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Roman Rosenbaum

The University of Sydney, School of Languages and Cultures, Faculty Member

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Roman Rosenbaum, PhD is an Honorary Associate at the University of Sydney Australia. He specialises in Postwar Japanese Literature and Popular Cultural Studies. He received his Ph.D. in Japanese Literature at the University of Sydney. In 2008 he received the Inoue Yasushi Award for best refereed journal article on Japanese literature in Australia. In 2010/11, he spent one year as a Visiting Research Professor at the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) to complete a monograph on the social activist Oda Makoto. His Japanese to English translations include: ‘A Translation of Oda Makoto‘s “Aboji” wo fumu,’ in Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia (JOSA), Vol.36-7, 2004-05, pp.86-103. He is the editor of Representation of Japanese History in Manga (Routledge 2013). His latest edited book is entitled Visions of precarity in Japanese popular culture and literature (Routledge 2015). His latest translation is ISHIBUMI: A memorial to the atomic annihilation of 321 students of Hiroshima Second Middle School. Tokyo: Poplar Press (ポプラ社), 2016.
Address: THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY
Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Registrar)
Level 6, Jane Foss Russell Building– KG02 | Darlington | NSW | 2006

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Papers by Roman Rosenbaum

The Representation of the U.S.-Japan Alliance in manga

International Journal of Comic Art (IJOCA) , 2023

This paper traces the long history of the mercurial U.S. - Japan alliance from its infancy to the... more This paper traces the long history of the mercurial U.S. - Japan alliance from its infancy to the contemporary multilateral relationship via its representation in the graphic manga discourse. This paper was first presented as Seminar at the College of Liberal Arts for the Scholarly Intersections Lecture: February 25, 2020. Anatol Center at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

Tezuka Osamu's Postcolonial Discourse towards a Hybrid National Identity

Postcolonial Comics, 2015

The discourse analysis of Adolf demonstrates how Tezuka represents the nation as a set of narrati... more The discourse analysis of Adolf demonstrates how Tezuka represents the nation as a set of narratives, for example, by the postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha and thus reveals the layers of postcolonial discourse within Japan's graphic-novel tradition. Bhabha's suggestion that 'it is in the emergence of the interstices, the overlap and displacement of domains of difference, that the intersubjective and collective experiences of nationness, community interest, or cultural values are negotiated' is played out in the hybridity and interstitial elements of Adolf. The graphic novel reveals repeatedly that supposedly stable entities like nation, culture, and identity are volatile and, through giving voice to those absent from these narratives, like women, war orphans, and migrants, Tezuka challenges officially sanctioned national history. Thus postcolonial reading of Tezuka's Adolf is plausible and highlights the vital contribution of the literary discourse of Tezuka's graphic novels to the study of diasporic cultures during the Asia-Pacific War and, in particular, their cultural contextualization during the postwar era.

Sabotaging the rising sun: representing history in Tezuka Osamu’s Phoenix

Manga and the Representation of Japanese History, 2012

Shinseinen and the Iconography of War 1

The Hyphenated Films of Steven Okazaki : Japanese Identities in American Film

Ai-Mitsu [靉光] (1907–1946)

<jats:p>Ai-Mitsu, born Nichiro Ishimura, was the second son of a landowning family in Hiros... more <jats:p>Ai-Mitsu, born Nichiro Ishimura, was the second son of a landowning family in Hiroshima. As an artist he was known for his Western-style paintings, his eschewing of the hieratic of sensō-ga (painting, 戦争画), and his pursuit of a variety of styles ranging from sōgen-ga (Chinese-style painting, 宋元画), to self-portraits and Surrealism. During the war he joined a group of self-portrait painters called the Shinjin Gakai (Association of New Painters, 新人画会), which was established in 1943. He was conscripted in 1944 and sent to the front in Manchuria. He died in 1946 in a hospital in Shanghai, following the surrender of Japan. While many of his works were destroyed in the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima, his most famous work, Me no aru fūkei (目のある風景, Landscape with an Eye, 1938), is currently held in the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. In this painting of a shapeless landscape with an embedded eye, he succeeded in giving form to the thoughts and feelings that were generally suppressed during Japan's Asia-Pacific war.</jats:p>

Reimagining Sacrosanct Sites in the Graphic Arts of Kōno Fumiyo

Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories Across Cultures, 2021

Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism

Prior to World War II, Constructivism attracted little interest from British artists apart from t... more Prior to World War II, Constructivism attracted little interest from British artists apart from the few involved with Circle in 1937. Circle consisted of a publication and accompanying exhibition and was the first comprehensive presentation of constructivist work in London. It was organized jointly by Ben Nicholson (1894–1982), the Russian émigré sculptor Naum Gabo, and the architect Lesley Martin, and was publicized as an international survey of constructive art.

