Bio
Dr. Hisaaki Wake is a native of Japan who first came to Massachusetts in 1993 as a Rotary Foundation International Fellow. Since then, he has lived in several U.S. states, including Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, California, Maine, and Colorado. Throughout his academic career, Dr. Wake has primarily taught Japanese language and culture at the college level. In the early 2000s, he also taught English reading and communication at Meiji University (Kawasaki) and American and comparative literature at Kindai University (Higashi-Osaka) in Japan.
Dr. Wake earned his Ph.D. in Japanese from Stanford University in 2012. His dissertation explored the role of music in the literary works of Nakagami Kenji, a modern Japanese writer from a marginalized community in Wakayama Prefecture. In 2016, Dr. Wake became a U.S. citizen in Portland, Maine. His current research focuses on curriculum design, particularly the integration of authentic Japanese texts and audiovisual narratives into Japanese language and culture instruction.
Since Fall 2017, Dr. Wake has been teaching all levels of Japanese language and culture courses at the United States Air Force Academy.
Education
Ph.D., Japanese, Stanford University (2012)
Master of Arts, English, State University of New York, Albany (1995)
Bachelor of Arts, English, Hokkaido University (1986)
Professional Experience
Lecturer, Meiji University
Lecturer, Kinki University
Lecturer, Stanford University
Visiting Lecturer, University of California, Davis
Visiting Assistant Professor, Bates College
Visiting Lecturer, Amherst College
Honors & Awards
Japan Congress of Journalists (JCJ) Citizens’ Media Award (2004)
Research and Scholarly Interests
Cross-cultural curriculum development
Ecocriticism
Publications
Books
Wake, Hisaaki, Suga Keijirō, and Yuki Masami, eds. Ecocriticism in Japan. Edited by Hisaaki Wake, Suga Keijirō, and Yuki Masami. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018.
Book Chapters
“Karatani Kojin to shinsaigo bungaku (Karatani Kojin and the Post-Great East Japan Earthquake Literature).” In Kankyō to bungaku no kanata ni: Ecocritishizumu to atarashii sōzō no jidai (Beyond the Environment and Literature: Ecocriticism and the New Age of Creation). Eds., Tsuji Kazuhiko, Hamamoto Ryūzō, and Aota Mami. Tokyo: Sairyusha, 2025. 232-246.
“KS, Educator.” In Wild Lines and Poetic Travels: A Keijiro Suga Reader. Edited by Doug Slaymaker. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021. 165-178.
“On the Ideological Manipulation of Nature Inherent in Japanese Popular Culture.” In Ecocriticism in Japan. Edited by Hisaaki Wake, Suga Keijirō, and Yuki Masami. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018. 223-238.
“Shōjo to Tekusuto—Higuchi Ichiyō, ‘Takekurabe’ to Arisu Manrō, ‘Passhion’” (Girl and Text: ‘Growing-up’ by Higuchi Ichiyō and ‘Passion’ by Alice Munro). Bungaku kenkyu wa nan no tame? (What Good Is Literary Study?) Ed. Teruhiko Nagao. Sapporo: Hokkaido UP, 2008. 397-413.
Journal Articles
“Nakagami Kanji to Genpatsu” (Nakagami Kenji and Nuclear Power Stations). Literature and Environment: The Journal of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment in Japan. Vol. 22: 2019.10. 48-58.
“Teaching Parallelism.” Bungaku, Geijutsu, Bunka (Literature, Art, Culture). Vol. 16:1. Higashiosaka: College of Arts and Literature, Kinki University, 2005. 93-115.
“To What Extent Is Carrie a Homo Economicus—the Representation of Economy in Sister Carrie.” Bungaku, Geijutsu, Bunka (Literature, Art, Culture). Vol. 15: 2. Higashiosaka: College of Literature and Fine Arts, Kinki University, 2003. 57-88.
“On the Principle of Comparative Studies between Texts: Methodology and Practice.” Bungaku, Geijutsu, Bunka (Literature, Art, Culture). Vol. 15:1. Higashiosaka: College of Literature and Fine Arts, Kinki University, 2003. 33-76.
Book Reviews
Yokoyama Yūta, Shōsetsu Mirā-san: Minna no Nihongo Shokyū Series (Mr. Miller, a Novel, 3A Network, 2017). NECTFL Review. Northeast Conference of the Teaching of Foreign Languages. (85): 2020. 03. 75-76. https://www.nectfl.org/?ddownload=2960
Christine Marran, Ecology without Culture: Aesthetics for a Toxic World (U of Minnesoa P, 2017). Literature and Environment: The Journal of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment in Japan. (21): 2018.10. 49-51.
Toshiya Ueno, The Four Ecologies: Félix Guattari’s Thought (Kawade Shobo, 2016). Literature and Environment: The Journal of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment in Japan. 20 (October 2017). 63-65.
Select Translations
Eve Zimmerman, “Nyū Yōku no Nakagami Kenji” (Nakagami Kenji in New York). Japanese translation and coordination by Hisaaki Wake. Bessatsu Taiyō: Nihon no kokoro, Vol. 199: Nakagami Kenji. Ed. Takazawa Shūji. Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2012. 152-3.
Yoshimoto Takaaki, “On Tenkō, or Ideological Conversion.” Tr. Hisaaki Wake. Translation in Modern Japan. Ed. Indra Levy. New York: Routledge, 2011, 102-21. *Originally published in Review of Japanese Culture and Society. Vol. 20. December 2008. Tokyo: Jōsai UP. 99-119.
Sekai wa kaerareru (The World Can Be Changed) I & II. Tokyo: Nanatsumori Shokan, 2004. *Cooperative translation works with the Translators United for Peace (TUP) translators including Jun Hoshikawa. Vol. I received 2004 Japan Congress of Journalists (JCJ) Citizens’ Media Award.