Constantine Vaporis, professor of history and director of the Asian studies program, is a consultant and writer on a new exhibit opening at Washington D.C.’s National Geographic Museum on March 7. “Samurai: The Warrior Transformed” examines the transformations experienced by Japan’s samurai and is built around material artifacts of samurai culture, including gifts of the same given by the Japanese government to American presidents and mid-nineteenth century portraits of the warriors. A companion exhibit displays images by writer, photographer and geographer Eliza Scidmore, who was instrumental in the gift of the Japanese cherry trees to Washington that adorn the Mall …