Yoshiko Okuyama

Yoshiko Okuyama is a Japanese studies professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, whose research focuses on mythology, folklore, and religion, along with the connection of Japanese creative works and their representations of disability and mental health.

Education

Okuyama attended the University of Arizona and obtained a Master's degree in English as a second language (ESL)^[1] and a Ph.D. in second language acquisition.^[2]

Career

Hired by the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in 2001 as an assistant professor in the Japanese Studies department, Okuyama started her research focused around Oral Proficiency Interview methods.^[2] In 2020, she published a monograph titled Reframing Disability in Manga, which focused on how people with disabilities have been portrayed in manga from the 1990s and 2000s. The work used an expanded definition of disability, including those that are blind, deaf, autistic, or having issues of gender dysphoria.^[3] She began working on the publication in 2015 and it discusses fifteen case studies of different manga that properly showcase the capabilities of disabled individuals and how this representation can affect the cultural public understanding of the conditions.^[4]

For her work on researching her disabilities monograph, she was made a visiting scholar for Kokugakuin University in 2017 and attended a 2018 National Endowment for the Humanities conference on the subject of disability studies. She later created her own 2019 seminar at the annual Association for Asian Studies conference to confer with other scholars.^[4] After the publication of the book, she was invited by Cornell University’s East Asia Program to explain the topic. She was also given a course at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on the subject of gender and disability in manga that began in spring 2022.^[5] Her subsequent 2022 book, Tōjisha Manga: Japan’s Graphic Memoirs of Brain and Mental Health, discussed the history of Japan and its minority rights movements (tōjisha undō) and how graphic manga covered this history and the impacts of depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) from the events.^[6]

Awards

Okuyama was given the 2002 Francis Davis Award For Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching for her teaching work in Japanese language classes and her ability to convey difficult concepts to students.^[7]

Bibliography

• — (2015). Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime. Lexington Books. p. 244. ISBN 9780739190937.^[8]
• — (2020). Reframing Disability in Manga. University of Hawaii Press. p. 238. ISBN 9780824883225.^[9]
• — (2022). Tōjisha Manga: Japan’s Graphic Memoirs of Brain and Mental Health. Springer International Publishing. p. 295. ISBN 9783031008405.^[10]

References

1. Enright, Susan (October 30, 2015). "Yoshiko Okuyama, Professor of Japanese Studies". hilo.hawaii.edu. University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
2. Rogers, Lawrence (May 10, 2001). "Japanese Studies a diverse program". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Retrieved March 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
3. Bookman, Mark (July 3, 2020). "Interview with Yoshiko Okuyama: Reframing Disability in Manga". Asian Ethnology. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
4. Enright, Susan (January 6, 2021). "New book on disability by Japanese studies professor Yoshiko Okuyama". hilo.hawaii.edu. University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
5. Enright, Susan (October 13, 2021). "Prof. of Japanese Studies Yoshiko Okuyama reframes disability in manga; Cornell University to host virtual talk Oct. 18". hilo.hawaii.edu. University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Retrieved March 2, 2024.
6. "Center for Disability Studies: Yoshiko "Yoyo" Okuyama, "Japan's Graphic Memoirs of Depression and OCD"". humanitiesinstitute.buffalo.edu. University at Buffalo. April 14, 2023. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
7. "Davis Award to Yoshiko Okuyama". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. September 25, 2002. Retrieved March 1, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
8. Reviews for Japanese Mythology in Film:
   • Suter, Rebecca (January 1, 2017). "Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime, written by Yoshiko Okuyama". Journal of Religion in Japan. 6 (1): 71–74. doi:10.1163/22118349-00601003. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
   • MacWilliams, Mark (Winter 2017). "Review: Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime Yoshiko Okuyama". The Journal of Japanese Studies. 43 (1): 205–210. doi:10.1353/jjs.2017.0025. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
   • Ellis, Bill (Spring 2017). "Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime/From Dog Bridegroom to Wolf Girl: Contemporary Japanese Fairy-Tale Adaptations in Conversation with the West". Journal of American Folklore. 130 (516): 236–238. Retrieved February 29, 2024 – via ProQuest.
   • Soong, Micheline M. (2017). "Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime". Marvels & Tales. 31 (2): 430–432. doi:10.13110/marvelstales.31.2.0430. Retrieved March 1, 2024 – via ProQuest.
   • Wilkinson, Gregory (September 2017). "Japanese Mythology in Film: A Semiotic Approach to Reading Japanese Film and Anime". Religious Studies Review. 43 (3): 298–299. doi:10.1111/rsr.13168. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
9. Reviews for Reframing Disability in Manga:
   • Suzuki, Shige (Summer 2023). "Reframing Disability in Manga by Yoshiko Okuyama (review)". The Journal of Japanese Studies. 49 (2): 422–426. doi:10.1353/jjs.2023.a903471. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
   • Bookman, Mark R. (2022). "Reframing Disability in Manga by Yoshiko Okuyama (review)". Monumenta Nipponica. 77 (1): 191–197. doi:10.1353/mni.2022.0044. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
   • Teodorescu, Alice (November 2022). "Teodorescu on Okuyama, 'Reframing Disability in Manga'". H-Net. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
   • Prough, Jennifer S. (May 2021). "Reframing Disability in Manga. By Yoshiko Okuyama". The Journal of Asian Studies. 80 (2): 491–493. doi:10.1017/S0021911821000334. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
   • Hemmann, Kathryn (June 2021). "REFRAMING DISABILITY IN MANGA By Yoshiko Okuyama". Pacific Affairs. 94 (2): 436–438. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
10. Reviews for Tōjisha Manga:
    • Rastati, Ranny (2024). "Book Review: Tōjisha manga: Japan's graphic memoirs of brain and mental health". Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. doi:10.1080/21504857.2024.2303347. Retrieved February 29, 2024.