Journal Articles

2023
“Hyperathletic Artistry: Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu Performing Asian Masculinities.” Dance Research 41(1): 1-18. Co-authored with Wesley Lim.

“Asian Sporting Masculinities in Figure Skating: Media Representations of Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu as Rivals.” Media, Culture & Society 45(3): 561-577. Co-authored with Wesley Lim.

2022
“A Different Kind of Transgender Celebrity: From Entertainment Narrative to the ‘Wrong Body’ Discourse in Japanese Media Culture” in Television & New Media 23(8): 803-821.

How Nissin Represented Naomi Osaka: Race, Gender, and Sport in Japanese Advertising” in Communication & Sport 10(4): 594-615. Co-authored with Hiromi Tanaka.

“Queer Asias: Genders and sexualities across borders and boundaries” in Sexualities. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/13634607221092153. Co-authored with Evelyn Blackwood.

2021
“Categories that Bind: Transgender, Crossdressing, and Transnational Sexualities in Tokyo” in Sexualities. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/13634607211028109.

“Editorial Introduction: Androgynous Bodies and Cultures in Asia,” in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 22(2): 129-138. Co-authored with Eva Cheuk-Yin Li and Lucetta Y. L. Kam.

“From Dansō to Genderless: Mediating Queer Styles and Androgynous Bodies in Japan,” in Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 22(2): 158-177.

2020
“Queer and Normal: Dansō (female-to-male crossdressing) Lives and Politics in Contemporary Tokyo” in Asian Anthropology 19(2): 102-118.

2017
“Consuming Women in Blackface: Racialized Affect and Transnational Femininity in  Japanese Advertising,” in Japanese Studies 37(1): 49-69.
(The advertisements I have used but were refused print permissions can be downloaded here)

“Tracing Tears and Triple Axels: Media Representations of Japan’s Women Figure Skaters,” in International Journal of Cultural Studies 20(6): 620-635.

2015
“Desiring the Singapore Story: Affective Attachments and National Identities in Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo,” in Journal of Chinese Cinemas 9(2): 173-186.

2014
“Is Nadeshiko Japan ‘Feminine?’ Manufacturing Sport Celebrity and National Identity on Japanese Morning Television,” in Journal of Sport and Social Issues 38(2): 164-183.

Book Chapters

2023
“From Dansō to Genderless: Mediating Queer Styles and Androgynous Bodies in Japan.” In Gender in Japanese Popular Culture: Rethinking Masculinities and Femininities, edited by Sirpa Salenius, 29-59. Cham: Palgrave MacMillan. (Invited chapter).

2022
“‘Queer’ Media in Inter-Asia: Thinking Gender and Sexuality Transnationally” in Media in Asia Global, Digital, Gendered and Mobile, edited by Youna Kim, 226-238. New York: Routledge.

2020
“Affect: Nishihara Satsuki” in Japanese Media and Popular Culture: An Open-Access Digital Initiative of the University of Tokyo, edited by Jason G. Karlin, Patrick W. Galbraith, and Shunsuke Nozawa. https://jmpc-utokyo.com/keyword/affect/.

2018
“Housewives Watching Crime: Mediating Social Identity and Voyeuristic Pleasures in Japanese Wide Shows,” in Routledge Handbook of Japanese Media, edited by Fabienne Darling-Wolf, 213-227. New York: Routledge.

Book Reviews

2020
Book Review of John Wei’s Queer Chinese Cultures and Mobilities: Kinship, Migration, and Middle Classes, Asian Culture 44: 190-193.

2016
“An Affective Reading of Precarious Japan,” electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies 16(2).

Invited Talks, Seminars, & Workshops

2021
“Gender and Sexuality Studies in Pandemic Times: Some Considerations for Doing Research in Asia.” Masterclass, 7th Biennial International e-Conference of JSA-ASEAN, December 15-17.

“Researching Gender and Sexuality in Asia: Theory, Method, and Practice.” Masterclass, 16th Singapore Graduate Forum on Southeast Asian Studies, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, June 16.

