Akihiko Shimizu

Teaching Fellow in Japanese

Biography

Background

Dr Akihiko Shimizu is Teaching Fellow in Japanese at Asian Studies and currently teaches Japanese language to all year levels. He received his PhD in English from the University of St Andrews. While his research primarily focuses on Ben Jonson and early modern English literature, his current research interests include comparative literary studies which investigate the rhetorical representation of character and the cultural implications of the face in English and Japanese writings from the 17th century onward.

Aki has an established teaching experience in both Japanese language and Japanese Studies in Higher Education since 2011.

Before taking up his position at the University of Edinburgh, he was a Lecturer in Japanese Studies at Cardiff University.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Memberships:

The British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language (BATJ)

The Shakespeare Association of America (SAA)

The Shakespeare Society of Japan

Undergraduate teaching

Japanese Language Beginners

Upper-Intermediate Japanese Language

Japanese 4 Oral

Foundation Japanese 2

Researching Japan

Research summary

Aki's current research areas include:

  • Japanese Literature
  • Ben Jonson and Early Modern English Literature
  • World Literature
  • Character Culture in Japan
  • Rhetoric and Legal Discourse
  • Representation of the Face

 

Invited speaker

Lectures and Talks:

2018         ‘The Character Culture in Japan and Murakami Haruki’s Killing Commendatore, ’ The Japanese Studies Seminar series at Cardiff University (24 October, 2018)

2018         ‘Bath Culture and Thermae Romae,’ Pre-screening Lecture, Japanese Film Festival, Co-hosted by The Consulate General of Japan in Edinburgh and The Japanese Department at The University of Edinburgh (23 February, 2018)

2017         Round Table Panelist, Japanese Film Festival, Co-hosted by The Consulate General of Japan in Edinburgh and The Japanese Department at The University of Edinburgh (10 March, 2017)

2017         ‘The Representation of Family, Professionalism and Death in Departures,’ Pre-Screening Talk, LfA Film Club, The University of Edinburgh (17 February, 2017)

2016         ‘The Scotsman in Japan: The Life of Thomas Glover and the Bakumatsu Era,’ Open Association, University of St Andrews, ‘Retirement is Opportunity’ Lecture (4 October, 2016)

2016         ‘The World of Japanese ‘Chukin’ Metal Casting,’ co-presented with Gordon Lochhead, Open Association, University of St Andrews, ‘Retirement is Opportunity’ Lecture (26-27 January, 2016)

2015         ‘Character Culture in Japan: Now and Then,’ Open Association, University of St Andrews, ‘Retirement is Opportunity’ Lecture (17-18 March, 2015)

2015         ‘Jonsonian Characters in The Alchemist,’ Pre-Theatre Talk for The Alchemist (Directed by Peter Sutton), Barron Theatre, St Andrews (13 March, 2015)

Organiser

Conference, Seminar and Workshop Organisation:

2018        ‘Behind the Masks: The Representation of the face in Japanese and Western European Literature and Theatre from the Early Modern Period to the Present,’ co-organised with Dr. Fabien Arribert-Narce, The University of Edinburgh (13-14 December, 2018)         

2017       ‘Introducing the Marugoto Series, and Reviewing Teaching Methods,’ Workshop for Japanese Teachers, co-hosted by The Centre for Open Learning, The University of Edinburgh and The Japan Foundation London (3 November, 2017)

Participant

Seminar and Workshop Participation:

2016        ‘Face-to-Face in Shakespearean Drama’ seminar, convened by Dr Matthew J Smith, Shakespeare Association of America, The 44th Annual Conference in New Orleans (23-26 March, 2015)

2014        ‘Ben Jonson Now’ seminar, convened by Prof. Sara van den Berg, Shakespeare Association of America, The 42nd Annual Conference in St Louis (9-12 April, 2014)

2011        The 9th World Shakespeare Congress in Prague, ‘Evidence, Trial, and Proof: Post-Reformation Legal Thinking and Theatrical Representation’ seminar, convened by Profs. Barbara Kreps and Jason Rosenblatt

2009         Folger Shakespeare Institute 2009 Fall Semester Seminar in Washington D.C., ‘Ben Jonson: Man of Letters,’ convened by Prof. Martin Butler

Papers delivered

Conference Presentation:

2018        ‘How to depict a faceless man: The narrative of the face in Murakami Haruki’s Killing Commendatore,’ for the ‘40 Years with Murakami Haruki’ International Conference at Newcastle University (8-9 March, 2018)

2016         ‘Fame, Trust and Credit in Ben Jonson’s The Staple of News,’ for the ‘Dare to Tell: Silence and Telling in Ben Jonson’ conference at the University of St Andrews (1-3 April, 2016)

2013         ‘Scepticism, News and Characters in Ben Jonson’s Volpone,’ for the ‘Bonds, Lies, and Circumstances: Discourses of Truth-Telling in the Renaissance’ conference at the University of St Andrews (21-23 March, 2013)

2011        ‘The Image of the Body in Ben Jonson’s Language,’ for the ‘Shakespeare and Early Modern Emotion’ conference at the University of Hull (29 June-1 July, 2011)

2011        ‘“To Furnish the Inward Parts”: Passions in Ben Jonson’s Hymenaei,’ for the 83rd Annual General Meetings of the English Literary Society of Japan in Kitakyushu, Japan (22 May, 2011)

2010        ‘Ben Jonson and the Vogue of Character Writing at the Inns of Court,’‘Law and Literature,’ symposium panelist, at the Society for Renaissance Studies 4th Biennial Conference, York (16 July, 2010)

2006        “Socializing the Text: The Representation of Sociability in Ben Jonson’s Epigrams,” The Society of Seventeenth-Century English Literature Japan, Osaka, Japan (25 March, 2006)

2005       “Representing Humour: Fashion, Carriage, and Language in Every Man Out of His Humour,” The Stuart-era Research Group, Tokyo (27 December, 2005)

Peer-Reviewed Publication:

2019       ‘The Face as Rhetorical Self in Ben Jonson’s Literature.’ In Face-to-Face in Shakespearean Drama: Ethics, Performance, Philosophy. Eds. Matthew J. Smith and Julia Reinhard Lupton. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

2017　‘“I’d make thee eat the mischief thou hast vented”: Discourse of Law in Ben Jonson’s Catiline His Conspiracy.’ Ben Jonson Journal 24.1 (May, 2017): 22-45.

2013     ‘The Meaning of “counsel” in Catiline’s Conspiracy: An Observation on Characters and Law.’（「『キャティラインの陰謀』における“counsel”の意味―キャラクターと法をめぐって」）Shakespeare News 52.2 (2013, The Shakespeare Society of Japan): 14-25.

2012       ‘Passions, Acting and Face in Early Modern Characters: An Alternative View on the Avatar.’ Journal of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences 46 (2012): 569-83.

2011        ‘“To Furnish the Inward Parts”: Passions in Ben Jonson’s Hymenae.’ Proceedings of the 83rd Annual General Meetings of the English Literary Society of Japan.

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