Michael John Cooper (1930 – 31 March 2018) was an American historian. Briefly a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

himself, Cooper wrote extensively on 15th- and 16th-century encounters between Jesuit missionaries and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He was editor of the journal '' Monumenta Nipponica'' in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

for 26 years (1971–1996) and was also formerly a president of the

Asiatic Society of Japan The Asiatic Society of Japan, Inc. (一般社団法人日本アジア協会” or “Ippan Shadan Hojin Nihon Ajia Kyokai”) or "ASJ" is a non-profit organization of Japanology. ASJ serves members of a general audience that have shared interests ...

.Contributors to Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire
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Works

* ''They came to Japan: An Anthology of European Reports on Japan 1543–1640'', University of California Press, 1965 * ''The Southern barbarians : the first Europeans in Japan'', Tokyo ; Palo Alto, Calif. : Kodansha International in cooperation with Sophia University, 1971 * ''This Island of Japon: Joao Rodrigues’s Account of 16th Century Japan'', Kodansha International, 1973 * ''Rodrigues the Interpreter: An Early Jesuit in Japan and China'', Weatherhill, 1974 * ''Exploring Kamakura : a guide for the curious traveler'', Weatherhill, 1979 * ''Catalogue of rare books in the Library of the Japan Foundation'', Office for the Japanese Studies Center, The Foundation, 1986. * 'The Early Europeans and Tea', in Paul Varley and Kumakura Isao, eds., ''Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu'', Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989 * 'Early Western-style Paintings in Japan', in John Breen and Mark Williams, eds., ''Japan and Christianity: Impacts and Responses'', St Martin's Press, 1996 * ''The Japanese Mission to Europe, 1582–1590: The Journey of Four Samurai Boys through Portugal, Spain and Italy'', Global Oriental, 2005.

References

1930 births 2018 deaths 20th-century American Jesuits 21st-century American Jesuits Historians of Japan American Japanologists Jesuit historians and chroniclers {{US-historian-stub