Research
My most recent research has concentrated on two main themes: how memories of Japan and the Pacific War are represented in public culture, including in museums and in popular culture; and the impact of war and memory on Okinawa.
The following projects are current:
War and Memory: Remembering the Pacific War in the Pacific
This project examines how war is remembered in different parts of the Pacific by focusing on the public representation of the war experience. Up to this stage I have published research individually on comparative memory in Australia and Japan, and have published recent collaborative research on how the Pacific War is remembered in Okinawa and in Tokyo. My current research focuses on kamikaze, developing themes from earlier research, and on how memory and amnesia are produced in the public domain, with a specific focus on Okinawa.
Shamanism in Okinawa after the Pacific War
Following on from research in Japan and Okinawa I have become intrigued by how religion was employed in Okinawa in the years following the Battle of Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa left 100,000 Okinawans dead. This project examines how in the context of the postwar US occupation of the islands, and the abandonment of Japanese culture, shamans re-emerged as powerful signifiers in redefining Okinawan cultural values through their engagement with the victims of violence.
Selected Publications
Books (edited)
2014 (with R. Sakamoto). (eds). Japanese Popular Culture: Critical Concepts in Asian Studies. Routledge, Oxon and New York – includes the following 4 volumes.
Japanese Popular Culture in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 402pp
Japanese Popular Culture in the Twenty-First Century (I). Routledge. Oxon and New York. 398pp
Japanese Popular Culture in the Twenty-First Century (II). Routledge. Oxon and New York. 425pp
Globalizing Japanese Popular Culture: The 'Coolness' of Japan? Routledge. Oxon and New York. 407pp
2006 (with R. Sakamoto). (eds) Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 240pp. ISBN10-415-36898-7. Hardback and Paperback. *In 2010 selected for Routledge ‘Cutting Edge in Social Theory’ Series.
Books
2002. Identity and Resistance in Okinawa. Md. Rowman and Littlefield. 280pp; illustrations, photographs, glossary, index. ISBN 0-7425-1714-4. Hardback and Paperback. (Asian Voices series).
1994 (reprint 1995, 2009). Undermining the Japanese Miracle: Work and Conflict in a Japanese Coal Mining Village. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge and Melbourne. 290pp; illustrations, photographs, glossary, index. ISBN0-521-45009-8. Hardback and paperback (1995, 2009).
Refereed articles/book chapters
On war and memory:
2016. 'Okinawa and the War Dead: emotional vignettes from the front line'. In G. Bird, S. Claxton, and K. Reeves (eds) Managing and Interpreting D-Day's Sites of Memory: Guardians of Remembrance. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 255-270.
2015. (forthcoming) 'Okinawa and the War Dead: emotional vignettes from the front line'. In G. Bird, S. Claxton, and K. Reeves (eds) Guardians of Remembrance: Managing and interpreting war heritage in Normandy. Routledge. Oxon and New York.
2015. 'Ghostly Remains and Converging Memories: Yūshūkan and The Australian War Memorial exhibit the Pacific War'. Asian Studies Review. Vol 39 no. 3: 430-446. DOI: 10.1080/10357823.2015.1053839.
2015. 'Producing Okinawan Cultural Identity in Hawai'i's 'Multicultural Paradise'. The Asia Pacific Journal. Vol 13, Iss 10, March: 1-18.
2014. (with R. Sakamoto). 'Confusing the Okinawan Memoryscape: the organic memorialisation of the Battle of Okinawa'. Writing the War in Asia – a documentary history. Available at: http://www.uni-konstanz.de/war-in-asia/memoryscapes-of-the-war/.
2013. (with R. Sakamoto). 'War and Peace: War Memories and Museums in Japan.'History Compass. Vol. 11, no. 12: 1047–1058.
2010. ‘Undermining the Occupation: Women Coalminers in 1940s Japan.’ Portal Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies, vol. 7, no. 2.
On popular culture:
2014. (with R. Sakamoto). 'Coming to terms with popular culture and Japanese society' in M. Allen and R. Sakamoto (eds). Japanese Popular Culture in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 1-8.
2014. (with R. Sakamoto). 'Japanese pop culture in the long postwar' in M. Allen and R. Sakamoto (eds). Japanese Popular Culture in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 9-12.
2014. (with R Sakamoto). 'Visualising Japanese popular culture in the new millennium' in M. Allen and R. Sakamoto (eds) Japanese Popular Culture in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 1-4.
2014. (with R. Sakamoto). 'Subcultures and Japanese society' in M. Allen and R. Sakamoto (eds) Japanese Popular Culture in the Twenty-First Century. Routledge. Oxon and New York. 1-4.
2014. (with R. Sakamoto). 'How Cool is Japan?' in M. Allen and R. Sakamoto (eds)Globalizing Japanese Popular Culture: The 'Coolness' of Japan)? Routledge. Oxon and New York. 1-4.
2012. '‘Cool’ Asia-really? Cultural relativism and the cool/uncool divide in studying Asia.' In E.Kolesova and S. Wilson (eds) Cool New Asia: Asian Popular Culture in a Local Context. Unitec E-Press, Auckland. 4-18.
2011. (with R. Sakamoto). 'White People Can't Sell Sushi: Koreanisation of sushi in New Zealand.' New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies. 13:2, December. 18-36.
2011. (with R Sakamoto). ‘There’s Something Fishy About That Sushi: how Japan interprets the global sushi boom.’ Japan Forum, June 23:1, 99-121.
2011. (with R. Sakamoto). ‘Sushi Reverses Course: Consuming American Sushi in Tokyo.’ Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. January. No 3481.
On identity politics/history:
2015. 'Producing Okinawan Cultural Identity in Hawai'i's 'Multicultural Paradise'. The Asia Pacific Journal. Vol 39, Iss 9,1. March 9.
2010. ‘Crossing International Borders: Okinawans, Festivals, and Representation in Hawaii.’ In J. Baxter (ed) Globalization, Localization, and Japanese Studies in the Asia-Pacific Region. Volume 1. International Research Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken). 221-238.
2009. ‘Okinawans in Japan.’ In Michael Weiner (ed). Japan’s Minorities (3rd edition) Routledge. 188-205.
On disasters:
2013. 'Deconstructing 'Resilience' in the Aftermath of Disasters in Australia.' Senshu Social Capital Review. 4:45-64.
2011. ‘A Double-Whammy: Two Cyclones in Five Years – how a North Queensland community mobilized social capital in response to natural disasters.’ Senshu Social Capital Review. October. 3-36.