2019
“Doing Cultural Studies: In Between Japan, Singapore, and the United States.” Winter Institute in Japan, Tokyo. December 8-11, 2019.
Invitation by The Japan Foundation.

2018
“Rethinking Queer Capitalism: Male-to-Female Crossdressing in Contemporary Japan,” CNM (Communications and New Media) Seminar Series, National University of Singapore, Singapore, September 21, 2018. 3 to 4pm.
Hosted by CNM.

“An Ethnography of Crossdressing: Gender Politics and Queer Belongings in Contemporary Japan,” Predoctoral Fellows Seminar Series, MIT, Cambridge, MA, April 23, 2018. 1 to 2:30pm. Hosted by Agustin Rayo and SHASS.

“Crossdressing for Entertainment: Rethinking Josō and Gender in Japanese Media Culture,” Global Studies and Languages (GSL) Brown Bag Lunch Series, MIT, Cambridge, MA, April 18, 2018. 12 to 1pm.
Hosted by GSL.

Dissertation Workshop on “Gender and Sexuality in Japan,” University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, March 28-31, 2018.
Sponsored by the Japan Foundation.

2017
“Playing with Gender: Japanese Media Culture and the Sociality of Crossdressing,” University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, April 28.
Hosted by Jason Karlin.

“In Between Gender and Language: Contemporary Crossdressing Culture in Tokyo,” University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, February 27, 2017.
Invitation by the Gender, Language and Media Studies (GLAMS) group.

“When We Play with Gender: Modes of Desire and Belonging in Tokyo’s Crossdressing Cafes,” Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan, January 13.
Invitation by David Slater.

“When We Play with Gender: Affective Labor and Belonging in Tokyo’s Drag/Crossdressing Cafes,” Meeting of the Japan Foundation’s Fellows 2016, Tokyo, Japan, January 12.

2016
“Queer Lives and Japanese Popular Culture,” Bunkyo Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, November 18.
Invitation by Alexandra Hambleton.

“Negotiating Gender Play: Alternative Forms of Desire & Belonging in Tokyo’s Drag/Crossdressing Cafes,”「た だ の 趣 味」？東京の女装・男装喫茶における文化、社交性と性自認・性的指向 Kanagawa University, Yokohama, Japan November 8.
Invitation by James Welker.

Conferences Organized

2013
“Containers,” Cultural Analysis and Theory 4^th Annual Graduate Student Conference, Stony Brook University, New York, NY, October 18-19.

Symposiums Organized

2015
“Affect, Politics, and New Perspectives on Chinese and Diasporic Cinema: A Symposium,” Stony Brook University, New York, NY, October 1-2.

“Trigger Warnings and Neoliberal Classrooms: Rethinking Pedagogy in Our Time of Precarity,” A Year of Queer/Feminist/Transgender Studies at Humanities Institute, co-organized with Joy Schaefer, Stony Brook, NY, February 18.

Panels Organized

2023
Gender-Based Violence across Asia and the Diaspora I: (Dis)empowering Women through Laws, Activism, and the Economy, AAS-IN-ASIA Annual Conference, Daegu, Korea, June 24-27, 2023.

Gender-Based Violence across Asia and the Diaspora II: Media and New Ways of Proliferating Harms, AAS-IN-ASIA Annual Conference, Daegu, Korea, June 24-27, 2023.

2022
(In)Visible Performances: Desiring Race, Gender, and Sexuality in K-pop, Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference, co-organized with Aljosa Puzar (University of Ljubljana), Online, November 17-19.

Asian Feminisms in a Digital Age: Telling their Stories, NWSA Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN, November 10-13.

Technology Facilitated Sexual Violence (TFSV) in Singapore, AAS Annual Conference, co-organized with Shivani Gupta (National University of Singapore), Honolulu, HI, March 24-27.

Discussant: Laura Vitis (Queensland University of Technology)

2019
Trans Asia Pacific: Changing Queer Climates I & II, AAA/CASCA Annual Meeting, co-organized with Jenny Hoang (University of Southern California), Vancouver, BC, November 20-24.
Co-sponsored by the Association for Queer Anthropology (AQA) and Society for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA).

