About this site

Hiroki Azuma is a Japanese cultural critic / associate professor. He publishes papers and essays of a wide scope from academic studies on contemporary philosophy to cultural surveys on Japanese postmodern/otaku products. This website is managed by himself to inform the concerned non-Japanese speaking readers of his activities.

You can also reach this website at: www.hirokiazuma.com/en.

Short bio

• 1971 born in Tokyo
• 1993 initiate writing activities
• 1994 BA at the University of Tokyo
• 1996 MA at the University of Tokyo
• 1999 Ph.D at the University of Tokyo
• 1999
  The 21st Suntory Prize for Social Sciences and Humanities
  awarded by Suntory Foundation
• 1999-2002
  Research Fellow
  Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
• 2002- present
  part-time lecturer
  Keio University, Tokyo
• 2003- present
  Associate Professor
  Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM)
  International University of Japan, Tokyo

Bibliography

1. Sonzaironteki, Yubinteki : Jacques Derrida ni tsuite
   [Ontological, Postal : on Jacques Derrida]
   Shinchosha, 1998.
2. Yubintekifuantachi
   [Postal Anxieties]
   Asahi Shimbun, 1999.
3. Fukashina Mono no Sekai
   [On Overvisualized World : Interviews]
   Asahi Shimbun, 2000.
4. Dobutsuka suru Posutomodan : Otaku kara mita Nihonshakai
   [Animalizing Postmodernity : Otaku and Postmodern Japanese Society]
   Kodansha, 2001.
5. Yubintekifuantachi #
   [Postal Anxieties #]
   Asahi Shimbun, 2002 (paperback, revised version of (ii)).
6. Moujou Genron F Kai : Posutomodan, Otaku, Sekushuariti
   [Postmodern, Otaku and Sexuality]
   with Tamaki Saito, Mari Kotani and others.
   Seidosha, 2003.
7. Dobustuka suru Sekai no naka de
   [In the Animalizing World]
   with Kiyoshi Kasai
   Shueisha, 2003.
8. Jiyu wo kangaeru
   [Thinking about Liberty]
   with Masachi Osawa
   NHK Shuppan, 2003.
   

(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v)

Texts available in English

1. " Anime or Something like It ",
   original version published in Japanese,
   in InterCommunication vol.18, NTT Publishing, 1996.
2. "Two Deconstructions",
   unpublished.
3. "Ontological, Advertising, "Superflat"",
   in Kohkoku vol.41, Hakuhodo, 2000.
4. "Ontological, Advertising, "Character"",
   in Kohkoku vol.42, Hakuhodo, 2000.
5. "Superflat Speculation",
   in Takashi Murakami(ed.), Super Flat, Madra Publishing, 2000.
6. " Superflat Japanese Postmodernism",
   original version lectured at LA/MOCA on April 5, 2001.

Present studies

• Socio-Psychoanalytical Relationship between Derridian project of grammatology and the development of information sciences.
• General theory of postmodern communication and imagery including otaku culture.

Philosophical backgrounds

Azuma's thesis deals with the thought of a French contemporary philosopher, Jacques Derrida. His point is; to decipher Derridian postal metaphors on the theoretical basis and to survey the philosophical/psychoanalytical possibilities of his rhetorical styles in 1970s. The thesis consists of four chapters; the first three are written to define a theoretical expanse of later Derridian thoughts (called "postal deconstruction") and distinguish it from the earlier Derridian problematics, while the last is to investigate a broader range of the intersection between Freud and Heidegger, that is psychoanalysis and "Daseinsanalyse", through Derridian concept of communication.

The content of the thesis is eventually the same as that of the published study as Sonzaironteki, Yubinteki , which wins the Suntory Prize.