Details of the Researcher

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Wei Ran
Section
Organization for International Initiatives
Job title
Assistant Professor

Education 1

  • Washington University in St. Louis　Ph.D. in Japanese Language and Literature, Graduate Certificate in Film and Media Studies

    2018/08 - 2024/12

Research Interests 6

  • Media Studies

  • Modern and Contemporary Japanese Films

  • The Digital Humanities

  • Kamagasaki Studies

  • Minority studies

  • Osaka literature

Research Areas 4

  • Humanities & social sciences / Literature - Japanese / Urban Studies

  • Humanities & social sciences / Local studies / Osaka studies

  • Other / Other / Japanese Independent Film

  • Humanities & social sciences / Literature - Japanese / Osaka Literature

Awards 11

  1. Japan Past & Present Project Funding

    2025　The Yanai Initiative

  2. TUMUG start-up research fellowship

    2025　Tohoku University DEI Center

  3. David Plath Best Graduate Student Paper Prize in Northeast Asia

    2024　Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA)　“The Power of Nostalgia: Materiality, Solidarity, and Resistance in the 16mm Film The Kamagasaki Cauldron War (Tsukiyo no Kamagassen, 2017)”

  4. The Sumitomo Foundation

    2024

  5. The Japan Foundation Japanese Studies Doctoral Fellowship

    2023

  6. Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Pre/Post-doctoral Fellowship (PE)

    2022

  7. “The Divided City” Graduate Summer Research Fellowship (A Mellon-Funded Urban Humanities Initiavtive Fellowship)

    2022　Washington University

  8. Humanities Digital Workshop Summer Fellowship

    2022　Washington University in St. Louis

  9. University of Chicago Library Research Fund

    2019

  10. Stanford University Library Research Fund

    2019

  11. Washington University EAS Travel Fund

    2018

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Papers 5

  1. Forms of "Yohaku" (empty space)—Representations of War and Trauma in Tezuka Osamu’s “Kami no toride” (Paper Fortress, 1974) Peer-reviewed

    Mechademia: Second Arc 19.2, "Graphic Narratives," forthcoming　2027/08

  2. The Power of Nostalgia: 16mm Film, Resistance, and Publicness in the Japanese Film The Kamagasaki Cauldron War (2017) Peer-reviewed

    Screen 68:1, forthcoming　2027/04

  3. The Neighborhood as Refuge: Dignity, Inclusiveness, and Compassion in Takeda Rintarō’s “Kamagasaki” (1933)

    Ran Wei

    positions　34　(3)　437-461　2026/08/01

    Publisher: Duke University Press

    DOI： 10.1215/10679847-12433367 　

    ISSN： 1067-9847

    eISSN： 1527-8271

    More details Close

    Abstract Kamagasaki, an urban enclave in Osaka, maintains a long history of marginalization that can be traced to the late 1890s. This article examines the representation of Kamagasaki in Osaka writer Takeda Rintarō’s novella “Kamagasaki.” Published in 1933, shortly after the economically prosperous “Greater Osaka” (“Dai Osaka”) period had ended, the story features the underclass and working-class people in the neighborhood of Kamagasaki, revealing how Osaka’s development has concealed issues, including economic exploitation and social division. This article introduces the concepts of “a compassionate participant” instead of adopting existing tropes of observers of city life, such as the flâneur and the “curiosity hunter” (ryōkisha). Through the perspective of such an observer, Takeda represents the issues of poverty, segregation, and homelessness in a humanistic manner. Simultaneously, by constructing various voices for fictional characters in the novella, Takeda highlights the importance of the “internal gaze” and voices from Kamagasaki. This article argues that by emphasizing how the locals value dignity and interpersonal bonds, Takeda’s representations of Kamagasaki subvert the stereotype of urban margins as morally degenerate. Through his conscious resistance to the social stigma imposed on Kamagasaki by dominant national discourse, which reduces Kamagasaki to a place of degeneration and danger, Takeda depicts a neighborhood characterized by shared attachment and resilience.

  4. Solidarity on the Margins: Narrating the Zainichi in Yi Yangji’s ‘Woman Diver’ (Kazukime, 1983) and Nakagami Kenji’s ‘Flower Boy’ (Fuaramu, 1980).” In special issue “Revisiting Zainichi Peer-reviewed

    Transnational Asia, Special Issue, "Revisiting Zainichi,"　5　(1)　2023/02

  5. Natsume Sōseki and Kanbungaku Peer-reviewed

    Japanese Pedagogy and Japanese Studies　2015

Presentations 20

  1. Narrating and Mapping Bathhouses: Heterogeneity, Bodily Experience, and Collective Knowledge in Rōmusha Tōsei (The Life of Day Laborers, 1970s)

    European Association for Japanese, Studies (EAJS) International Conference, Poznań, Poland

    2026/08

  2. Military Ruins, Apache Tribe, and Postwar Grotesque in Kaikō Takeshi’s Japan’s Three Penny Opera (1959) Invited

    Center for Integrated Japanese Studies-Ghen, University Workshop, Ghent, Belgium

    2026/03

  3. Representations of Locality in Japanese Literature (Collaborative Research Project with Professor Masato Nihei) Invited