Discussants:
Martin Manalansan (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities)
Niko Bernier (Amsterdam University)

“Queer(ing) K-Pop Idols: Digital and Transnational Fandoms,” AAS-in-ASIA Conference, co-organized with Thomas Baudinette (Macquarie University), Bangkok, Thailand, July 1-4.

Discussant: Chung-Kang Kim (Hanyang University)

2018
“Queer Asia: Ethnographies of Change in a Transnational World.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San Jose, CA, November 14-18.
Co-sponsored by the Association for Queer Anthropology (AQA) and Society for East Asian Anthropology (SEAA).

Discussant: Evelyn Blackwood (Purdue University)

“Rethinking “Queer”: Androgynous Bodies in East Asia I & II.” Association for Cultural Studies Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference, co-organized with Eva Cheuk-Yin Li (King’s College London), Shanghai, China, August 12-15.

Discussants:
Helen Leung (Simon Fraser University)
Lucetta Kam (Hong Kong Baptist University)

2017
“Mapping an Anthropology of Affect in Japan.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, co-organized with Thiam Huat Kam (Rutgers University), Washington, DC, November 29-December 3, 2017.

Discussant: Amy Borovoy (Princeton University)

“(Un)Belonging: The Politics of Sexuality, Gender, and Race in Japan.” National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) Annual Conference, co-organized with Vivian Shaw (Harvard University), Baltimore, Maryland, November 16-19.

“Genders and Sexualities Across East Asia/Asian America: Perverse Bodies and Affective Media,” New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS), co-organized with Jahyon Park (Cornell University), Geneva, NY, September 22-23.

Discussant: Chris Eng (Syracuse University)

“Gendered Worlds: Desiring East Asian Popular Culture I & II,” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) Conference, co-organized with Jahyon Park (Cornell University), Seoul, South Korea, July 28-30.

Discussants:
Miseong Woo (Yonsei University)
Ayako Saito (Meiji Gakuin University)

2016
“Playing with Gender: Affective Technologies and Social Spaces in Tokyo,” Cultural Typhoon, co-organized with Keiko Nishimura (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill), Tokyo, Japan, July 2-3.

“‘Queer’ Lines: Genders and Sexualities in Institutions and at Play in Japan I & II,” Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ), twin panel co-organized with SPF Dale (Hitotsubashi University), Tokyo, Japan, July 2-3.

Discussants:
Sabine Frühstück (University of California, Santa Barbara)
James Welker (Kanagawa University)

“Ambivalent Hopes, Gendered Desires: Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture,” AAS-in-ASIA Conference, Kyoto, Japan, June 24-27.
[Part of a double panel co-organized with Alexandra Hambleton (Bunkyo Gakuin University), “Ambivalent Hopes, Gendered Desires: The Potential of Japanese Pornography”]

Discussants:
James Welker (Kanagawa University)
Akiko Takeyama (University of Kansas)

“Beauty and the East: Embodying Race, Gender, and Class in Asian Beauty Cultures,” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference, co-organized with Jinglin Piao (Cornell University), Seattle, WA, March 31-April 3.

Discussant: Laura Miller (University of Missouri, St. Louis)

“Affective Engagements, Precarious Lives: Thinking Neoliberalism in East Asia,” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Meeting, co-organized with Claire Dan-ju Yu (Stony Brook University), Cambridge, MA, March 17-20.

Discussants:
Catherine Yeh (Boston University)
Tomiko Yoda (Harvard University)

2015
“Gendered Spaces, Precarious Bodies: Affective Labor in Neoliberal Japan,” National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 12-15.

Discussant: Andrea Arai (University of Washington)

“Grappling with Precarity: Gender and Labor in Neoliberal Japan,” British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS) Conference, London, UK, September 10-11.

“Sporting Histories, Mediated Cultures: Women and Sports in Japan,” Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ), Tokyo, Japan, June 20-21.

Discussant: Keiko Aiba (Meiji Gakuin University)

2012
“Traversing the Transnational:  Consumption, Identity, and Contemporary Asian/U.S. Mass Culture,” New England Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (NEAAS), Amherst, MA, October 20-21.

