Today, my new music website was launched. Please visit to learn more about my activities as a composer of classical music, including the release of my first CD Philip Seaton – Chamber Works on 19 September of this year.
Updated guidelines for prospective postgraduate students
We are approaching the application season for April 2019 postgraduate entry. I have updated the guidelines on my website for people who want to do postgraduate research under my supervision from next April. Prospective students, please read the instructions carefully before getting in contact.
Interview in English Journal July 2018 Edition
There is an interview with me about contents tourism in the July Edition of English Journal (on sale 6 June). Click here for more information.
Italian translation of a paper
The Italian translation of my article “Japanese War Memories and Commemoration after the Great East Japan Earthquake” (originally published in the Routledge International Handbook of Memory Studies) has been published in Sociologie della memoria, edited by Anna Lisa Tota, Lia Luchetti and Trever Hagen.
New Job at TUFS
On 2 April I took up my new position as a professor in the Institute of Japan Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. It was a major decision to leave Hokkaido University after 14 years, but for a variety of reasons (both personal and professional) it was time to make a change.
In my new position I will be teaching in the new School of Japan Studies, working on TUFS’ international collaborations, and continuing my research into modern Japan. I am looking forward to a new professional challenge in Japan’s capital, and to working with all past and future colleagues in my new role.
Journal of War & Culture Studies Special Edition Published
In March we completed online publication of the article series “War, Popular Culture, and Contents Tourism in East Asia”. This is a special edition of the impact factor Journal of War & Culture Studies (for which I was guest editor). The print edition will come out in Volume 12 (2019). There are six articles in the series, which forms the main output for our contents tourism project in academic year 2017:
Philip Seaton: “War, Popular Culture, and Contents Tourism in East Asia”
Takayoshi Yamamura: “Cooperation Between Anime Producers and the Japan Self-Defense Force: Creating Fantasy and/or Propaganda?”
Kyungjae Jang: “Between Soft Power and Propaganda: the Korean Military Drama Descendants of the Sun”
Aleksandra Jaworowicz-Zimny: “Nazi Cosplay in Japan”
Akiko Sugawa-Shimada: “Playing with Militarism in/with Arpeggio and Kantai Collection: Effects of shojo images in War-related Contents Tourism in Japan”
Philip Seaton: “Kamikaze Museums and Contents Tourism”
Congratulations Dr Aleksandra Jaworowicz-Zimny
Many congratulations to my PhD student Aleksandra Jaworowicz-Zimny, who defended her PhD thesis on 15 February and had her degree conferred at the faculty senate on 2 March 2018. The thesis title is “Subcultures of War. Images of the Asia-Pacific War in Japanese Youth and Fan Culture”.
Joining Japan Forum
I am honoured to have been asked to join the International Editorial Board of the journal Japan Forum. For more details about the board’s activities, see their website here.
Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan Talk
On 20 February I will be giving a talk about our contents tourism book at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. For information about the event, see this link.
Welcome to my new website
As I am changing jobs and moving to Tokyo in April, I have a new website. The website is in something of a transitional phase for the next few months until I can get all content transferred.