Journal Articles

This is a list of some of my print journal articles published in English and non-Japanese languages. Articles published in online journals are available here. Those published in Japanese can be seen here

Under construction

"The Homelessness of Style and the Problems of Studying Miike Takashi." Canadian Journal of Film Studies/Revue Canadienne d’Études Cinématographiques 18.1 (Spring 2009): 24-43. (On JSTOR and Yale repository)

Most accounts of Miike Takashi’s film style attempt to locate it either in the realm of excess or in some deeper meaning or outrage. By focusing on his use of the long take along side the fast editing and comic-book-like stylistics usually seen as “typical” of his cinema, this paper argues instead for a “homeless” quality in Miike’s works, one spanning not only in his stories of nomadic characters lacking a home or clear identity in a globalized world, but also in shifts of style that complicate any attempt to locate his cinematic politics or his representations of the nation. Miike’s cinema raises fundamental questions for those studying popular cinema or the politics of Japanese film style.    

"Materialität und Existenz: Uchida Tomu und die fehlenden Bindeglieder des japanishcen Kinos" (Uchida Tomu and the Missing Links of Japanese Cinema). Kolik Film 4 (2005): 40-44. (Available on Yale repository)

A short article written for an Austrian film journal which argues that the director Uchida Tomu can serve as a sort of missing link, connecting especially pre- and postwar cinema.

"Spectateurs Combattants: La réception du cinéma japonais dans la Sphère de coprospérité de la Grande Asie orientale" (Fighting Spectators: Reception of Japanese Cinema in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere). Ebisu 30 (Spring-Summer 2003): 34-54. (Available on Yale repository)

The French version of my Yuriika article on film reception during WWII, focusing on contemporary debates that recognized how central the spectator was to the construction of even so-called “national films.” This was a pressing issue because Japanese films were showing in both the colonies and newly occupied territories, and fears arose about how those audiences were viewing Japanese movies. I focus on discourses that called for spectators to participate in the “film war" through their film reception, which also led to calls to train spectators. 

La remarque de Paul Virilio selon laquelle « la guerre est le cinéma, le cinéma est la guerre » portait avec raison non seulement sur la relation entre la guerre et le contenu du cinéma, mais également sur la similitude entre la guerre et 1 appareil cinématographique lui-même. Néanmoins, un tel raisonnment a eu tendance à insister davantage sur l'appareil lui-même que sur le rôle des spectateurs dans la relation du film à la guerre. Cet article montre justement qu'en fait, durant la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, le monde cinématographique japonais considérait comme essentielle la participation du public dans le déroulement de ladite « Guerre du film ».

"The Empty Return: Circularity and Repetition in Recent Japanese Horror Films." Minikomi: Informationen des Akademischen Arbeitskreis Japan N. 64 (2002): 19-24. (Available on Yale repository)

An analysis of Japanese horror films of the 1990s focusing on the motifs of circularity and repetition. Films analyzed include Ring, Tomie, Cure and Kairo.

"Recognizing 'Others' in a New Japanese Cinema." Japan Foundation Newsletter 29.2 (January 2002): 1-6. (Available on Yale repository)

An introduction to Japanese cinema of the 1990s, concentrating on how it depicts the minorities or "others" of Japanese society, from ethnic and sexual minorities to ghosts and monsters, and how they help understand new conceptions of self. Filmmakers discussed include Aoyama Shinji, Suwa Nobuhiro, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Kawase Naomi, Hashiguchi Ryosuke, Miike Takashi, etc.

“A Scene at the Threshold: Liminality in the Films of Kitano Takeshi.” Asian Cinema 10.2 (Spring/Summer 1999): 107-115. (Available on Yale repository)

A reworking of an earlier article in Japanese and a precursor to my book on Kitano, this piece considers how liminal spaces such as beaches operate politically and cinematically in Kitano’s early films.

"Consuming Asia, Consuming Japan: The New Neonationalist Revisionism in Japan." Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 30.2 (April-June 1998): 30-36. (Available on Yale repository)

An analysis of recent neo-nationalist cultural trends, focusing particular on a “consumer nationalism” evident in such films as Iwai Shunji’s Swallowtail Butterfly.

“The Self Seen as Other: Akutagawa and Film.” Film/Literature Quarterly 23.5 (1995): 197-203. (Available on JSTOR and Yale repository)

Analyzes the image of cinema that Akutagawa Ryunosuke evoked in such works as "The Shadow" (Kage).

"The Benshi's New Face: Defining Cinema in Taisho Japan." Iconics 3 (1994): 69-86. (Available at CiNii)

One of my first published articles, this piece helped formed the basis for my thinking the relation between the benshi and issues of power and how that helped define cinema in the Taisho era.

"Celluloid Masks: The Cinematic Image and the Image of Japan." Iris 16 (Spring 1993): 23-36. (Available on the Yale repository)

This article considers the image of cinema being created in prewar Japanese literature, specifically focusing on the works of Kawabata Yasunari and Tanizaki Jun'ichiro.


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