Oda Makoto and grassroots citizenship movements – Beheiren

Civil Society and Postwar Pacific Basin Reconciliation, 2018

This paper focuses in detail on the concept of grassroots activism (草の根の直接行動) in relation to peac... more This paper focuses in detail on the concept of grassroots activism (草の根の直接行動) in relation to peace movements. Special emphasis is placed on the Japanese case of Oda Makoto’s (小田実) protracted involvement with the anti-Vietnam War citizen protests and its indirect relation to Japanese attempts to come to terms with its past. One of Japan’s most successful postwar social movements known as Beheiren (ベ平連, short for ベトナムに平和を！市民連合), fought for peace in Vietnam and was instigated by Japanese intellectuals spearheaded by Oda and his peers. Issues such as American dassōhei (脱走兵, deserters) who were cared for by members of Beheiren’s anti-Vietnam movement supporters are key elements for understanding the social repercussions of this era and by extension address the issues of reconciliation and contemporary grassroots diplomacy.

The political representation of Hiroshima in the graphic art of Kōno Fumiyo

Towards an introduction: Japan’s literature of precarity

Social Malaise in Japan

Australia in the Asian century: The fate of Australia's 'new' national cultural policy

Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 2014

The National Cultural Policy was supposed to set the framework for Australian Government support ... more The National Cultural Policy was supposed to set the framework for Australian Government support for arts, culture and the creative industries for the next ten years. The objective of the policy was to increase the social and economic dividend from the arts, culture and the creative industries. A strong artistic sector producing the highest quality work results in positive social and economic impacts for the nation. The funding delivered to the arts through the Australia Council ensures that high calibre artistic product is made for Australian audiences. However the desired outcome ended in disaster. Huge amounts of taxpayers money were wasted and the policy ultimately never saw the light of day. This is the history of a failed opportunity to acknowledge and promote Australia's place in Asia.

Graphic representation of the precariat in popular culture

Introduction: the representation of Japanese history in manga

Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture and Literature

Foreword: Liberty and equality in Japan's unequal society, Suzuki Sadami 1. Towards an introd... more Foreword: Liberty and equality in Japan's unequal society, Suzuki Sadami 1. Towards an introduction: Japan's literature of precarity, Roman Rosenbaum 2. Kirino Natsuo's Metabola, or the Okinawan stage, fractured selves and the precarity of contemporary existence, Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt 3. Precarity, kawaii (cuteness), and their impact on environmental discourse in Japan, W. Puck Brecher 4. Part-timer, buy a house. Middle-class precarity, sentimentality and learning the meaning of work, Christopher Perkins 5. Precarious attraction: Abe Kazushige's Individual Projection post-bubble, Maria Roemer 6. Hirabayashi Eiko and the projection of a viable proletarian vision, Mats Karlsson 7.The Precarious Self: Love, melancholia and the eradication of adolescence in Makoto Shinkai's anime works, Maria Grajdian 8. Graphic representation of the precariat in popular culture, Roman Rosenbaum 9.Towards new literary trend: Contemporary Japanese society mirrored in literature, Yasuko Claremont 10. Cinematic Narratives of Precarity: Gender and Affect in Contemporary Japan, Ritu Vij 11. Precarity beyond 3/11 or 'Living Fukushima'--Power, politics, and space in Wago Ryoichi's poetry of disaster, Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt

Legacies of the Asia-Pacific War

The ‘Generation of the Burnt-out Ruins’

Japanese Studies, 2007

... the burnt-out ruins. The most celebrated literary record of the yakeato generation is arguabl... more

From the traditions of J-horror to the representation of kakusa shakai in Kurosawa's film Tokyo Sonata

Contemporary Japan, 2010

Postwar Australian-Japanese grassroots reconciliation movements: Grassroots presentations at an international conference to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Asia-Pacific conflict

This paper includes oral presentations delivered on 29 September 2015 during the conference: "Wou... more This paper includes oral presentations delivered on 29 September 2015 during the conference: "Wounds, Scars and Healing: Civil Society and Postwar Pacific Basin Reconciliation," held at the University of Sydney from 29 September to 2 October 2015 to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Asia-Pacific War. Each presentation is framed with a research paper addressing the larger issues of reconciliation and commemorative events via civil grassroots movements.

The grassroots workshop presenters were Martin Flanagan (Melbourne, Editor,
TheAge); Fr Paul Glynn (A Song for Nagasaki); Rosemary Gower (Loveday, South
Australia); Fuyuko Nishisato (POW Research Network Japan); Peter Phillips (RSL
President, 1997-2003); Hyun Soon-Hye (constitutional revision issues, zainichi
activist); Yoshiko Tamura (POW Research Network Japan); Mina Watanabe
(WAM Women's Active Museum on War and Peace, Tokyo); Yosuke Watanabe
(POW Research Network Japan).

The Representation of the U.S.-Japan Alliance in manga

International Journal of Comic Art (IJOCA) , 2023

This paper traces the long history of the mercurial U.S. - Japan alliance from its infancy to the... more This paper traces the long history of the mercurial U.S. - Japan alliance from its infancy to the contemporary multilateral relationship via its representation in the graphic manga discourse. This paper was first presented as Seminar at the College of Liberal Arts for the Scholarly Intersections Lecture: February 25, 2020. Anatol Center at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB).

