Willy Vande Walle
Encyclopedia
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
academic, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, sinologist and Japanologist.
Vande Walle was born in Roeselare, Belgium. His secondary education focused on classical humanities (Greek-Latin) at Klein Seminarie Roeselare (1962–1968). His studies in Oriental Philology and History at the State University of Ghent were rewarded with a doctorate in Oriental Philology in 1976.
Career
Vande Walle is tenured professor of Japanese Studies at the Catholic University of LeuvenCatholic University of Leuven
The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...
(Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KUL) in Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. His classes in Japanese language, literature and history are taught in Dutch. The KUL coursework is supplemented with active Internet learning programs linked to Japanese educational partners.
Vande Walle is the Belgian coordinator for projects conducted by the European Association of Japanese Studies.
In 2006, the Japanese government conferred the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon-
Order of the Rising Sun
The is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...
, which represents the third highest of eight classes associated with this award. The Japanese Ambassador to Belgium presented the award on behalf of the Emperor and government of Japan.
Honors
- * Japan FoundationJapan FoundationThe was established in 1972 by an Act of the Japanese Diet as a special legal entity to undertake international dissemination of Japanese culture, and became an independent administrative institution under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry of Japan on 1 October 2003 under the "Independent...
: Japan Foundation Special Prize, 1992. - Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck RibbonOrder of the Rising SunThe is a Japanese order, established in 1875 by Emperor Meiji of Japan. The Order was the first national decoration awarded by the Japanese Government, created on April 10, 1875 by decree of the Council of State. The badge features rays of sunlight from the rising sun...
, 2000.
Selected works
- 1987 -- Stratification in Verbiest's Works: The Astronomia Europaea and the Memorials.
- 1989 -- Takakura - Habits de la cour impériale du Japon / Keizerlijke gewaden uit Japan (with Muneyuki Sengoku). Brussels: EuropaliaEuropaliaEuropalia is a major international arts festival held every two years to celebrate one invited country’s cultural heritage. Europalia was established in Brussels in 1969, and from the beginning Europalia was designed to be a multidisciplinary cultural festival....
Foundation International. - 1989 -- Splendeur du théâtre No / Luister van het No-theater (with Eileen Kato, Tomoyuki Yamanobe & Shozo Masuda). Brussels: Europalia Foundation International.
- 2001 -- Dodonæus in Japan: Translation and the Scientific Mind in the Tokugawa Period (with Kazuhiko Kasaya). Leuven: Leuven University Press. 10-ISBN 9-058-67179-8; 13-ISBN 978-9-058-67179-0; OCLC 49539599 -- simultaneously published in Kyoto: International Research Center for Japanese StudiesInternational Research Center for Japanese StudiesThe , or Nichibunken , is an inter-university research institute in Kyoto. Along with the National Institute of Japanese Literature, the National Museum of Japanese History, and the National Museum of Ethnology, it is one of the National Institutes for the Humanities...
. - 2003 -- The History of the Relations Between the Low Countries and China in the Qing Era (1644-1911) with Noël Golvers. Leuven Chinese Studies XIV. Leuven: Leuven University Press. 10-ISBN 9-058-67315-4; 13-ISBN 978-9-058-67315-2
- 2005 -- Japan & Belgium: Four Centuries of Exchange. Brussels: Commissioners-General of the Belgian Government at the Universal Exposition of Aichi 2005, Japan.