Dr. Ian McArthur, of Sydney University, was announced as the winner of the third Inoue Yasushi award at a ceremony held at the Japan Foundation on 20 March 2009.

The award was established by the Inoue Yasushi Memorial Foundation to encourage Australian researchers, scholars and PhD students who are studying Japanese culture and literature. It is awarded annually for the best refereed journal article or book chapter on Japanese literature to have been published during the previous year by a researcher based in Australia.

Inoue Yasushi was a prominent post-Second World War novelist and poet. A winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in 1950, his work combined serious themes with fascinating and intriguing plots. For the next forty years until his death in 1991, Inoue wrote both lengthy novels and short stories, from exciting love stories to historical sagas, and his works enjoy wide popularity from general readership to scholars and intellectuals.

Dr McArthur received this year's award for his article 'Narrating the Law in Japan: Rakugo in the Meiji Law Reform Debate', which was published in the electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies (ejcjs) on 15 August 2008. ejcjs is an academic journal in the social sciences that publishes research and scholarly writing on all issues related to contemporary Japan. Dr McArthur's article illustrates the contribution by professional rakugo storytelling to debate over law reform in the Meiji period with particular reference to the stories of Australian-born rakugoka Henry Black. The full article can be viewed here .

The award ceremony was held at The Japan Foundation, Sydney on 20 March. Speeches were given by Dr McArthur, Mr Nobuhito Hobo, Consul-General of Japan, Sydney and from Yasushi Inoue's daughter, Mrs Ikuyo Uwaki. A special forum discussing Inoue Yasushi's works in relation to the Silk Road, with presentations from University of Sydney lecturers, Dr Lily Xiao Hong Lee, Dr Chiaki Ajioka and Dr Yasuko Claremont was held prior to the award ceremony. The award ceremony was followed by a reception in the Japan Foundation gallery to view the 'Inoue Yasushi on the Silk Road' photography exhibition. The exhibition includes photographs taken by Inoue Yasushi during his travels on the Silk Road nearly thirty years ago, with accompanying text of Inoue's related prose and poems.

The ceremony was organised by the University of Sydney, the Consulate-General of Japan, Sydney, the Inoue Yasushi Memorial Foundation and the Japan Foundation, Sydney; and sponsored by Canon and Books Kinokuniya.