Kenneth Masaki Shima

Terasaki Center For Japanese Studies

Established in 1991, the UCLA Terasaki Center has been a platform for research on Japan. Our distinguished faculty, students, postdoctoral fellows, visiting scholars, and the board of advisors have been contributing to the field of Japanese studies for over 20 years.

Faculty Board of Advisors Chair in US-Japan Relations Postdoctoral Fellows Alumni

Students Visitors Staff Supporters Dr. Paul I. Terasaki

The Terasaki Center sponsors a vast array of events throughout the year. With its colloquium series, the Center brings academics from diverse fields to UCLA each year. Special workshops and annual conferences bring leading scholars to discuss topics relating to Japan.

Center News Annual Newsletter

Center Events Community Events Past Events

The Center is proud to support our faculty, current and prospective students, and the local community through a variety of grants and fellowships.

Internal Funding
Learn more and apply for Center funding here.

External Funding
Funding sources in this section are not administered by the Center.

Center programs were established with strong support from the local community to promote research and instruction in Japanese studies, with a recent focus on the profound transformations unfolding in contemporary Japanese society.

UCLA Japanese Studies
Programs by Faculty and Students

Global Japan Initiative
Understanding Japan/Japanese culture within a global context.

The Terasaki Center is actively expanding support for faculty and graduate students, building relationships with other universities as well as Japan and Japanese Studies related organizations, and enhancing its role in the community.

Mission & History
Digital Archive

Global Hub
The Center is dedicated to connecting Japanese communities around the world with those engaged in the study of Japan and the Japanese.

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global japan initiative Understanding Japan/Japanese
culture within a global context

Kenneth Masaki Shima

Asian Languages and Cultures

Receiving his BA from University of Washington, Ken pursued his interest in postwar Japanese film by moving to Tokyo to research 1950s and 60s film and literature. He worked as a researcher for two years at Nihon University before being accepted to the Masters program there and graduating with an MA in 2011. His master’s thesis focused on youth film and literature of the mid 1950s with focus on Sakaguchi Ango, Ishihara Shintarō, and director Nakahiro Kō. In 2012 Ken entered the UCLA PhD program and switched gears from film to focus more on unanswered questions regarding the category of youth and mass media from the turn of the 20th century. By incorporating ideas related to satirical political critique that originated from his interest in social melodramas in popular postwar films, he is currently working on periodicals from the 1890s-1910s and the writing of ‘critical’ or ‘counter’ histories, specifically on the figures of Miyatake Gaikotsu, Umehara Hokumei, and Yokoyama Gennosuke.