Details of the Researcher

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Thairungroj Ajjana
Section
Organization for International Initiatives
Job title
Assistant Professor
Degree

  • Ph.D. (Princeton University)

  • M.A. (Harvard University)

  • B.A. (The University of Washington, Seattle)

Profile

Ajjana Thairungroj is a scholar of Modern & Contemporary Japanese Literature and Culture. Her research is broadly centered on questions of consumption, affect, and gender in literature, lifestyle culture, and media of contemporary Japan. Her current book project focuses on the affect of anxiety and the politics of consumption in 1970s-1990s Japan, adopting a transnational framework to explore the circulation of Japanese goods, culture, and writings in Thailand. 

Education 3

  • Princeton University　East Asian Studies　Ph.D.

    2017 - 2024

  • The University of Washington, Seattle　English, Asian Languages & Literature　B.A.

  • Harvard University　Regional Studies East Asia　M.A.

Professional Memberships 4

  • Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS)

  • The Nippon Foundation Scholars Association

  • Japanese Studies Association of Thailand (JSAT)

  • Association for Asian Studies (AAS)

Research Interests 6

  • Bubble-era

  • Asian Studies

  • Media Studies

  • Affect Theory

  • Modern Japanese Literature

  • East Asian Studies

Research Areas 1

  • Humanities & social sciences / Literature - Japanese /

Awards 7

  1. TUMUG Next-Step Research Grant

    2026　Tohoku University DEI Center

  2. TUMUG Start-Up Research Fellowship

    2025　Tohoku University DEI Center

  3. Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS) Dissertation Research Grant

    2023　Princeton University

  4. The Japan Foundation Japanese Studies Doctoral Fellowship (12 Months)

    2021/11　The Japan Foundation

  5. The John and Julia Sensenbrenner Fellowship

    2020　Princeton University

  6. The Nippon Foundation Fellows Program at the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (IUC)

    2016　The Nippon Foundation

  7. Language Grant

    2014　Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (Harvard University)

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Papers 2

  1. Reading “The Yūko Incident”: the monstrous feminine at the intersection of Cold War anxieties in “Japanizing” Thailand Peer-reviewed

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Inter-Asia Cultural Studies　Volume 27　(no. 1)　1-19　2026/01/16

    Publisher: Informa UK Limited

    DOI： 10.1080/14649373.2025.2606630 　

    ISSN： 1464-9373

    eISSN： 1469-8447

  2. "Re-figuring the ‘Private Turn’ via Furui Yoshikichi’s Yōko” Peer-reviewed

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Proceedings of the 14th Annual National Conference of Japanese Studies Association of Thailand: Japan in the ‘New Normal’ (JSAT-14)　155-166　2020

Books and Other Publications 1

  1. Embodied Discourse, Embodied Practice: The Body as Text, Medium, and Testimony in Japan

    Edited by Christopher Craig, Ajjana Thairungroj

    Mimesis International, Hasekura League Intercultural Studies Editions　2026/03

    ISBN: 9788869775499

Presentations 14

  1. Catalog Infrastructures: Mood and Somehow, Crystal’s Urban Media Milieu in Early 1980s Japan

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ)　2026/07/05

  2. Reframing Japanese Studies: New Geographies of a Changing Field Invited

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Opening Lecture for Association for Asian Studies (AAS)-Japan Foundation’s Framing the Study of Japan: Professionalization Workshop for Early PhD Students in Southeast Asia　2026/07/02

  3. Mediating Fragmented Lifestyles: Magazine Culture and the Politics of “Feeling Good” in 1980s Japan

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Mediating Fragmented Realities in Literature & Media Ecologies of Late 20th-Century Japan Symposium　2026/02

  4. Anxiety as Atmosphere: 1980s Japan and the Urban Landscape Invited

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    The Japan Foundation Japanese Studies Fellow Conference 2025　2025/11

  5. What it Means to be a Southeast Asian Scholar of Japan: Reflections on Career, Proximity, and the Field. Invited

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Lecture for The Japan Foundation's Summer Program for Aspiring Southeast Asian Scholars in Japanese Studies　2025/07

  6. ’Made-in-Japan’ in 1980s Thailand: The Monstrous-Feminine and the Politics of Consumption

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Inter-Asia Cultural Studies (IACS) 2025 Conference (Geo-Social Connection: The Continuing Journey of Critical Inquiry)　2025/07

  7. ’Am I still Thai?’: Consuming Japan, Thai National Subjectivity, and Cultural Memories of Japanese Imperialism in 1980s Thailand.

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    Conflict and Empire in East Asia to 1945 in Heritage, Memory, and Museums Conference.　2025/07

  8. “Spaces of ‘Japanization’: Traversing Identity and Cultural Flows in Nihonjin gokko’s Thailand”

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    AAS-in-Boston 2023 Conference　2023/03

  9. “Living the ‘Feel-Good’ Lifestyle: Mood & Biopolitical Capture in Somehow, Crystal’s Branded Landscape”

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    AAS-in-Hawaii 2022 (virtual)　2022/03

  10. “Re-figuring the ‘Private Turn’ in Furui Yoshikichi’s Yōko”

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    The 14th Annual National Conference of Japanese Studies Association of Thailand (JSAT)　2020

  11. “Teaching Southeast Asia Against the Grain: Cross-Disciplinary Pedagogical Approaches,”

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    AAS-IN-ASIA 2019 Conference　2019

  12. “Towards a new Author Function: Haruki Murakami and Prabda Yoon”

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    5th National Conference on the Landscape of Language, Literature, Culture, and Translations　2016

  13. An Exploration of Metaphysical Loneliness and Relationships in Sputnik Sweetheart and Kitchen

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    4th International Conference on Literature and Comparative Literature: Dialogues in ASEAN Literary World　2012

  14. “From Kantia Asayot to ‘Yūko’: Cross-Cultural Racial Performativity in Yoshioka Shinobu’s Nihonjin gokko”

    Ajjana Thairungroj

    AAS-IN-ASIA 2020

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Research Projects 2

  1. Mediating Embodied Realities in Japan and Beyond since the 1960s

    Offer Organization: Tohoku University, Center for Integrated Japanese Studies

    Category: Media Studies, Literature

    Institution: Tohoku University, Center for Integrated Japanese Studies

    2026/09 -

  2. Collaborative Research Project: Mediating Fragmented Realities in Literature & Media Ecologies of Late 20th-Century Japan

    Category: Media Studies, Literature

    Institution: Tohoku University, Center for Integrated Japanese Studies

    2025/07 - 2026/04

Academic Activities 2

  1. Association for Asian Studies (AAS)-Japan Foundation’s Framing the Study of Japan: Professionalization Workshop for Early PhD Students in Southeast Asia

    2026/07/02 -

    Activity type: Academic society, research group, etc.

  2. International Symposium: Mediating Fragmented Realities in Literature & Media Ecologies of Late 20th-Century Japan, Tohoku University

    2026/02/09 -

    Activity type: Competition, symposium, etc.