As Discussant/Moderator (Invited)

2021
“Trans Lives in the Pandemic Age.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society (IACSS) Conference, Singapore, July 28-30.

“Cross-Dressing and Gender Performance in Urban Rituals.” Urban Religion, Gender, and the Body, Singapore, January 25-27. Organized by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

As Participant in Roundtables (Invited)

2022
“Feminisms and Sports in Japan.” Feminisms and Sports Studies Conference, London, UK, January 27-28. Hosted by King’s College London. Collective discussion with:
Verity Postlethwaite (SOAS University of London)
Helen Macnaughtan (SOAS University of London)
Emily Chapman (SOAS University of London)
Robin Kietlinski (City University of New York)
Keiko Aiba (Meiji Gakuin University)
Yunuen Ysela Mandujano-Salazar (Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez)

Recent Conference Papers Presented

2023
“Azuma Hikari, My Healing Bride: Tracing Gender, Intimacy, and Technology in Contemporary Japan.” International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Annual Conference, Lyon, France, July 9-13. Co-presented with Hiromi Tanaka (Meiji University). (Accepted but withdrawn)

“’I Feel like It Will Never Stop’: The Crisis of Technology-Facilitated Sexual Violence (TFSV) in Singapore.” AAS-IN-ASIA Annual Conference, Daegu, Korea, June 24-27, 2023.

“Azuma Hikari, My Healing Bride: Tracing Gender and Human-Machine Intimacies in Contemporary Japan.” International Communication Association Annual Conference, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 25-29. In “Does Gender of Virtual Agents Matter?” hosted by the Human-Machine Communication Interest Group. Co-presented with Hiromi Tanaka. (Remote)

2022
“‘Banning Sissy Idols to Clean Up the Entertainment Industry’: Queer Practices of Shipping BTS in Mainland China,” Queering the Korean Wave Across the Asia-Pacific: An International Symposium, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, December 8-9. Co-presented with Zishan Lai (National University of Singapore) (Virtual)

“‘I’m Just Me’: Amber and Androgynous Looks in K-pop,” Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference, Online, November 17-19.

“Sexual Violence Enabled by Technology: Feminist Perspectives from Singapore.” NWSA Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN, November 10-13. Co-presented with Cherie Tay (National University of Singapore).

“Digital Intimacy in Human-Machine Relationships: Gendered Representations in Fiction and Beyond.” Narrating Emotional Closeness between Humans and Machines in Japanese (Popular) Culture and Literature Conference, Berlin, Germany, October 14-15. Co-presented with Hiromi Tanaka (Meiji University). (Virtual) Program

“Queer and the Material: Innovating Gender and Sexual Cultures in Late Capitalist Tokyo.” ACLA Annual Meeting, Taipei, Taiwan, June 15-18. (Virtual)

“Asian Sporting Masculinities in Figure Skating: Media Representations of Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu as Rivals.” International Communication Association Annual Conference, Paris, France, May 26-31. In “Contesting Gender and Sexuality in Sports” hosted by the Sport Communication Interest Group. Co-presented with Wesley Lim (Australian National University).

“Romancing AI: Gender and New Digital Intimacies in Contemporary Japan.” Artificial Intelligence and the Human? Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Science and Fiction Conference, Berlin, Germany, May 11-13. Co-presented with Hiromi Tanaka (Meiji University).

“Digital Well-being on Campus: Technology Facilitated Sexual Violence Amongst University Students in Singapore.” AAS Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, March 24-27. Co-presented with Shivani Gupta (National University of Singapore).

2021
“Hyperathletic Artistry: Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu Performing Asian Masculinities.” Ice (St)Ages: Icy Imaginaries in Science, Arts and Spectacles Conference, Virtual, July 28-29. Co-presented with Wesley Lim (Australian National University).

“Violent Visibilities: Campus Sexual Misconduct Facilitated by Technology in Singapore.” Cultural Studies Association (CSA) Conference, Virtual, June 10-12.

