2025-2026 Williams Prize Award Winner

Aruna Balasubramanian (Saybrook College) was the winner of the 2026 Williams Prize in East Asian Studies. The Council on East Asian Studies had a chance to catch up with Aruna before graduation, and she kindly answered a few of our questions about her essay.

To begin, could you please provide an abstract or brief summary of your essay entitled “Salt, Copper, Art: The (Post-)Industrial Development of Naoshima, Japan, 1840–2025”?
Naoshima is an island and village of 3,000 people in the Seto Inland Sea of Japan. Today, it hosts a world-renowned contemporary art museum system called the Benesse Art Site, which was established in the 1990s by a corporation called the Benesse Group. International news media have often credited Soichiro Fukutake, Benesse’s former CEO, for drawing new residents and wealth to Naoshima by introducing a “creative economy” that could energize a place saddled with an aging, shrinking population, and industrial pollution from the local copper refinery. I contend that this narrative is misleading in my study, which is a historical ethnography of Naoshima’s development that draws on interviews I conducted in Japanese; a month of fieldwork in the village; photographs; and printed sources. I argue that employers have been directing private ventures in the name of local development since the 1840s, connecting the island to networks of people and capital at mounting geographic scales and enabling the community to persist amidst precarity. I advance a new model for periodizing Naoshima’s modern history by tracing its development through three revitalization projects: salt farming (c.1840s- 1960s), copper production (1917-present), and art tourism (1992-present). 

How did you first get interested in your topic of research? 
In summer 2024 I studied Japanese in Kyoto on a Light Fellowship. During that time I ventured to Naoshima with a friend. I was immediately fascinated by the town and its museums, which set me on the path of my research.

What would you say was the most interesting finding of your research?  Were there any surprises?
I was surprised by how much the oral histories that I collected during fieldwork aligned with and added to written histories about Naoshima. Although oral histories centered everyday people as protagonists (e.g. schoolchildren, municipal workers, elders) and written histories centered more conventional elites (e.g. business moguls and mayors), together they told a coherent story about the town’s development. 

I was also surprised by how many insights I was able to draw from the island’s built environment and topography.  Reading about Naoshima was not enough; being there, talking to people, and walking around the island in person made a world of difference in helping me to see “the lay of the land” and its history.

What was the most challenging part of your research?
The most challenging part of my research was the fieldwork. After completing the first year of L5-level Japanese language study at Yale, I ventured to Naoshima on my own. I lived there for a month and conducted ethnographic research by speaking to locals about the development of their town. Many people spoke in a Kagawa Prefecture dialect and used words that I was not familiar with. Communicating was difficult but extremely rewarding. My language skills improved greatly and I made new friends.

What resources at Yale were the most helpful for your research? 
The Yale Library has tremendous resources, including the official town history of Naoshima, which became a major source for my thesis. It is truly remarkable that Yale had this book in our collections. The language training that my Japanese courses offered was also invaluable when I was translating sources and speaking to people during fieldwork. Finally, the generous fellowship funding that Yale offered was decisive in enabling me to live in Naoshima for a month. 

Were you able to travel to Asia during your time at Yale?  If so, where and when, and what type of program?  Did you go on a Light Fellowship? 
I spent two summers in Japan while at Yale. In 2024 I studied Japanese in Kyoto, at Doshisha University, on the Light Fellowship. In 2025 I conducted thesis research in Naoshima for a month before spending another month translating first-person testimonies of the 1945 firebombings of Tokyo into English at the Center for the Tokyo Raids and War Damage museum.

How important would you say your language study at Yale was to your research?
Language study at Yale was absolutely critical. I knew no Japanese when I arrived at Yale and began to study the language in my sophomore year. If I had not studied abroad in Kyoto, I would never have chanced upon the town that became the subject of my thesis. My language skills were extremely useful when I was collecting oral histories in Naoshima. I credit my Japanese professors at Yale for equipping me not just with content-based knowledge (vocabulary, grammar, etc.) but also with skills in speaking and listening about many subjects.

When you had some downtime on campus, what did you like to do for fun?  Any particular interests or hobbies related to East Asia?
I am a landscape painter in oil and an art history enthusiast. Several of my favorite contemporary artists are Japanese, and it was due to my love for Japanese art that I went to Naoshima for the first time, to see the island’s galleries.

What advice would you offer to rising seniors about how to tackle their senior theses?
Write about something that interests you, no matter how wacky or niche it may seem. Start exploring and brainstorming early (the summer of junior year is ideal), so that you have time to chew on your thoughts. As you conduct preliminary research, consider unconventional sources—material objects, interviews, maps, and the like. Then talk to your professors, librarians, and friends about your ideas to seek their feedback.

What will you be doing after graduation?
In the Fall I will begin an MPhil degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. I intend to continue advancing my Japanese language skills and studying the communities of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea.