Hiroki Azuma

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Hiroki Azuma ( Japanese 東 浩 紀 , Azuma Hiroki ; born May 9, 1971 in Mitaka ) is a Japanese cultural critic and has been a professor at the Sekai Bummei Center since 2006 ( 世界 文明 セ ン タ ー , Sekai Bummei Sentā , dt. "Center [for the study] of world civilizations ") Of the Tokyo University of Technology .

He is married to the author and poet Sanae Hoshio, with whom he has a child. His father-in-law is the translator Nobumitsu Kodaka.

biography

In 1990 he graduated from the Komaba High School, which is affiliated with the University of Tsukuba . He then studied at the University of Tokyo in the Faculty of General Education in the Humanities I Department, which he graduated in 1994. In 1999 he received his doctorate. From April 2002 to March 2004 he was a part-time teacher at the Faculty of Literature at Keiō University . In April 2003 he became Shunin Kenkyūin (Senior Fellow , mostly with subordinates) and Assistant Professor at the Global Communication Center (GLOCOM) of the International University of Japan . From May 2003 to August 2006 he was a Research Fellow at the Stanford Japan Center. In September 2004 he took up his position as Shukan Kenkyūin (Senior Fellow, mostly without subordinates) and in November as Professor at GLOCOM. In April 2006 he became Vice Director of GLOCOM, but resigned from it in June. He also resigned from his fellowship a month later. In October 2006 he received a special professorship at the Sekai Bummei Center of the Academy of Humanities at the Tokyo University of Technology, which was extended in April 2007. He has been teaching at Waseda University since April 2010, for a limited period until March 2013.

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Azuma deals with the influence of the Internet and anime on Japanese culture, in particular the phenomenon of the otakus . In 1998 he won the Suntory Literature Prize for his first book Sonzaironteki, Yūbinteki Jacques Derrida ni tsuite , which was also published in many humanities journals, making it the youngest recipient of the prize. He was later also nominated for the Mishima Prize . The first three chapters of this work are devoted to the theoretical expansion of Derrida's later ideas (namely the deconstruction of the postal system ) and contrasts these with his earlier ideas. In the last chapter he is devoted to the overlap between Freud's psychoanalysis and Heidegger's analysis of existence using Derrida's concept of communication.

In 1999 he published his review collection Yūbinteki Fuan-tachi . It contains wide-ranging considerations and treatises from postmodernism to otaku culture. In addition to Jacques Derrida, he also quotes the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan . Since the 1996 Evangelion treatise, which was also published in Yūbinteki Fuan-tachi , he has paid increasing attention to the otaku subculture. He also writes for otaku literary magazines such as Faust and Shingenjitsu .

Postmodern followed in 2001 with Dōbutsuka suru. Otaku kara mita Nihonshakai ( Eng . "Postmodernism that makes animals. Japanese society as seen from the otaku") is another successful book. In this he devotes himself to the phenomenon of otaku and develops the concepts of “database consumption ” ( デ ー タ ベ ー ス 消費 , dētabēsu shōhi ) and the “era of animals” ( 動物 の 時代 , dōbutsu no jidai ) and characterizes otaku as “database animals ”. The former goes back to Eiji Ōtsuka's concept of “narrative consumption” ( 物語 消費 , monogatari shōhi ) with Azuma's modification that the otaku culture is characterized by consuming less of the underlying worldview in a product (the “big narrative, metanarrative” in the postmodern sense according to Jean-François Lyotard ), but only individual elements, in particular Moe attributes, which can then be cataloged and reused, i.e. H. like in a database. The second concept is based on the “era of the fictional” ( 虚構 の 時代 , kyokō no jidai ) of the sociologist Masachi Ōsawas , whereby the term “animal” goes back to a footnote in the work Introduction à la lecture de Hegel by the philosopher Alexandre Kojève in which the American way of life is described as an "animal form of existence" and contrasted with Japanese society (the concept enjoyed greater popularity in Japan in the early 1990s with Francis Fukuyama's The End of the Story ), so that Azumas dōbutsuka suru ("to the animal make ”) also stands for Americanization. Despite this strongly philosophical content, the book became a bestseller, sold more than 63,000 copies in 16 editions by March 2008, was translated into Korean, French and English, and in 2007 with Game-teki Realism no Tanjō. Dōbutsuka suru Postmodern 2 a sequel. This has a literary critical orientation, in that Azuma devotes more than half of the book to the text analysis of works, the literary forms here are the two otaku-specific forms of the light novel and the Bishōjo games . Azuma's goal is to create a basis for analytical analysis of these two forms of literature.

