Filipino academic
Lydia N. Yu-Jose (March 27, 1944 – August 3, 2014) was a professor of political science and Japanese Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. A graduate of Sophia University, she was best known for her research into the history of Japan–Philippines relations, as well as aiding in the development of Japanese studies in the Philippines as a separate academic discipline.
Life and career
Lydia Yu-Jose was born on March 27, 1944, and spent her childhood in Santa Ana, Manila. She went to Santa Ana Elementary School for her elementary education, then graduated with honors from the Felipe G. Calderon High School. She then pursued her undergraduate education at Far Eastern University, graduating with a degree in education in 1965, and afterward teaching for two years at the Malate Catholic School.[1]
In 1967, she first entered the Ateneo de Manila University,[2] where she was hired as a graduate assistant at the Department of Political Science while simultaneously pursuing her master's degree in history. She eventually shifted concentrations, finished her MA in Political Science and began teaching at the Ateneo in 1970.[1] In addition, she was taking classes at the Ateneo de Manila's newly established Japanese Studies Program ostensibly out of boredom with her Political Science classes,[1] and in 1969, at the suggestion of its director, she applied for and was awarded a Monbukagakusho scholarship by the Japanese government to study at the International Christian University, where she stayed until 1971.[2]
In 1989, Yu-Jose was appointed director of the Japanese Studies Program, a position she held until 1993, then again from 1995 to 1996. The following year, she was appointed chair of the Department of Political Science, a position she held until 2001. She also served as director of the Ateneo Center for Asian Studies from 2004 to 2013.[3] She was one of the founders of the Japanese Studies Association in South East Asia(JSA-ASEAN) in 2004.
Yu-Jose was conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in 2012, in recognition of her contributions to the development of Japanese studies as a separate academic discipline in the Philippines, as well as for fostering understanding between the two countries.[3]
On August 3, 2014, Yu-Jose died after a six-year-long battle with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.[2]
Personal life
Yu-Jose was married to Ricardo T. Jose, who she met while studying for her doctorate at Sophia University.[4] He is also the director of the Third World Studies Center at the University of the Philippines Diliman, and the son of pianist Regalado Jose, who taught at the UP College of Music.[5]
