I’m a scholar of Japanese literary arts and entertainment. Much of my work to date has focused on traditional comic storytelling (rakugo) and its premodern precursors, literary and otherwise. My monograph The Comic Storytelling of Western Japan: Satire and Social Mobility in Kamigata Rakugo was recently published by Cambridge University Press.

My career began at Cambridge, where I oversaw Japanese literature and translation units, and was a Governing Body Fellow and Director of East Asian Studies at Peterhouse, the oldest of the Cambridge colleges. I’m now a senior lecturer in Japanese at Australia’s oldest higher ed institution, the University of Sydney. I have a PhD in Japanese literature from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and master’s degrees from Tezukayama University and Portland State University.

I’ve supervised students of all levels, undergraduate to PhD, and taught classes on both premodern and modern Japan and East Asia. And I’ve been lucky to get to apply the full range of my training in courses like traditional theatre and cultural history, classical Japanese (kobun, bungo, kuzushi-ji), and premodern poetry and prose as well as modern/contemporary subjects like film & media, literature, language (beginning to advanced), translation, and academic writing for majors.

To enrich my research, I’ve trained in numerous performing arts from my specialty of rakugo to nō, kyōgen, kabuki, kouta, shamisen, hayashi music, and more. From 2002 to 2004 and 2010 to 2012, I apprenticed with rakugo masters Katsura Bunshi V (1930-2005) and Hayashiya Somemaru IV (b. 1949), respectively.

I was born and grew up in Oregon and am a proud “first-gen.” I’ve been fortunate to spend more than ten years in Japan for postgraduate studies and subsequent research. In my free time I enjoy running, rearranging furniture, and collecting Billiken curios. I’ve also been caught reading and writing poetry and fiction, translating this or that.

日本文芸学者。 研究の大半は、落語および前近代の文学や芸能に関わる。２０２１年、研究書『西日本の滑稽話芸－上方落語における風刺と社会的移動』をケンブリッジ大学出版局にて出版。

ケンブリッジ大学にて日本文学助教授として日本文学、翻訳の授業を担当。ケンブリッジ大学のカレッジの一つであるピーターハウスでは、フェロー及び東アジア研究ディレクターをつとめた。２０１９年より、シドニー大学の日本研究准教授。ポートランド州立大学卒業、帝塚山大学修士課程修了、ポートランド州立大学修士課程修了、ハワイ大学マノア校博士課程修了、日本文学博士。

学部生から博士課程後期生まで指導し、現在までの担当科目は「近代・現代日本文学」、「東アジアの映画論」、「日本演劇文化史」、「近世文学と文化」、「文語」、「現代日本語」、「日英翻訳」、また「アカデミックライティング」等。

研究を深める為、専門である落語のみならず能、狂言、歌舞伎、小唄、三味線、囃子音楽など、様々な芸能の稽古に取り組む。２００２年〜２００４年、五代目桂文枝の見習い弟子。２０１０年〜２０１２年、四代目林家染丸の臨時弟子。

アメリカ、オレゴン州出身。第一世代大学卒。進学そして研究のため、１０年以上を日本で過ごす。趣味はランニング、インテリアの配置換え、ビリケン集め、俳句や短編小説を読んだり書いたりすること、翻訳。

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