Miri Nakamura

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Miri Nakamura is a leading scholar in modern Japanese literature and cultural studies, whose work illuminates the intersections of technology, the body, and national identity. Her research centers on the literary and cultural history of the uncanny, with a particular focus on how monstrous, mechanized, and ambiguous bodies—from doppelgangers and robots to hybrid creations—have been used to articulate anxieties and aspirations in imperial and modern Japan. Nakamura’s most significant contribution is her monograph *Monstrous Bodies: The Rise of the Uncanny in Modern Japan* (2015), which has garnered 22 citations and is recognized as a foundational text for understanding the role of bodily metaphors in Japanese literature from the Meiji era through the early Showa period. Her earlier influential article, "Marking bodily differences: mechanized bodies in Hirabayashi Hatsunosuke's ‘Robot’ and early Showa robot literature" (2007, 12 citations), provides a pioneering analysis of Japan’s robot boom following the introduction of Karel Čapek’s *R.U.R.*, exploring how rapid mechanization shaped literary representations of the human. Through her meticulous archival work and theoretical sophistication, Nakamura has reshaped conversations about modernity, technology, and the body in Japanese studies, making her an essential voice for students and researchers interested in the cultural politics of the uncanny.