My book chapter ‘The “Shiba view of history” and Japan–Korea relations: Reading, watching and travelling Clouds Above the Hill’ has just been published in Rumi Sakamoto and Stephen Epstein (eds) Popular Culture and the Transformation of Japan–Korea Relations, Routledge, 2021. This article has been made open access.
New Frontiers in Japanese Studies: Introduction now open access
The introduction to our latest edited volume (New Frontiers in Japanese Studies) is now available open access on the Routledge website:
Akihiro Ogawa and Philip Seaton, “Introduction: envisioning new frontiers in Japanese Studies”.
New Academic Year
The new academic year begins amidst the corona virus pandemic. Congratulations to the students who have joined the School of Japan Studies, and also to my three new postgraduate students in the International Japan Course (one student moving from research student to a PhD programme, one student entering the MA programme, and one student coming as a research student).
My courses this term are completely online until the corona virus situation stabilizes. I hope that all our students, and people everywhere, will stay safe and well as the world works to overcome this pandemic and accompanying economic crisis.
“New Frontiers in Japanese Studies” is now in press
The edited volume that I have been working on this year with Professor Akihiro Ogawa (University of Melbourne) is now in press. We expect it to be published in the spring/summer of 2020. Details are already available at the Routledge website.
New book available for pre-order!
My latest book is scheduled to be published on 31 January 2020. It is now available for pre-order on the Channel View Publications Website. There is also a pre-order offer of 50% off (see this flyer: Yamamura & Seaton discount flyer). Contents Tourism and Pop Culture Fandom: Transnational Tourist Experiences is a collection of essays that examines the phenomenon of contents tourism in an international perspective. My own contributions are the chapter “The Contents Tourism of Jane Austen’s American Fans” and the conclusions, “Sustainable Contents Tourism in the 21st Century”. I co-edited the book with my long-time research partner, Takayoshi Yamamura.
スタディツアー：共同教育プログラムについて
「2019年7月22日（月）～31日（水）、本学にて、英国のセントラル・ランカシャー大学（UCLAN）とのJoint Education Program（共同教育プログラム）を実施しました。UCLANから7名の学生がマレイケ・ハマン講師とともに来日し、国際日本学部の5名の学生とともに学びました。」
Two Conference Presentations: Tokyo & Melbourne
I have an academic conference “double header” in June. On 15 June I presented my research on tourism relating to Clouds Above the Hill at the Showa Literature Society. On 26 June I present on War-related Contents Tourism at the Travel and Tourism Research Association conference in Melbourne. Both are part of our new contents tourism focusing on war-related entertainment products and tourism.
New Grant Project: War and Contents Tourism
My main research partner of the past decade, Dr Takayoshi Yamamura, has secured a new grant to continue the work of our contents tourism project (2014-2019). The three-year Kakenhi B Grant (5-20 million yen category, 2019-2022) project is called 「コンテンツツーリズムにおける「戦争」の消費と歴史理解に関する国際比較研究」, which translates as “The consumption of ‘war’ in contents tourism and comparative international research on the historical understanding”. With this project, my contents tourism work has come full circle to link up with my war memories work …
新しい役職
２０１９年４月１日、国際日本学研究院副研究院長及び国際日本学部副学部長に任命されました。任期は２年となります。
From 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2021 I have been appointed Vice-Dean of the Institute of Japan Studies and Vice-Dean of the School of Japan Studies.
Islands of “Dark” and “Light/Lite” Tourism published
My article “Islands of ‘Dark’ and ‘Light/Lite’ Tourism: War-related contents tourism around the Seto Inland Sea” has been published as part of the special edition “War, Tourism, and Modern Japan” in the journal Japan Review. It is open access and can be viewed here.