05/2024
CURRICULUM VITAERYOTARO MIHARA
AFFILIATION:

Associate Professor
Faculty of Economics
Keio University

CITIZENSHIP:Japan
EDUCATIONDATE

DEGREEINSTITUTION

201720092003

PhD (Anthropology)
MA (Sociocultural Anthropology)
BA (Cultural Anthropology)

University of Oxford
Cornell University
University of Tokyo

DOCTORAL THESIS:

Brokering Anime: How to Create a Japanese Animation Business Bridge between
Japan and India
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2020–
2016–2019

Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Keio University
Lecturer, School of Finance and Management, SOAS University of London

NON-ACADEMIC POSITIONS
2019–2018–2014–
2003–2012

Fellow, Arch Research(Research and Development team at Arch Inc.)
Global Business Adviser, Arch Inc.
(Japanese Animation Planning & Producing Company)
Adviser, JI Style Ltd./Anime Pop Mall Pvt. Ltd. (Venture Companies)
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI: Japanese Government)
Deputy Director, Creative Industries Division (2011–2012)
GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2022–2024

2021–2025

2020–2023
2018–2019

The Toyota Foundation Research Grant, ‘The Possibilities of Consumption
Spaces and the Relationship with Leisure Activities: A Multi-Perspective
Approach to the Media Environment and Urban Industrial Organization of theAnime Fan Experience’ (Project Member)
Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant for ‘Research
project on the trans-Asian spread of the motif of Hakujaden (The Legend of WhiteSnake) in the films and other visual art works created around East Asia’ (PrincipalInvestigator)
Keio University Academic Development Funds for Individual Research,‘Ethnographic Research on the Contemporary Dynamics of Japan-Asia
Cooperation in the Field of Creative Industries’
Meiji Jingu Japanese Studies Research Grant, ‘The Trans-Asianising of Japanese
Cultural and Creative Industries: Case Studies of Animation Projects in China,
India and Beyond’1

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University of Oxford Swire Centenary & Cathay Pacific ScholarshipJapan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant for ‘Empirical
Research on Globalization of Creative Industries: Focusing on the Role of InterCultural Gatekeepers’ (Project Member)
Japanese Government Long-Term Fellowship2014–2016
2013–2015
2007–2009

PUBLICATIONS IN ENGLISH
BOOKIn progress

Brokering Anime: How to Create a Japanese Animation Business Bridge between Japanand India (working title), currently under review by scholarly presses

REFREED ARTICLES
2020
2020

‘A coming of age in the anthropological study of anime? Introductory thoughts envisioning
the business anthropology of Japanese animation’, Journal of Business Anthropology 9(1):88–110‘Involution: A perspective for understanding the Japanese animation’s domestic business ina global context’, Japan Forum 32(1): 102–125

NON-REFEREED ARTICLE
2022‘How an animation production studio survived the pandemic: The case of Graphinica, Inc.’,co-authored by Nao Hirasawa, Journal of Business Anthropology 11(2): 225–234
PUBLICATIONS IN JAPANESE

BOOKS
2014
2010

Kūru Japan wa naze Kirawarerunoka: Nekkyou to Reishou o Koete (Why is ‘Cool Japan’so Criticized? Beyond Enthusiasm and Cynicism). Tokyo: Chūō Kōron ShinshaHaruhi in USA: Nihon Anime Kokusaika no Kenkyū (Haruhi in USA: A Case Study of aJapanese Anime in the United States). Tokyo: NTT Publishing

NON-REFEREED ARTICLES
2013
2010

Shiron: Kūru Japan to tsūshō seisaku (‘An essay on the relationship between “Cool Japan”
and trade policy’), Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry Discussion Paper
Series 13-J-051
Uroborosu no wa, aruiwa anime orientarizumu shiron (‘The Ouroboros strip, or an essayon anime orientalism’), Hitotsubashi Business Review 58(3): 68–85

BOOK CHAPTERS
2022

2020

‘Nihon’ kara ‘Nihongo’ e: Manga no kokkyou o koeta tenkai ni kakaru zaifutsu manga
shuppansha kiūn no kēsusutadi (‘From “Japan” to “Japanese”: A case study of Frenchmanga publisher Ki-oon regarding manga’s transnational production and distribution’), coauthored with Mami Toyonaga, In Manga Tankyu 13-kou (13 Chapters for Exploring
Manga Studies), Masahiro Koyama, Hiroaki Tamagawa and Ryuta Koike eds., Pp. 311–344, Tokyo: Suiseisha
Nihon no anime bijinesu no kaigaitenkai to chuugoku: Kagigainen to shite no burōkā(‘Exploring how Japan and China interact in the field of anime business: Broker as a keyconcept’), co-authored with Kazuo Yamashita, In Anime no Shakaigaku (Sociology ofAnime), Daisuke Nagata and Shintaro Matsunaga eds., Pp. 148–157, Kyoto: Nakanishiya
Publishing2

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BUSINESS CASE
2010

Bandai Entateinmento: Hokubei anime shijō ni okeru aratana bijinesumoderu no mosaku(‘Bandai Entertainment: in search of new business models in the North American animemarket’), co-authored with Mayuka Yamazaki, Hitotsubashi Business Review 58(3): 140–153
SEMINARS, COLLOQUIA, CONFERENCES(SELECTED)

August 2023

‘Trans-Asianising the animated Hakujaden: From a milestone in the national history ofJapanese animation to a local node of Asia-wide dissemination of the white snake motif’,
paper jointly presented with Tatsuo Yoshikawa and Kazuo Yamashita for panel ‘The Politicsof Transnational Japanese Media’, 17th International Conference of the European
Association for Japanese Studies, Ghent: Ghent University.

