Ph.D. Candidates in Japanese Literature

Emily Lopez studies contemporary Japanese literature from the 1960s to the 1980s, focusing on representations of activism, violence, and resistance. She earned her B.A. in Japanese from the University of California, Davis, in 2020, followed by an M.A. in...

Crystal Cheng's research revolves around early modern Japanese theater, literature, and visual culture, with a particular focus on the portrayal of murders and suicides of female characters. Her work aims to explore how the trope of selfless, sacrificial...

Emily Wan received her B.A. in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and spent one year as a Fulbright Fellow at Waseda University. Her research focuses on renga (Japanese medieval linked verse), a collaboratively, spontaneously, and orally composed...

Ami Tanahashi studies contemporary Japanese literature, focusing on portrayals of girlhood and feminine adolescent identity. She received her B.A. from Soka University of America in 2017 and recently received her M.A. from the University of Washington in...

Kassandra Diaz received her BA in Cognitive Neuroscience and Japanese Language & Culture, and her MA in Japanese from Washington University in St. Louis, where she focused on novelist Enchi Fumiko and her rebranding of folkloric tales of demonic women, or...