Melissa Van Wyk
102 Bel Espace 19-26 Hakozaki-chō, Nihonbashi, Chuō-ku,
Tokyo, Japan 103-0015
mvanwyk@berkeley.edu • + 81 080-8420-8652
Education:
7/2019 – present

Research Fellow, Waseda University

8/2017 – present

Ph.D. candidate, East Asian Languages and Cultures PhD Program,
University of California, Berkeley. Candidacy awarded 5/2019.

9/2013 – 8/2017

Pre-candidate, Asian Languages and Cultures PhD Program, University ofMichigan. M. A. degree conferred 8/2017.

9/2014 – 6/2015

10-Month Intensive Japanese Language Program, Inter-University Centerfor Japanese Language Studies

9/2010 – 5/2013

M. A. Japanese Studies, University of Michigan Center for JapaneseStudies

9/2004 – 5/2008

B. A. Classical Studies and Latin, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI

Presentations:
1/10/2021“Stage Objects in Print: Collaboration and New Perspectives in Osome
Hisamatsu ukina no yomiuri,” 2021 Modern Languages Association
Annual Convention (upcoming, virtual)

12/12/2020“The ‘issei ichidai’ of Hasegawa Kanbei XI: Large-scale Scene Change
Technology and ‘Curtain-less’ Performances in the Bunsei and Tenpō
Periods 十一代目長谷川勘兵衛の 一世一代 —文政・天保期
ける
幕 し 興行と大規模の場面転換仕掛け,” Kabuki Gakkai Fall

Conference (upcoming, virtual)
9/2/2020“The Ningyōburi Performances of Sawamura Tanosuke III: Puppet
Mimicry as Spectacle and Expression,” AAS-in-Asia, Kobe, Japan (virtualpresentation)

8/2/2017“Rural Performance in the Urban Imaginary: Early 19th-century
Depictions of Jishibai,” Association for Asian Performance, Las Vegas,
NV

5/13/2017“Excessive Stage Directions and the Question of Genre in Abe Kōbō’s Bō
ni natta otoko,” Midwestern Japanese Studies Conference, University ofChicago

1

4/23/2016“The Curious Case of Sawamura Tanosuke III: Gender, Disability, andPerformance in Bakumatsu Japan,” 3rd Annual UC Berkeley Japan Studies
Graduate Conference, Berkeley, CA

2/6/2015“Peeking Behind the Curtain: Imaginations of the Backstage in
Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Kabuki 舞台裏を覗く—19 世紀
ら 20 世紀

けての歌舞伎の舞台裏への想像,” Nippon Foundation

Fellows Program Special Presentation Conference, Tokyo, Japan
Teaching Experience:
Fall 2015

Graduate Student Instructor, ASIAN 260 – History of Chinese Civilization
with Professor Miranda Brown, University of Michigan

Winter 2016

Graduate Student Instructor, ASIAN 325 – Zen: History, Culture, &Critique with Professor Ben Brose, University of Michigan

Winter 2017

Graduate Student Instructor, ASIAN 258: Food and Drink of Asia withProfessor Miranda Brown, University of Michigan

Relevant Employment:
10/2015 – 10/2016

Curatorial Assistant, Japanese Prints of Kabuki Theater from theCollection of the University of Michigan Museum of Art. University ofMichigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, MI

7/2009 – 7/2010

Assistant Language Teacher, Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET)
Program in Higashiomi, Shiga

Relevant Service:
2/17/2017

Interpreter & MC for “A Night of Rakugo” performance and Q&A by
rakugo performers Yanagita Sankyō and Yanagita Kyonosuke

5/6/2016 – 5/7/2016 Organizer, University of Michigan Japanese Studies Graduate Conference
9/2015 – 5/2016

Co-coordinator, Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop, Japanese Studies
Interdisciplinary Colloquium (JSIC), University of Michigan

9/2013 – 5/2014

Co-coordinator, Rackham Interdisciplinary Workshop, Japanese Studies
Interdisciplinary Colloquium (JSIC), University of Michigan

Relevant Academic Awards/Honors:
2019 – 2020

Fulbright U.S. Student Fellowship for dissertation research

2018

Center for Japanese Studies Graduate Student Fellowship for summer
research, University of California Berkeley Center for Japanese Studies

2017

Nominee, Rackham Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, University2

of Michigan
2016

William P. Malm Award for Outstanding Student Writing in JapaneseStudies

2015

Toshiba International Foundation Summer Fellow

9/2014 – 6/2015

Nippon Foundation Fellows Program Scholarship

2014

Hide Shohara Fellowship, University of Michigan

2011 – 2012

Center for Japanese Studies Mellon Prize Full Tuition Fellowship

2012

Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS)

2011

Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS)

Workshops Attended:
08/2017

Graduate Summer School in Japanese Early-modern Palaeography,
University of Cambridge

5/30/2017 – 6/2/2017 Japanese Text Mining, Emory University
5/2016 – 6/2016

Japanese Language Pedagogy Course with Mayumi Oka, University ofMichigan

3/2016

Shakespeare’s Documents, Folger Library, Washington D.C. Organizedby Tiffany Stern

7/5/2015 – 7/31/2015 Participant, Japan Foundation Summer Institute on Japanese Studies inJapan 2015
2013

Reading Kuzushiji: Early Modern Japanese Summer Workshop,University of Chicago

Japanese Language Study:
FA 2016Classical Japanese with Erin Brightwell, University of Michigan

9/2014 – 6/2015

Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Study, Yokohama, JapanFA 2013

Seminar in reading pre-modern Japanese historical documents with Hitomi
Tonomura, University of Michigan

2012Classical Japanese Summer Intensive Course, Kyoto Consortium forJapanese Studies

9/2011 – 5/2012

2 semesters of fourth year Japanese, University of Michigan

2011

Kyoto Summer Program in Advanced Japanese, Kyoto Consortium forJapanese Studies

9/2010 – 5/2011

2 semesters of third year Japanese, University of Michigan

39/2006 – 5/2008

4 semesters of study, Calvin University, Grand Rapids, MI

Other Language Study:
2020

1 semester reading Dutch documents, University of California, Berkeley

2018 – 20192 semesters Elementary Dutch, University of California, Berkeley

2017 – 2018

2 semesters Literary Chinese, University of California, Berkeley

2016

1 semester 2nd Year Korean II, University of Michigan

2014

Summer intensive in advanced Korean, Sogang University

2013 – 2014

2 semesters 1st Year Korean, University of Michigan4