July 2023‘Exploring ‘institutional Orientalism’ at work in Anglophone anime studies’, paper forpanel ‘Thinking with Animation’, The Twenty-fifth Asian Studies Conference Japan,
Tokyo: Sophia University.

June 2023‘The trans-Asianisation of the Japanese animation scene: A case study of Chineseanimation’s distribution in Japan’, paper jointly presented with Tatsuo Yoshikawa andKazuo Yamashita for panel ‘Border Crossings’, Society for Animation Studies 34th Annual
Conference, Online.

May 2023‘Co-producing anime in Asia: Comparative case study on Japan’s anime co-production withChina, India and Saudi Arabia’, paper for panel ‘Economies of Anime’, MechademiaInternational Conference in Kyoto, Kyoto: Kyoto International Manga Museum.

June 2021‘Past, present, and future of storyboarding in Japanese animation’, paper jointly presentedwith Jun Kato and Nao Hirasawa for session ‘Anime’, Society for Animation Studies 32nd
Annual Conference, Online.

March 2021

‘Research on anime storyboards for individual and collaborative creativity’, poster jointly
presented with Jun Kato, Kazuya Murata, Kenta Hara and Nao Hirasawa, The 1st
International Symposium on Intelligence Design, Online. Won the Best Poster Award.

September 2020

‘Examining the contemporary dynamics of Japan-China interactions in the cultural andcreative industries’, paper for roundtable ‘Examining the Contemporary Dynamics ofJapan-China Interactions in the Cultural and Creative Industries’, Association for AsianStudies Annual Conference in Asia 2020 (AAS-in-Asia 2020), Online.

November 2019

‘Anime has been hiding from the world’: How Orientalism works in contemporary
Anglophone anime studies’, paper for panel ‘Disciplines, Theories, and Meta-Reflection’,International Symposium: Theorizing Anime: Invention of Concepts and Conditions ofTheir Possibility, Tokyo: Waseda University.

May 2018‘The liminal position of a broker that converges the conflict between art and commerce:
From the case of a trans-Asian anime business project bridging Japan and India’, paper forsession ‘East Asian Creative Industry in a Global Context’, The Fourth Global CreativeIndustries Conference, Hangzhou: Wider Gaming Culture and Entertainment Center.

March 2018‘Bridging business customs: Brokers for cross-cultural management in Asia’, paper forsession ‘Border Theories’, Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference 2018,Washington D.C.: Marriott Wardman Park.
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September 201705/2024‘How can Japan (Re)establish its politico-economic position vis-à-vis the Asia region? Acase study of an entrepreneurial Indo-Japanese creative business project’, paper for panel‘Japan and Asia’, 15th International Conference of the European Association for JapaneseStudies, Lisbon: Nova University.

June 2017‘How to export Japanese animation products to India: A case study of a trans-Asian creativeventure business project’, paper for workshop ‘Insights into Cultural Industries: NewApproaches through Business and Economic Perspectives’, The 4th ECIPE-Korea ProjectInternational Workshop, Brussels: European Centre for International Political Economy.

July 2014‘The global presence of Japanese popular culture as one of the cultural waves from Asia’,
paper for panel ‘New Cultural Waves from Asia’, XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology,
Yokohama: Pacifico Yokohama.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANISATIONSBusiness Anthropology Network
European Association for Japanese Studies
Society for Animation Studies
ACTIVITIES AND COMMITTEESKEIO UNIVERSITY
2024–2023–
2021–2024
2020–2022

Deputy Director, Keio Research Center for the Liberal Arts
Steering Committee for the Endowed Course ‘Entertainment Business Management’(Akatsuki Inc.), Keio Research Center for the Liberal Arts
Curriculum Committee, Faculty of Economics
Assistant Academic Advisor, Faculty of Economics

SOAS UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
2016–20192016–2019

Programme Convenor and Personal Adviser, BSc International Management (Japan andKorea), BSc International Management (Japan) (Year Abroad) and BSc International
Management (Korea) (Year Abroad), School of Finance and Management
Tutor, Japan Year Abroad Exchange Programme, School of Finance and Management
THESES SUPERVISED/EXAMINEDPHD
2022

Artour Ivanovich Mitski, ‘Japanese Bangkok and Bangkok’s Japanese: The structures andpractices of transnational belonging in a global city’ (Examiner), School of Languages,Cultures and Linguistics, SOAS University of London
OTHERS

2022–2024
2021
2017–20182015–

Consortium Member, Research Project on Promoting Japanese Food in the Overseas
Market by Collaborating with Japanese Animation, Japan External Trade Organization
Commentator, Japanese Anime, Made In China (NPR programme)
Location hunting coordinator (London), Phantom in the Twilight (Japan–Chinainternational co-production animation programme)
Founder and Chairman, Society for Japanese Animation Industries Studies
42014–2013–20142013, 2015
201005/2024
Global promotion representative, VOCALOID Opera AOI with Bunraku Puppets (a 30minute-length opera film in which Bunraku puppets and puppeteers perform with the songsof VOCALOID, the singing voice synthesis software developed by Yamaha Corporation)
Committee Member, KAIKA Project, Japan Management Association
Executive Committee Member, World VOCALOID Convention
Commentator, Japan Unlocked (NHK World TV programme)

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