John Whitney Hall (September 13, 1916 – October 21, 1997)[1] was an American historian of Japan who specialized in premodern Japanese history.
At Harvard, he became one of the first graduate students to study under Edwin O. Reischauer, who was another missionary's son and a pioneering Japan scholar.
[2] Hall's obituary in the New York Times described him as "something of an academic entrepreneur" because he was so central in the work of building up the fledgling field of Japanese studies in the years after World War II.
"[2] Hall himself explained: "My own fascination with Japanese history lies primarily with the manner in which Japan's political and social institutions have changed and diversified over time and how this fundamentally 'Eastern' culture gave rise to modern world power.
He would become director of the Center for Japanese Studies (1957–1960) and a founder of the first American research venture in post-war Japan.
[6] George Wilson Pierson recruited Whitney to join the Yale University faculty as part of a plan to expand the department's curriculum to include a greater emphasis on Asian history.
These groups were attempting to represent the interests of the field in order to get support from universities, foundations and the Japanese government.