Associate Professor

Hiroshi Morishita

Profile

Faculty of Letters Department of Human Studies

Graduate School of Graduate School of Letters Sociology Major

Specialized Field	Popular Culture Studies
Research theme	The formation and transformation of special effects films and the science fiction genre in postwar Japan Stories and Expressions in Tezuka Osamu's Early Manga Works
Subjects in charge	Invitation to International Japanese Studies, Readings from Outside the Field of Human Studies (English), Subculture Theory, Readings from Outside the Field of Human Studies (English), Introduction to Expression and Culture Theory, etc.
Main career, work history, and academic background	Nara Prefecture 2009.3 Graduated from Kyoto University Faculty of Letters (Basic Modern Literature, 20th Century Studies) Graduate School: 2014.3 Kyoto University Graduate Graduate School of Letters (Modern Cultural Studies, 20th Century Studies) Withdrew after earning credits 2015.7 Received a PhD in Literature from Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University 2016.4-2019.3 Assistant Lecturer Faculty of Letters, Tokyo Seitoku University
Affiliated academic societies and organizations	Japan Society for the Study of Comics and Manga, Japan Modern Literature Association, Japan Society for Children's Literature
Main Papers and Publications	"Reading Postwar Popular Culture from the Perspective of Monsters" (Seikyusha, 2016) "Representation of Nuclear Energy in Short Science Fiction from the Late 1950s to the Early 1970s," Studies in the Sociology of War 1 (2017) "The Story Structure of 'The Mysterious Man from the Underground Kingdom' (1948): Continuity with Prewar and Wartime Children's Culture and Its Breakthrough Impact," Manga Studies 23 (2017)

Specialized Field	Popular Culture Studies
Research theme	・The formation of special effects films and the science fiction genre in postwar Japan ・Transformation of stories and expressions in postwar Japanese manga
research content	As you know, after the war Japan developed various popular cultures such as manga and anime. However, this was not decided from the beginning. There were different paths that could have been taken, and they may have been lost when the current form of development was adopted. My research focuses on the ways in which popular culture was expressed and received, and questions the process by which it came to be organized as it is today. In recent years, I have been focusing on analyzing what changes in platforms such as magazines and the Internet have brought to popular culture.
Research and Education Policy	In today's uncertain times, we all need to be able to determine the value of things for ourselves and decide our own attitudes and actions. Unless each of us considers what is best for the things around us and chooses how to act from our own perspective, the world as a whole will not improve. I am conducting my own research with the hope that analyzing popular culture, a culture and phenomenon that is close to everyone, will help everyone reflect on their surroundings. It may come as a surprise, but research activities themselves are in fact closely related to the acquisition of the skills I mentioned at the beginning. In research, it is essential to consider things from multiple perspectives, determine questions, analyze logically, and provide answers on one's own responsibility. Based on this idea, we conduct educational activities with the intention of helping students acquire the so-called "power to live" through their experiences at university and graduate school.
Degrees Obtained	Ph.D. (Literature), Graduate School Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University
Message	This relates to what I wrote in the "Research and Education Policy," but it doesn't matter what the topic of your research is. The act of seriously conducting research will be a benefit to you. Don't be afraid or intimidated, just tackle something that you can say you "want to do" responsibly. Our faculty members are here to help you with that.

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