Profile

Alisa Freedman is a professor of Japanese literature, cultural studies, and gender at the University of Oregon. Her books include Japan on American TV; Tokyo in Transit: Japanese Culture on the Rails and Road; Women in Japanese Studies: Memoirs from a Trailblazing Generation (edited collection of 32 memoirs, click here for an excerpt); Introducing Japanese Popular Culture (edited textbook featuring 42 trends, two editions); annotated translation of Kawabata Yasunari’s The Scarlet Gang of Asakusa; and Modern Girls on the Go: Gender, Mobility, and Labor in Japan (coedited volume). She has published around 50 articles for academic and general interest publications, 20 literary translations, and 3 practical guides to academic professionalization skills and publishing. She served as the editor-in-chief of the US–Japan Women’s Journal (2016–2022). She was a Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam (2024) and has been preserving stories of women who are founding new educational fields based on cross-cultural knowledge and esearching and joini events on Japanese popular culture in Vietnam. This work represents one of several strands of Alisa's research: how people and culture move between places and create new identities and practices in the process (click here for articles on emoji and Cup Noodle). She is the Faculty Fellow of a University of Oregon residence hall, has received a national award for her mentorship work, and is a member of 12 campus units. Alisa enjoys presenting at public events like cultural festivals, anime cons, reading groups, and TEDx.

If you are a prospective student interested in working with Alisa, please email her to set up an appointment to talk.