M.W. Shores

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M.W. Shores is a scholar who studies Japanese storytelling and entertainment, focusing on both historical and contemporary forms. He specializes in rakugo—a traditional Japanese art of comic storytelling—and traces its roots back through centuries of Japanese literary tradition. Shores began his academic career in the UK as a Governing Body Fellow and Director of East Asian Studies at Peterhouse, Cambridge University's oldest college. He joined The University of Sydney in 2019. Having spent nearly 15 years living in Japan, primarily in Osaka and the surrounding Kansai region, he brings deep cultural immersion to his research on Japanese narrative arts and popular cultures.

Experience

  • 2023–present
    Senior Lecturer in Japanese, The University of Sydney
  • 2019–2023
    Lecturer in Japanese, The University of Sydney
  • 2015–2018
    Lecturer in Japanese, University of Cambridge, Peterhouse

Education

  • 2014 
    University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures (Japanese Literature)
  • 2007 
    Portland State University, MA in Japanese Language and Literature
  • 2004 
    Tezukayama University, MA in Japanese Traditional Cultures (Folk Entertainment)
  • 2000 
    Portland State University, BA in International Studies (East Asia)

Publications

  • 2021
    The Comic Storytelling of Western Japan: Satire and Social Mobility in Kamigata Rakugo, Cambridge University Press

Research Areas

  • Japanese Language (200312)
  • Literature In Japanese (200518)

Contact M.W. for

  • General
  • Media request
  • Speaking request
  • Consulting / Advising
  • Research collaboration
  • Research supervision
  • Location: Sydney, Australia
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