「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.
New Videos Menu
Do check out the new videos menu. I will be putting online teaching materials, lectures and other such videos on this page.
On the trail of The Last Samurai
As my contents tourism grant wraps up, I have published three research notes on the International Journal of Contents Tourism about my research into tourism relating to The Last Samurai.
On the trail of The Last Samurai (I): Taranaki
On the trail of The Last Samurai (II): Hobbiton vs Uruti Valley
On the trail of The Last Samurai (III): Himeji and Kagoshima
Congratulations Dr Georgy Buntilov
Congratulations to Georgy Buntilov, my PhD student at Hokkaido University who successfully defended his thesis on 14 February and had the award of the PhD confirmed at the faculty senate on 1 March. I had to give up being his primary supervisor after my move to Tokyo in April 2018, but we continued working together to ensure his successful completion of his degree under the supervision of Professor Jeffry Gayman.
Review of “The History Problem” published
My review of Hiro Saito’s book The History Problem: The Politics of War Commemoration in East Asia (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2017) has been published in Monumenta Nipponica 73.2 (2018), pp. 320-324.
Keynote Lecture: IAJS Conference 1 December
I will be giving the keynote lecture at the International Association for Japan Studies on 1 December. The topic of my talk is “Japanese Studies in Japan.” Details are here.