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I have been working at\u00a0Waseda\u00a0University for\u00a0fifteen years. Before moving to\u00a0Waseda, I taught at New York University and the University of Iowa for nearly twenty years.<\/p>\n
My research covers a wide range of topics and issues.\u00a0First of all, I am a film scholar. My first book\u00a0Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema\u00a0<\/em>(Duke University Press, 2000) examines all feature-length films of the director Kurosawa one by one in separate chapters. My essays on Japanese film have also appeared in such edited volumes as\u00a0Film Analysis: A Norton Reader<\/em>\u00a0(Norton, 2005\/2013),\u00a0Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts<\/em>\u00a0(Routledge, 2007), and\u00a0Melodrama and Asian Cinema<\/em>\u00a0(Cambridge University Press, 1993). In addition to Japanese cinema, I have written extensively on contemporary Hollywood cinema in various journals and in my two books\u00a0Empire of Images and the End of Cinema\u00a0<\/em>(\u300e\u30a4\u30e1\u30fc\u30b8\u306e\u5e1d\u56fd\uff0f\u6620\u753b\u306e\u7d42\u308f\u308a\u300f\u4ee5\u6587\u793e,\u00a02007\u5e74) and\u00a0Spectacle of Conspiracy\u00a0<\/em>(\u300e\u9670\u8b00\u306e\u30b9\u30da\u30af\u30bf\u30af\u30eb\u300f\u4ee5\u6587\u793e,\u00a02012\u5e74).<\/p>\n The second area of my research interest is Japanese popular culture and cultural criticism. The book I co-edited with Christophe\u00a0Thouny,\u00a0Planetary Atmospheres and Urban Society after Fukushima\u00a0<\/em>(Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and another co-edited book (with Eva Tsai and\u00a0JungBong\u00a0Choi),\u00a0Television, Japan, and Globalization\u00a0<\/em>(University of Michigan, 2010) fall into this category. In addition to journals and magazines, my writings on Japanese television, Disneyland, and popular culture can be found in such edited volumes as\u00a0Disney Discourse\u00a0<\/em>(Routledge, 1994) and\u00a0In Pursuit of Contemporary East Asian Culture\u00a0<\/em>(Westview Press, 1996).<\/p>\n Throughout my academic career, I have been thinking about and writing on the politics of academic institutions, disciplines, and discourses. Part one of my Kurosawa book deals with the questions of film studies and Japanese cinema extensively. I also wrote about the discursive politics of such concepts and topics as \u201ccomparative film\u00a0studies,\u201d \u201cfilm studies in Japan,\u201d and \u201ctrans-Asian cinema\u201d in various edited volumes and academic journals including\u00a0boundary 2<\/i>,\u00a0South Atlantic Quarterly<\/i>, and\u00a0Inter-Asia Cultural Studies<\/i>. My Japanese book,\u00a0Site of Resistance<\/i>\u00a0(<\/span>\u300e\u62b5\u6297\u306e\u5834\u3078\uff1a\u3042\u3089\u3086\u308b\u5883\u754c\u3092\u8d8a\u3048\u308b\u305f\u3081\u306b\u3000\u30de\u30b5\u30aa\u30fb\u30df\u30e8\u30b7\u81ea\u3089\u3092\u8a9e\u308b\u300f\u6d1b\u5317\u51fa\u7248,\u00a02007<\/span>\u5e74), which is based on my interview with Masao Miyoshi, also belongs to this category of research.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My most recent publications include such articles\u00a0and essays\u00a0as \u201cFredric Jameson: A Marxist Who Keeps Pursuing the Possibility of History,\u201d\u00a0in\u00a0Junji\u00a0Hori\u00a0and\u00a0Keish\u014d\u00a0Kihara, eds.,\u00a0Adventurers in Film Theory<\/i>\u00a0(Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2021)\u00a0[<\/span>\u300c\u30d5\u30ec\u30c9\u30ea\u30c3\u30af\u30fb\u30b8\u30a7\u30a4\u30e0\u30bd\u30f3\uff1a\u6b74\u53f2\u7684\u53ef\u80fd\u6027\u3092\u554f\u3044\u7d9a\u3051\u308b\u30de\u30eb\u30af\u30b9\u4e3b\u7fa9\u8005\u300d\u3001\u5800\u6f64\u4e4b\u3001\u6728\u539f\u572d\u7fd4\u7de8\u300e\u6620\u753b\u8ad6\u306e\u5192\u967a\u8005\u305f\u3061\u300f\u6771\u4eac\u5927\u5b66\u51fa\u7248\u4f1a\u3001\u202f<\/span>2021<\/span>\u5e74];\u00a0\u201cThe Age of Allegory,\u201d\u00a0Transcommunication<\/i><\/span>\u202f<\/span>(2021) vol.\u00a08, no.\u00a02;\u00a0\u201cThe Anthropocene and the Apocalypse of Cinema\u201d in\u00a0Hy\u014dsh\u014d<\/i>\u00a014 (<\/span>\u300c\u4eba\u65b0\u4e16\u3068\u6620\u753b\u306e\u30a2\u30dd\u30ab\u30ea\u30d7\u30b9\u300d\u300e\u8868\u8c6114<\/span>\u300f2020<\/span>\u5e74); \u201cChaos Now\u201d (Ran: 40th<\/sup> Anniversary Edition<\/i>, Blu-ray booklet, Studio Canal, 2025).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While my current research centers on anime, I also pursue broader studies in visual culture, including film, manga, and cross-media adaptation.<\/span>\u3000For instance, in the fall of 2025, I co-organized a seminar titled \u201cKazuo Ishiguro: Film and Literature\u201d as part of a research collaboration between Waseda University and Peking University.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/w-rdb.waseda.jp\/html\/100001082_en.html<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In my MA seminar, students will explore visual culture from a variety of theoretically informed perspectives. Types of visual culture to be studied include\u2014but not limited to\u2014film, television, photography, painting, anime, manga, video games, social media, architecture, and images for surveillance,\u00a0security\u00a0and social control. I also welcome students interested in exploring how visual culture intersects with nonvisual forms such as literature.\u3000Students will examine the meanings and value of visual images, the political implications of looking at images\/being looked at as images, and the possibilities of visual culture studies as an academic discipline. The\u00a0main\u00a0purpose\u00a0of the seminar is to help students refine their ability to think about the question of visual culture critically and prepare for their professional careers or further research\u00a0at\u00a0a doctoral level.<\/p>\n In my PhD seminar, students will pursue an advanced study of visual culture within the broader context of media studies, film studies, cultural studies, and other emerging fields of interdisciplinary inquiries. All students are expected to have a well-formulated research plan when entering the doctoral program. Unlike the coursework-based doctoral programs common in the United States, ours is a research-focused program. During the first two years of study, I will work closely with each student through individual tutorials. In their third year of doctoral study\u2014and the fourth, if needed\u2014students engage in independent research and focus on completing their dissertations.<\/p>\nMajor Works \/ Publications Awards<\/h3>\n
Directed Research<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n
Inquiry for Prospective Applicants (not for current students)
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