Conference presentation 学会発表

On August 4, 2022, I presented online for the Japan: Pre-modern, Modern, Contemporary 9th International Conference (hybrid) hosted by the “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, Bucharest. Participating in a panel titled “Craft, Leisure, and Sport in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Religions” I presented under the title “Butchering Cuties: The Violent Religious Symbolism Found on Votive Tablets from Pilgrimaging Anime Fans.” I wish to extend my deep gratitude to the organizers and to my fellow panel members.

ハイブリッドで開催された第9回国際学術大会「Japan: Pre-modern, Modern, Contemporary: A Return Trip from the East to the West, Learning in, about and from Japan」（於 “Dimitrie Cantemir” Christian University, Bucharest）にて「Butchering Cuties: The Violent Religious Symbolism Found on Votive Tablets from Pilgrimaging Anime Fans」というタイトルで2022年9月4日に発表しました。

The abstract for my presentation follows:

Butchering Cuties: The Violent Religious Symbolism Found on Votive Tablets from Pilgrimaging Anime Fans
It has become commonplace for the artists producing anime (animation) to draw upon real-world places and scenery. As a cultural by-product, fans search out and travel to the locales that function as the
inspiration for an anime’s setting. Fans often refer to this activity as seichi junrei 聖地巡礼, literally
sacred-site pilgrimage, investing it with a degree of socio-religious significance.
Beginning with a game that later developed into an anime series, Higurashi-no-naku-koro-ni ひぐらしのなく頃に (hereafter, Higurashi) exemplifies how an anime can generate a pilgrimage. Higurashi’s
pilgrimage emerged around 2007 in conjunction with its first television airing. Fans started visiting the
modeled village of Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its
rustic and nostalgic atmosphere. Similar to fans at other anime pilgrimage sites, Higurashi fans gathered
at a real-world Shinto shrine located in Shirakawa, where they began dedicating wooden votive tablets on
which they penned prayers to and illustrations of the Higurashi characters.
Such fan activity may be welcomed by communities hoping to increase their tourist draw and invigorate their local economy, but the fan presence at Shirakawa was not well-received by locals. The reason perhaps lies with the Higurashi storyline which follows a group of students who become entangled in a run of mysterious murders. Murders that are depicted in the series with bloody brutality. While most
fans illustrated their votive tablets with a cute and innocent likeness of the Higurashi’s characters, a
number of fans chose to deliver images of those same characters in their psychotic and butchering alter
ego. In this paper, I will focus on these darker artistic renderings and associated motifs in an effort to
elucidate the nature of religious devotion offered by fans to the Higurashi world.

Workshop presentation ワークショップ発表

On January 24, 2021, I presented at the online VIII – International Research Workshop “Mutual Images” hosted by Ryukoku University Kyoto. The workshop theme was “Japan Pilgrimages: Experiences and motivations behind cultural and spiritual peregrinations from and to East Asia.” My presentation title was “Ghostly Musings: When Anime Fans Traverse into the World of Natsume’s Book of Friends.”

I extend my deep gratitude to the organizers and to my fellow participants.

オンラインに開催された第8回国際学術会議「Mutual Images (ミューチュアル・イメージズ)」（於 龍谷大学）にて「幻を追う思いー『夏目友人帳』の世界に渡るファンたち」というタイトルで2021年1月24日に発表しました。

Conference presentation 学会発表

I presented at the 61th Annual Meeting of the Association for Indology and the Study of Religion on June 9, 2019 at Tenri University. The translated title of my presentation is as follows: “The People Searching for Happiness: A Case Study of the ‘Natsume Yujincho’ Anime Pilgrimage.

私は2019年6月9日に第61回印度学宗教学会学術大会（於 天理大学）にて「幸せを求める人たちー『夏目友人帳』の聖地巡礼を事例にー」というタイトルで発表しました。

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2016 学会発表 Conference Presentation

I presented at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Religious Studies on September 11, 2016. The translated title of my presentation is as follows: “Are Japanese Youth Self-centered?  A Look at the Supplications of Anime Pilgrims (Fans)”

私は2016年9月11日に日本宗教学会の第75回学術大会　(於　早稲田大学)にて　「若者たちは利己主義者なのか―アニメ聖地巡礼者の祈願を事例に―」というタイトルで発表しました。

New Appointment

On the occasion of the 58th Meeting of the Association for Indology & the Study of Religion held on May 28 & 29 at the Koriyama Women’s University  Professor Andrews was appointed to be the Association’s Controller.

第58回の印度学宗教学会学術は平成28年5月28日に大会郡山女子大学にて開催されました。総会に於いて印度学宗教学会の監事に選出されました。

2016 Emoticons, Emoji and Kaomoji – The Transformation of Communication in the Digital Age Conference Presentation ワークショップ発表 (Freie Universität Berlin)

2013 School Girls & Mobile Suits (Mechademia) Conference Presentation 学会発表 (Minneapolis College of Art and Design)

Animated Messages of Hope: Votive Prayers from the Nintama Rantarô Anime Pilgrimage

Abstract

Throughout the year the fans of the anime series Nintama Rantarô trek to the city of Amagasaki in Hyogo prefecture to participate in an “anime pilgrimage.” A primary attraction of the Nintama pilgrimage is the Nanamatsu Hachiman Shrine where fans publically display “ema” (votive prayer tablets) illustrated with their favorite Nintama characters. Japanese use ema to communicate their prayers to deities. Nintama fans, adapted the ema as a powerful medium for communication between fans: unconventional prayers and vibrant play emanate from the fan artwork expressing adoration for the Nintama characters (and their creator) and narrating how the anime characters serve as a source of strength for facing life’s many uncertainties. This ethnographic study punctuated by the 2011 earthquake/tsunami disaster reveals the contemporary social and economic concerns held by the youthful, predominately female Nintama fans and, importantly, their hope for a good life.