Nanase Shirota is a sociologist/social anthropologist, focusing on communication (particularly listening), work, gender, and migration in contemporary Japan, with a specific current focus on transnational Japanese hostesses. She is also methodologically interested in ethnography, interviews, and oral history. Dr Shirota earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge, and holds an MA from Keio University, studying Arabic and Islamic studies, and a second MA in Sociology from the University of Glasgow.
Research interests:
Communication (particularly listening), work, gender, migration, oral history
Publications:
Peer-review journals
(2023) Volunteers’ listening as a ‘non-free gift’: An ethnography of Active Listening Volunteering in Japan. Asian Anthropology (4). DOI: 10.1080/1683478X.2023.2240981
(2021) Nagara listening: Japanese Listeners’ Behavior in Multi-Activity Settings. International Journal of Listening. 37(1), 62–75. DOI: 10.1080/10904018.2021.1883434
Book chapter and other academic articles
(2021) Ginza no hosutesu wa kiki-jōzu? [Are hostesses in Ginza good listeners?] Honjo International Scholarship Foundation Annual Bulletin. Vol.7, pp.7–8, pp.25–26. (English and Japanese)
(2020) The Japanese Art of Listening: An ethnographic investigation into the role of the listener’. Japanese Anthropology Workshop, (Online Publication http://www.japananthropology workshop.org/japanese-art-of-listening-an-ethnographic-investigation-into-the-role-of-the-listener/).
Christopher Tso and Nanase Shirota (2017) How to Become a Beautiful and Attentive Businessman: Constructing New Masculinities in Japanese Self-Help Literature, in Brigitte Steger and Angelika Koch (eds.) Cool Japanese Men: Studying New Masculinities at Cambridge. Zurich: Lit. pp.85–128.
Publications for general audiences
Tokyo Foundation and NPO Kyōzon no mori network (2012) Hisaichi no Kikikaki 101 [The oral history of the disaster-stricken area of East Japan Tsunami 101.] pp.16–22, pp.236–242, pp.243–249, pp.569–576, pp.577–583.
Nanase Shirota and Nahoko Yoshino (2012) Listening and Documenting ‘Kikikaki’: A Tool for Sharing Wisdom for Sustainable Societies. Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) in cooperation with the NPO Kyōzon no mori Network and the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan. (Japanese and English)