In 2009 he published his first novel, Quantum Families, for which he finally received the Mishima Prize in 2010 . In 2010 he developed the plot for the manga / anime franchise Fractale in collaboration with director Yutaka Yamamoto and screenwriter Mari Okada . For this complex he also wrote the serial novel Fractale / Reloaded which appeared from January 6th to April 6th 2011 in Media Factory's literary magazine Da Vinci (issues 2/2011 to 5/2011).

Hajō Genron

In December 2003 he began to publish his reviews and reflections on otaku and subculture no longer in book form and founded the e-mail magazine Hajō Genron . In each of the 23 editions he invited a guest and interviewed or discussed with him. Guests were u. a. the sociologist Shinji Miyadai , the novelists Nishio Ishin and Kōhei Kadono , and Makoto Shinkai . The project ended in January 2005. The discussion rounds at the beginning of each issue appeared in November 2005 at the publishing house Seidosha. A special edition of the Hajō Genron were the books Bishōjo Game no Rinkaiten and Bishōjo Game no Rinkaiten + 1, sold on Comiket 66 and 67, in which he talked to scenario writers and reviewers of Bishōjo games about them (e.g. Shizuku , Fate / stay night and Clannad ) discussed.

ised @ glocom

In October 2004 he founded the research project Jōhō Shakai no Rinri to Sekkei ni tsuite no Gakusaiteki Kenkyū ( Interdisciplinary Studies on Ethics and Design of Information Society , short: ised @ glocom , dt. "Interdisciplinary research on ethics and design of the information society") , which had an estimated term until January 2006. This research project was intended to discuss the impact of the future information society on Japanese society.

Geet State

In April 2006 he founded the follow-up project Geet State together with the SF novelist Hiroshi Sakurazaka and the ised researcher Ken Suzuki . Initially also at GLOCOM, Hiroki Azuma continued to operate it on a private basis after leaving GLOCOM. This project was intended to predict and entertain Japanese society in 2045. On January 31, 2007, the drafting of the plot started, with Ken Suzuki no longer taking part due to excessive work.

bibliography

Reviews / essays

As a single author

  • Sonzaironteki, Yūbinteki Jacques Derrida ni tsuite ( 存在 論 的 、 郵 便 的 ジ ャ ッ ク ･ デ リ ダ に に い て , German " Ontological , postal. About Jacques Derrida"). Shinchōsha , 1998
  • Yūbinteki Fuan-tachi ( 郵 便 的 不安 た ち , dt. "Postal fears"). Asahi Shimbun- sha, 1999
  • Fukashi na Mono no Sekai ( 不過 視 な も の の 世界 ; Eng . "The world of invisible things"). Asahi Shimbun-sha, 2000
  • Dōbutsuka suru postmodern. Otaku kara mita Nihonshakai ( 動物 化 す る ポ ス ト モ ダ ン - オ タ ク か ら 見 た 日本 社会 , German: "The animal-making postmodernism. Japanese society as seen from the otaku"). Kōdansha , 2001
  • Yūbinteki Fuan-tachi # ( 郵 便 的 不安 た ち # ). Asahi Shimbun, 2002 (revised new edition of the book of the same name)
  • Game-teki Realism no Tanjō. Dōbutsuka suru Postmodern 2 ( ゲ ー ム 的 リ ア リ ズ ム の 誕生 - 動物 化 す る ポ ス ト モ ダ ン 2 , German "The birth of (computer) playful realism. The animal-making postmodern 2"). Kōdansha, 2007
  • Bungaku Kankyō Ronshū. Azuma Hiroki Collection L ( 文学 環境 論 集 東 浩 紀 コ レ ク シ ョ ン L , German "Literature Collection. Hiroki Azuma Collection L"). Kōdansha, 2007
  • Jōhō Kankyō Ronshū. Azuma Hiroki Collection S ( 情報 環境 論 集 東 浩 紀 コ レ ク シ ョ ン S ; German "News Collection. Hiroki Azuma Collection S"). Kōdansha, 2007
  • Hihyō no Seishin Bunseki. Azuma Hiroki Collection D ( 批評 の 精神 分析 東 浩 紀 コ レ ク シ ョ ン D ; German "Psychoanalysis of criticisms / reviews. Hiroki Azuma Collection D"). Kōdansha, 2007

