Motoko Katakura

(née Niiya, 17 October 1937 - 23 February 2013) was a Japanese anthropologist who specialized in the Islamic world.

Early life Born in Nara Prefecture in Japan, she moved to Kanagawa Prefecture and finished high school in 1956. She was admitted to Tsuda College as an English Language major and studied abroad during her senior year to graduate in 1962. She earned her Master of Letters in 1968 at the Chuo University Graduate School, Katakura proceeded on-site research while winning the trust and affection of those people, observing the cultural heritage of their society. Working as a lecturer at her alma mater Tsuda College between 1973 and '74,

She appreciated the contribution and support Abdur-Rahim Al Ahmadi had offered her, and asked him writing the preface to the Arabic version of that title.

Among academic circles With thorough academic papers followed the first book, she proofed that scientific values and her challenges in cultural anthropology was confirmed. Katakura started to extend the basis of her research during and after her tenure as a lecturer at University of Tokyo between 1975 and 1977, Coming back to Japan, she was a professor at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies (1989–1993). Kunio Katakura was appointed the ambassador to Iraq and spent years over there during the early part of Gulf War. In Japan, in May 1990, the Japanese Association of Arid Land Studies was founded with Katakura as the first vice director. It was in 1993 when Katakura professed at Chuo University at the Faculty of Policy Studies which started the same year, before she was nominated and became the director of the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in May 2005. The director of that Center had been succeeded from Takeshi Umehara to Hayao Kawai and Tetsuo Yamaori, all who were past professors at the center, and Katakura filled her post as the first woman director without former tenure with them. Following her retirement in 2008, she became a professor emeritus at the center.

Episodes She was married to Kunio Katakura and lived overseas as a wife of a diplomat.

Katakura Motoko died on 23 February 2013 at the age of 75.

Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture To honor Katakura Motoko's passion for her research, Motoko Katakura Foundation for Desert Culture was inaugurated on 7 November 2013, with her husband Katakura Kunio as the Councilor chairperson. It was a part of their aim to honor the desert culture which was yet to be popular in Japan, and they presented the first "Yutorogi Prize" to Mr and Mrs. Tadashi Nagahama of for their continued effort and dedication to desertification control activities in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, for over twenty years. The Nagahamas had met Katakura in 1990, and she had encouraged them over the years and left a will to include them as a recipient.

Awards and prizes 1980 Award for the Promotion of Studies on Developing Countries, Institute of Developing Economics, Japan External Trade Organization 1981 the first Kakami Kinen Zaidan Yushu Tosho Sho (Kakami Foundation Book Prize for Literature) 1989 - The Japanese Association for Arid Land Studies, vice president, vice director (1990) 1989 - Collegium Mediterranistarum, director, vice president (1996). 1991 - Japan Association for Nile-Ethiopian Studies, director The Institute of Eastern Culture Japan Association for Middle Eastern Studies Japan Association for Nile-Ethiopian Studies The Japanese Association for Arid Land Studies