2020
“Digital Trans Citizenship: Travelling Across Asia for Gender Reassignment.” Gender, Migration and Digital Networks in Asia, Singapore, February 20-21. Organized by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

2019
“Digital Trans Citizenship: Reconfiguring Gender, Nation, and Feminism in Japanese Online Media.” AAA/CASCA Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC, November 20-24.

“Towards an Inter-Asia Queer?: Josō and Transgender in and Beyond Japan.” Inter-Asia
Cultural Studies (IACS) Conference, Dumaguete, Philippines, August 1-3.

“Digital Transgender Citizenship: Following Trans Women Celebrities on Social Media in South Korea.” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) Conference, Dumaguete, Philippines, August 1-3.

“Transgender K-Pop: Male-to-Female Idols and their Digital Fandoms.” AAS-in-ASIA Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, July 1-4.

“Feeling Race: Gender and (In)visible Privilege in Miss Japan Contests.” Does “Invisible Privilege” Travel?: Looking Beyond the Geographies of White Privilege, Singapore, May 2-3. Organized by the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.

2018
“Names That Bind: Engendering Alternative Socialities in Tokyo’s Crossdressing Cafes.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, San Jose, CA, November 14-18.

“From Dansō to Genderless: Androgynous Bodies in Japan.” Association for Cultural Studies Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference, Shanghai, China, August 12-15.

“Mapping (Trans)gender: East Asian Popular Culture in a Digital Age.” East Asian Fandom Culture and Shared Gender Imagination Conference, Seoul National University, South Korea, July 20.

“Amber’s Gender Play: Androgynous Idols in K-Pop.” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference, Washington, DC, March 22-25.

2017
“Reparative Practices in Ethnography: The Case of Crossdressing in Tokyo,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, November 29-December 3.

“Living in Between: Alternative Belonging in Tokyo’s Male-to-Female Crossdressing Culture,” National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) Annual Conference, Baltimore, Maryland, November 16-19.

“Affective Genderplay: Contemporary Josō (Male-to-Female Crossdressing) Culture in Tokyo,” New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS), Geneva, NY, September 22-23.

“Chance Encounters: Alternative Socialities in Tokyo’s Crossdressing Cafes,” Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) Conference, Seoul, South Korea, July 28-30, 2017.

2016
“Negotiating Genderplay: Drag Cafes as Affective Fan Spaces in Tokyo,” Cultural Typhoon, Tokyo, Japan, July 2-3.

“Queer Attachments: Inhabiting Affective Spaces in Japan’s Drag Cafes,” Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ), Tokyo, Japan, July 2-3.

“Consuming Female Masculinity: Affective Labor in Tokyo’s Drag Cafes,” AAS-in-ASIA Conference, Kyoto, Japan, June 24-27.

“Spaces of Potentiality: Queer Socialities in Tokyo’s Drag Cafes,” DC Queer Studies Symposium, College Park, MD, April 22.

“Consuming Women in Blackface: Racialized Affect and Transnational Femininity in Japanese Advertising,” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, March 31-April 3.

“Consuming Female Masculinity: Affective Labor in Japan’s Drag Cafes,” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Meeting, Cambridge, MA, March 17-20.

2015
“Consuming Female Masculinity: Affective Labor in Japan’s Drag Cafes,” National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 12-15.

“‘Feminized’ Companionship for Sale: Affective Labor in Japan’s Drag Cafes,” British Association for Japanese Studies (BAJS) Conference, London, UK, September 10-11.

“Grappling with Precarity: Affective Labor in Japan’s Drag Cafes,” Asia Association for Global Studies (AAGS) Conference, Tokyo, Japan, July 18-19.

“Following Nadeshiko Japan on Social Media: Women’s Soccer and Fan Affect,” Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ), Tokyo, Japan, June 20-21.

“Black Face, Bihaku Skin: Consuming Femininity and Racial Otherness in Japanese Advertising,” University of California Berkeley Japan Studies Graduate Student Conference, Berkeley, CA, April 17-18.

“‘Feminized’ Companionship for Sale: Affective Labor in Japan’s Drag Cafes,” Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, March 26-29.