As a co-author

  • with Kiyoshi Kasai: Dōbutsuka suru Sekai no Naka de ( 動物 化 す る 世界 の 中 で ). Shūeisha , 2003
  • with Masachi Ōsawa: Jiyū o kangaeru. 9-11 Ikō no Gendai Shisō ( 自由 を 考 え る ―9 ・ 11 以降 の 現代 思想 , German: "Thinking freedom. Contemporary thoughts after September 11th"). NHK Shuppan, 2003
  • with Akihiro Kitada : Tōkyō kara kangaeru. Kakusa, Kōgai, Nationalism ( 東京 か ら 考 え る - 格 差 ・ 郊外 ・ ナ シ ョ ナ リ ズ ム , German " Thought from Tokyo. Differences, suburbs, nationalism"). NHK Shuppan, 2007
  • with Eiji Ōtsuka : Real no Yukue - Otaku / Otaku wa dō ikiru ka ( リ ア ル の ゆ く え - お た く ／ オ タ ク は ど う 生 き る か ). Kōdansha, 2008
  • with Shinji Miyadai : Chichi toshite kangaeru ( 父 と し て 考 え る ). Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 2010

As editor

  • Bishōjo Game no Rinkaiten ( 美 少女 ゲ ー ム の 臨界 点 , Eng . "The critical point of the Bishōjo games"; Comiket 66, 2004)
  • Bishōjo Game no Rinkaiten + 1 ( 美 少女 ゲ ー ム の 臨界 点 +1; Comiket 67, 2004)
  • Gō Itō, Mari Kotani, Tamaki Saitō , Kentarō Takekuma and Kaoru Nagayama: Mōjō Genron F-kai. Postmodern, Otaku, Sexuality ( 網状 言論 F 改 - ポ ス ト モ ダ ン ・ オ タ ク ・ セ ク シ ュ ア リ テ ィ , German "Opinions in network form. Postmodern, Otaku, Sexualität"; Seidosha, 2003)
  • Masachi Ōsawa, Akihiro Kitada, Kensuke Suzuki and Shinji Miyadai: Hajō Genron S-kai. Shakaigaku, Meta-Game, Jiyū ( 波状 言論 S 改 - 社会学 ・ メ タ ゲ ー ム ・ 自由 ; German "Opinions in wave form. Sociology , Meta-Game, Freedom"; Seidosha 2005)
  • Contents no Shisō. Manga , Anime, Light Novel ( コ ン テ ン ツ の 思想 - マ ン ガ ・ ア ニ メ ・ ラ イ ト ノ ベ ル , German "Thoughts on content. Manga, Anime, Light Novel"; Seidosha, 2007)
  • with Eiji Ōtsuka (Ed.): Shingenjutsu ( 新 現 実 ). Volume 1, Kadokawa Shoten, 2002
  • with Akihiro Kitada (ed .; only volumes 1–2): Shisō Chizu ( 思想 地 図 , German "thought card"). Volumes 1–4, Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 2008–2010
  • Shisō Chizu β ( 思想 地 図 β , German "thought card β"). Contectures, since 2010
  • with Shinji Miyadai (ed.) and Takashi Murakami (ed.): Nihonteki Sōzō Ryoku no Mirai ( 日本 的 想像力 の 未来 , German "The future of the Japanese imagination"). Nihon Hōsō Shuppan Kyōkai, 2010

Novels

  • with Hiroshi Sakurazaka: Characters ( キ ャ ラ ク タ ー ズ ). Shinchōsha, 2008, first published in Shinchō (October 2007 edition), novel
  • Quantum Families ( ク ォ ン タ ム ・ フ ァ ミ リ ー ズ , Kwontamu Famirīzu ). Shinchōsha, 2009, novel
  • Fractale / Reloaded ( フ ラ ク タ ル / リ ロ ー デ ッ ド , Furakutaru / Rirōdeddo ). Media Factory, serialized novel, since January 6, 2011 in Da Vinci magazine (from issue 2/2011)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hiroki Azuma: untitled . In: Twitter. April 6, 2012, Retrieved May 24, 2012 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ a b Hiroki Azuma: hiroki azuma website English. Archived from the original on March 16, 2008 ; accessed on September 16, 2010 (English).
  3. ↑ Otaku. Japan's Database Animals . S. xv-xix
  4. ↑ Otaku. Japan's Database Animals . S. x-xi
  5. ↑ hajougenron
  6. ↑ Description of ised @ glocom by Hiroki Azuma (Japanese; as of April 2, 2008)
  7. ↑ Hiroki Azuma: Geet State / SF 2.0. In: kajougenron (discourses in spiral: hiroki azuma blog). June 15, 2006, archived from the original on March 16, 2008 ; Retrieved September 16, 2010 (Japanese).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Azuma, Hiroki
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 東 浩 紀 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese cultural critic
DATE OF BIRTH May 9, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Mitaka