CONSULATE-GENERAL OF JAPAN IN HOUSTON
909 Fannin St. Suite 3000 Houston, TX 77010
On Tuesday, November 3, the Government of Japan announced that Ms. Margit Maria Nagy, Professor at Our Lady of the Lake University, is the recipient of "the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon". She was presented with this award in recognition of her esteemed service in the promotion of the mutual understanding between Japan and the United States of America.
Professor Nagy was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1942 and moved to the United States with her parents. She became interested in modern Japanese history when she was a university student. She studied at Waseda University, receiving the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Grant in 1976, and taught at the University of Tokyo Law School as a Fulbright Visiting Professor in 1984. After receiving her doctoral degree from the University of Washington, she began working at Our Lady of the Lake University, became a Professor in 1991 and has been serving as the Head of the History Program since 2004. She is also a founding member of Japan America Society of San Antonio and served as the Second President for two years from 1987.
Professor Nagy has a history of numerous achievements for promoting Japan-US relations in San Antonio. Firstly, she has raised interest in and understanding of Japan's modern history. She established a course on Japanese modern history at Our Lady of the Lake University in 1984 and still continues to conduct the course there. She has also conducted lectures on this area at Saint Mary University and Saint Thomas University to offer opportunities for students throughout Texas to touch upon Japan's history. Professor Nagy has not only issued numerous research papers on Japan's society during the Taisho and Meiji Period, the Great Kanto Earthquake, and the changing role and status of women in modern Japan, but she has also presented her research at conferences and symposiums. The most recent are "Dr. Shiga Shigetaka's Monument to the Alamo Heroes and the Fulbright Experience" at the Southwest Fulbright Symposium (2014) and "The Steadfast Christians of Nagasaki from Meiji Persecution to Showa Bombing" at the 40th Annual Southwest Conference for the Asia Studies (2011). In addition, she has written articles for local newspapers such as "Japan's Tribute to the Alamo Heroes" (2014), "Keep Sister City Ties Relevant" (2013) and "Taisho Chic" (2005). She has also written booklets such as "Women Who Inspire: Kumamoto Women from the Meiji Era" (1999) and "Remembering the Alamo Japanese-style: Shigetaka Shiga's Monument as Tribute to the Alamo Heroes" (1989).
Secondly, after serving the City of San Antonio as a volunteer with Japanese expertise, Professor Nagy was involved in establishing Japan America Society of San Antonio (JASSA) and has been volunteering for the society since then. When she served as second President from 1987 to 1989, she made efforts to strengthen the base of the organization, by establishing large-scale events such as the Alamo anniversary and various sister-city relationship events, as mentioned below. Even after serving as president, she had numerous achievements as a core member of JASSA, such as initiating the Japan Information Center, a free telephone service for the general public to answer questions related to Japan, and organizing business-related lecture events. Her hard work led to the stable development of the society.
Thirdly, Professor Nagy recognized the importance of the Japanese monument in the Alamo Convent Courtyard as a tangible symbol of the friendship between the US and Japan. The monument was presented by Professor Shigetaka Shiga to recognize the common values of selfless courage and loyalty exemplified by both Texans in the battles of the Alamo, and Japanese in the battle of Nagashino. She initiated and chaired a Japanese Monument Committee in 1985 and organized "The Rededication of the Friendship at the Japanese Monument at the Alamo" event to commemorating the portrait of Professor Shiga, as well as inviting descendants of Professor Shiga and Musashino City Junior Ambassadors Friendship Mission led by the current International Friendship Association. She also organized the event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the monument in 1989 which descendants of Professor Shiga, Okazaki City Mayor and representatives of Japanese media and Rotary clubs in Okazaki and Shinshiro City attended. At that time Professor Nagy also published the booklet "Remembering the Alamo Japanese-style: Shigetaka Shiga's Monument as Tribute to the Alamo Heroes". Last year, she coordinated the 100th year anniversary event which was hosted by the Texas General Land Office and the Alamo, and cosponsored by numerous organizations in Texas. Representatives of Junior Ambassador and Shinshiro City were invited. She also gave numerous presentations on the monument, and coordinated the Cherry Seed Presentation Ceremony in 1993 and Cherry Tree Planting Ceremony in 1995 with the attendance of the Rotary Club of Shinshiro City and Horai Junior High School.
Lastly, Professor Nagy has been involved in sister-city events since the relationship's inception and has contributed tirelessly to its stable development. Right after the agreement was made, she hosted a number of delegations from Kumamoto City including a Mayor, a Councilman, Kumamoto City Wings of Friendship Citizens' Delegation and the Kumamoto Youth Baseball Team. She coordinated volunteers including some 75 faculty, staff and students of her university to assist Kumamoto City staff and artisans with the Kumamoto City Fair held in San Antonio in 1989. She delivered a speech for the opening ceremony of the Kumamoto City Cultural and Women's Center in 1990 and for her lecture event held at a Senior Center in Kumamoto. Professor Nagy also initiated and coordinated Our Lady of the Lake University's participation in the Sister City Kumamoto Student Exchange with Kumamoto University of Commerce which continued from 1990 to 2002. She also published another booklet for the occasion of the 1999 Kumamoto-San Antonio Women's Leadership Conference, for which she was a member of the steering committee and a moderator.
Professor Nagy is well known in the Japanese community in San Antonio for her fluent Japanese and her modest and polite personality. Her tireless dedication to the promotion of the friendship between the U.S. and Japan has always been admired by the people of San Antonio.
