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.
WG Beasley Memorial Lecture, 13 March 2019
It is a great honour to have been asked to give the WG Beasley Memorial Lecture at SOAS on 13 March 2019. The title of my talk is “On the Trail of Shiba Ryotaro and Jane Austen: Novels, Heritage, and Contents Tourism in Japan and the UK”. For further details and information on how to register for the event, please see the SOAS event page.
Review of “Media Theory in Japan” published
My review of Marc Steinberg and Alexander Zahlten, Media Theory in Japan (Duke University Press, 2017), has just been published in Asian Studies Review (online 16 September 2018).
Keynote Lecture: International Conference on New Frontiers in Japanese Studies
In September I will be giving the keynote lecture at the International Conference on New Frontiers in Japanese Studies: see the conference homepage. Details of the keynote lecture are here: Inagaki Seminar on Japan: “Japan Studies in the 21st Century”
New Music Website
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.
