This site is primarily the place for reflection, research, and discussion regarding topics in Japanese popular culture, my research on Japanese literature, music, and various facets of East Asian anthropology. This URL was originally going to be for a place for 困った US and Japanese tourists to go for information and tips, but evolved into its current form, after I left the world of .com development.

I have a BA in East Asian Studies from Valparaiso University and received my MA in East Asian Studies and  Ph. D in Japanese Language and Literature from Washington University in St. Louis. In 2015-2016, thanks to Japan Foundation’s Dissertation Fellowship, I was a Gaikokujin Kenkyūin (Foreign Researcher) at The University of Tokyo, working with historian Kato (Nojima) Yoko and modern literature scholar Ando Hiroshi. In 2017, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at Bowdoin College, and am currently the Assistant Professor of Asian Studies-Japanese at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.

I frequently give lectures off campus and seek to build partnerships between Belmont and the Japanese community in the metro area.

Feel free to comment on anything you’d like or ask me questions, email kitborn at gmail dot com. I hope this site will stimulate good discussion about popular culture both in Japan and in the Americas.

In no way do the views and thoughts presented on this site represent anyone but myself. Links do not equate with promotion of ideas.