    CIJS-Ghent University Workshop　2026/03

  4. On the Margins of Osaka and Beyond Invited

    Japan Foundation—CIJS Japanese Studies Conference, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan　2025/11

  5. Military Ruins, Apache Tribe, and Postwar Grotesque in Kaikō Takeshi’s Japan’s Three Penny Opera (1959)

    Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA) Conference, The University of New England, Australia　2025/10/04

  6. Possibilities of the Gutter: Representing Trauma, War, and Memories in Tezuka Osamu's ”Paper Fortress"

    Mechademia Conference, Kyoto Seika University　2025/06

  7. The Paradox of Representing the Urban Margins: Digital Images of Kamagasaki in Contemporary Japanese Amateur Media

    "Common Ground" Conference, The Media School, Indiana University, Bloomington　2025/03

  8. The Power of Nostalgia: Materiality, Solidarity, and Resistance in the 16mm Film The Kamagasaki Cauldron War (Tsukiyo no Kamagassen, 2017) Invited

    Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs (MCAA), The University of Notre Dame, South Bend, The United States　2024/09/15

  9. The Power of Nostalgia: Materiality, Solidarity, and Resistance in the 16mm Film The Kamagasaki Cauldron War (Tsukiyo no Kamagassen, 2017)

    Kinema Club Conference, online　2024/06

  10. A Body of Paradox: Alienation, Discipline, and Revenge in Oda Sakunosuke’s My Town (Waga machi, 1942)" in the panel “Forerunning the Border: Alternative Topographies of Twentieth-Century Japanese Cultural Production

    Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Seattle, The United States　2024/03

  11. “Constructing the Urban Margins: The Representation of Kamagasaki in Japanese Manga and Cinema (1980-2018)” Invited

    Japan Foundation Fellow Conference, Nichibunken　2023/10

  12. Precarity, Alienation, and Liberation on the Margins: Representing the Everyday in Kamayan Slum District Comic Diaries

    Mechademia Biennial Conference, Kyoto Manga Museum　2023/06

  13. The Osaka Neighborhood as Refuge: Marginality, Grotesquerie, and Compassion in Takeda Rintarō’s ‘Kamagasaki' (1933)

    Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Online　2023/03

  14. Fractured Identities: Femininity, Body, and Ethnicity in Yi Yang-ji’s Time (1984)

    International Conference on Gender and Equality: Global Challenges and Perspectives, Online　2022/05

  15. A Home on the Margins: Segregation, Grotesquerie, and Poverty in Takeda Rintarō’s ‘Kamagasaki’ (1933)

    Harvard East Asia Society Conference, Online　2022/02

  16. A Place of Paradox: The Representation of Home in Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Still Walking (2008)

    Southwest Conference on Asian Studies Annual Conference, Online　2021/10

  17. Constructing the Local: The Representation of Shinjuku in Matsumoto Toshio’s Funeral Parade of Roses (1968)

    Society for Film and Media Studies Annual Conference, Online　2021/03

  18. Narrating Trauma: ‘Timeless-ness’ and ‘Super-Present’ in Furukawa Hideo’s Horses, Horses

    International Narrative Conference, Pamplona, Spain　2019/05

  19. Osaka as a Resistance: The Representation of Osaka in Oda Sakunosuke’s Literature

    The Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Conference, University of Kentucky, Lexington, The United States　2019/04

  20. Building a Harmonious East Asia Community: The Importance and Future of Social Networks

    Northeast Asia Student Forum, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea　2013/02

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Research Projects 1

  1. 映画祭研究会

    Offer Organization: Japan Society of Image Arts and Sciences

    2026/04 - 2027/03

Teaching Experience 2

  1. Selected Topics in Modern and Contemporary Japanese Literature and Manga

  2. Introduction to Modern Japanese Literature　Washington University in St. Louis

Works 3

  1. Observational Documentary "Neighbour"

    2023 - 2023

    Type: Artistic work

  2. Osaka Expo’70 ArcGIS Storymap

    2021 - 2021

    Type: Web Service

  3. “Food Scenes in ‘Osaka Elegy’ (1936)” Videographic Essay Production

    2019 - 2019

    Type: Artistic work

Social Activities 2

  1. Screening and Talk Session: Kazuhiro Soda’s Observational Film "The Cats of Gokogu Shrine," Sendai Mediatheque

    2026/08 -

  2. “The Philosophy of Japanese Documentary Filmmaking,” a talk with Japanese Film Director Hara Masato, Osaka City Central Public Hall, Osaka, Japan

    2023 -

Academic Activities 7

  1. Mapping Erased Spaces: Spatial Practices of Kamagasaki Day Laborers in Japanese Literature (1970s—1980s)

    2026/06 -

    Activity type: Academic society, research group, etc.

  2. “The Representation of Kamagasaki’s Marginalization in Osaka Literature, Manga, and Film,” Kyoto Asian Studies Group Monthly Meeting, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

  3. “Dream Lab” East Asian Studies and Digital Humanities Workshop, Online

  4. University of Chicago Digital Humanities Workshop in Japanese Studies

  5. Washington University Humanities Digital Workshop, Washington University

  6. Asia Pacific Perspectives Junior Scholar Writing Workshop, San Francisco University, Online

  7. Kinema Club XXI Workshop for Emerging Scholars in Japanese Film and Media, Yale University, New Haven

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