Prof. Dr. Oğuz Baykara Receives the Order of the Rising Sun with Rosette from the Government of Japan

Wednesday, 12 November, 2025

Prof. Dr. Oğuz Baykara, faculty member of the Boğaziçi University Asian Studies M.A. Program, has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun with Rosette by the Government of Japan in the autumn of 2025.

Five years after receiving the Foreign Diplomatic Mission Award at a ceremony held at the Official Residence of the Consulate-General of Japan on March 13, 2020, Prof. Dr. Baykara is now being honored with a higher state decoration by the Japanese Government. The Consulate-General of Japan announced that the Imperial Order is being presented to Prof. Dr. Baykara “in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of Japanese culture in Turkey and to the deepening of mutual understanding between Japan and Turkey.” He was also personally informed of the award through a letter from Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Motegi Hoshimitsu.

In addition to his academic work, Prof. Dr. Baykara is active as a translator of both literary and non-literary works from Japanese and English into Turkish. He is widely recognized for his significant contributions in introducing major Japanese authors to Turkish readers. His notable translations include:

  • Kappa (Ryunosuke Akutagawa, 2010)

  • Rashōmon and Other Stories (Ryunosuke Akutagawa, 2010)

  • Japanese Culture (Masakazu Yamazaki, 2010)

  • A Musician of Shunkin (Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, 2011)

  • A History of Japanese Literature (Shūichi Katō, 2012)

  • Japanese Patterns of Behavior (Takie Sugiyama Lebra, 2013)

In addition, his Japanese-language monograph Portraits of Two Japanese Writers: Tanizaki Jun’ichiro and Akutagawa Ryunosuke was published in Tokyo in 2020.

Prof. Dr. Baykara’s recent translation of The Tale of Genji, the world’s first novel written by the 10th-century Japanese author Murasaki Shikibu, has attracted wide attention in Turkey, marking an important milestone in the renewed appreciation of both world literature and Japanese culture. Furthermore, his Basic Japanese–Turkish Dictionary (2002, 2014) has become a lasting reference work contributing to the fields of language and cultural studies.

As the Boğaziçi University Asian Studies M.A. Program, we sincerely congratulate our esteemed colleague Prof. Dr. Oğuz Baykara for this distinguished honor and international recognition.