explore how the United States and Japan view the body and physical difference.

"One of the most important relationships during my Fulbright was with my faculty advisor, Professor Ryosuke Matsui in the Social Welfare Department at Hosei University. Professor Matsui introduced me to numerous colleagues. These introductions were essential to the research I was able to do while in Japan. We also developed an extremely important personal relationship, as he introduced me to his family, as well," said Fries.

A Hosei university graduate student, Takeo Masako, helped Fries locate material on the history of the disability rights movement in Japan, which was spurred by the 1970 Yokohama case of a mother who killed her disabled daughter. The work of historian Amino Yoshihiko, who focuses on history from the point of view of the marginal, has been another important source for Fries’ understanding of ‘otherness’ in Japanese history, as have the articles published on the survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb known as the ‘Hiroshima Maidens’. Fries also traveled to Hiroshima to meet the hibakusha (Hiroshima Maidens); an article about this interview was published in the Chugoku Shimbun.

"Perhaps the most exciting professional event was meeting with Hanada Shuncho, a scholar and writer with cerebral palsy whose article on images of disability in Japanese culture I used aft er having it translated. My over three-hour meeting with Hanada-sensei not only provided a basis for my research, but was an extremely moving personal exchange. The communication between us, across cultures, across languages, generations, and different physical disabilities will always remain with me as an example of an important cultural dialogue.”

Hanada Shuncho’s work was an important source for a Fulbright-sponsored seminar Fries gave on his research midway through his grant, titled “Demon Amputees and Disfi gured Survivors— Closeted Presidents and Blind Lovers: Images of the Disabled Body in Western and Japanese Culture.” Fries’ presentation Representation of Disability in the U.S. Media was included in an international seminar sponsored by the Committee for Accessible Broadcast Communication at the Japan Broadcasting Association for Persons with Disabilities.

Kenny Fries, wearing a blue shirt, dines with Professor Matsui and his family in Japan.

His Fulbright year also provided Fries with opportunities for creative work with Japanese colleagues. Fries continued his collaboration with singer Mika Kimula on “In the Gardens of Japan,” a song-cycle for voice and traditional Japanese instruments based on Fries’ poems. Additionally, Fries collaborated with calligrapher Yugo Yasuda to produce the tenugui (scroll) that will wrap the CD. Fries also published two articles (available in Japanese translation) in Normalization, a publication published by the Japanese Society for the Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities.

The Fulbright was a true gift , not only to me, but to the many I came in contact with during my stay," said Fries.

Please contact us if you would like to submit your own story and/or photographs.