[Introduction of New Faculty Member] KAMINISHI, Yuta, Assistant Professor (専任講師)

Self-Introduction

Hello everyone, I am Yuta Kaminishi. I am an Assistant Professor of Film Studies at the School of International Liberal Studies at Waseda University. I teach courses such as introduction to film studies, the history of Japanese cinema, and avant-garde and documentary film. My research focuses on the history of Japanese cinema after the rise of television, and on the relationships between film, television, music, and publishing as interconnected media industries. I look forward to exploring a wide range of films and other media with students from diverse backgrounds in SILS.

Recent Research Interest

My current research project reconstructs the post-1945 Japanese mediascape through the career of Oshima Nagisa, not only as a director of provocative political films but as an activist whose career moved restlessly across television, independent production, international co-production, and other emerging platforms as the studio system collapsed. Tracing this trajectory, I argue that the history of Japanese cinema and media needs to be examined as a history of hybrid media relationships rather than a single medium-centered story, and that for Oshima, building alternative production systems across multiple industries was itself a form of political practice.

Thanks to intellectual exchange with colleagues, in-class discussion with students, and invaluable archives I was able to access, I have expanded my research interests. Recently I have presented and published research on documentary film Green Jail about the Taiwanese diaspora working in Okinawan coal mines, the role of sign language in anime A Silent Voice’s media mix, and the Japanese diaspora’s cultural activities in early twentieth century Seattle.

Profile

Before joining Waseda University, I was a Lecturer at Daito Bunka University. I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle, and subsequently held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Idaho, where I taught courses on East Asian cinema and anime. During that time, I also organized the University of Idaho Asian Film Series, which shared classic films from Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong at a local theater, and the East Asian Ecocinema Symposium, the results of which are collected in a forthcoming book I co-edited.