Tezuka Osamu's Postcolonial Discourse towards a Hybrid National Identity

Postcolonial Comics, 2015

The discourse analysis of Adolf demonstrates how Tezuka represents the nation as a set of narrati... more The discourse analysis of Adolf demonstrates how Tezuka represents the nation as a set of narratives, for example, by the postcolonial theorist Homi Bhabha and thus reveals the layers of postcolonial discourse within Japan's graphic-novel tradition. Bhabha's suggestion that 'it is in the emergence of the interstices, the overlap and displacement of domains of difference, that the intersubjective and collective experiences of nationness, community interest, or cultural values are negotiated' is played out in the hybridity and interstitial elements of Adolf. The graphic novel reveals repeatedly that supposedly stable entities like nation, culture, and identity are volatile and, through giving voice to those absent from these narratives, like women, war orphans, and migrants, Tezuka challenges officially sanctioned national history. Thus postcolonial reading of Tezuka's Adolf is plausible and highlights the vital contribution of the literary discourse of Tezuka's graphic novels to the study of diasporic cultures during the Asia-Pacific War and, in particular, their cultural contextualization during the postwar era.

Sabotaging the rising sun: representing history in Tezuka Osamu’s Phoenix

Manga and the Representation of Japanese History, 2012

Shinseinen and the Iconography of War 1

The Hyphenated Films of Steven Okazaki : Japanese Identities in American Film

Ai-Mitsu [靉光] (1907–1946)

<jats:p>Ai-Mitsu, born Nichiro Ishimura, was the second son of a landowning family in Hiros... more <jats:p>Ai-Mitsu, born Nichiro Ishimura, was the second son of a landowning family in Hiroshima. As an artist he was known for his Western-style paintings, his eschewing of the hieratic of sensō-ga (painting, 戦争画), and his pursuit of a variety of styles ranging from sōgen-ga (Chinese-style painting, 宋元画), to self-portraits and Surrealism. During the war he joined a group of self-portrait painters called the Shinjin Gakai (Association of New Painters, 新人画会), which was established in 1943. He was conscripted in 1944 and sent to the front in Manchuria. He died in 1946 in a hospital in Shanghai, following the surrender of Japan. While many of his works were destroyed in the atomic bomb explosion in Hiroshima, his most famous work, Me no aru fūkei (目のある風景, Landscape with an Eye, 1938), is currently held in the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. In this painting of a shapeless landscape with an embedded eye, he succeeded in giving form to the thoughts and feelings that were generally suppressed during Japan's Asia-Pacific war.</jats:p>

Reimagining Sacrosanct Sites in the Graphic Arts of Kōno Fumiyo

Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories Across Cultures, 2021

Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism

Prior to World War II, Constructivism attracted little interest from British artists apart from t... more Prior to World War II, Constructivism attracted little interest from British artists apart from the few involved with Circle in 1937. Circle consisted of a publication and accompanying exhibition and was the first comprehensive presentation of constructivist work in London. It was organized jointly by Ben Nicholson (1894–1982), the Russian émigré sculptor Naum Gabo, and the architect Lesley Martin, and was publicized as an international survey of constructive art.

Oda Makoto and grassroots citizenship movements – Beheiren

Civil Society and Postwar Pacific Basin Reconciliation, 2018

This paper focuses in detail on the concept of grassroots activism (草の根の直接行動) in relation to peac... more This paper focuses in detail on the concept of grassroots activism (草の根の直接行動) in relation to peace movements. Special emphasis is placed on the Japanese case of Oda Makoto’s (小田実) protracted involvement with the anti-Vietnam War citizen protests and its indirect relation to Japanese attempts to come to terms with its past. One of Japan’s most successful postwar social movements known as Beheiren (ベ平連, short for ベトナムに平和を！市民連合), fought for peace in Vietnam and was instigated by Japanese intellectuals spearheaded by Oda and his peers. Issues such as American dassōhei (脱走兵, deserters) who were cared for by members of Beheiren’s anti-Vietnam movement supporters are key elements for understanding the social repercussions of this era and by extension address the issues of reconciliation and contemporary grassroots diplomacy.

The political representation of Hiroshima in the graphic art of Kōno Fumiyo

Towards an introduction: Japan’s literature of precarity

Social Malaise in Japan

Australia in the Asian century: The fate of Australia's 'new' national cultural policy

Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia, 2014

The National Cultural Policy was supposed to set the framework for Australian Government support ... more The National Cultural Policy was supposed to set the framework for Australian Government support for arts, culture and the creative industries for the next ten years. The objective of the policy was to increase the social and economic dividend from the arts, culture and the creative industries. A strong artistic sector producing the highest quality work results in positive social and economic impacts for the nation. The funding delivered to the arts through the Australia Council ensures that high calibre artistic product is made for Australian audiences. However the desired outcome ended in disaster. Huge amounts of taxpayers money were wasted and the policy ultimately never saw the light of day. This is the history of a failed opportunity to acknowledge and promote Australia's place in Asia.

Graphic representation of the precariat in popular culture

Introduction: the representation of Japanese history in manga

Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular Culture and Literature

Foreword: Liberty and equality in Japan's unequal society, Suzuki Sadami 1. Towards an introd... more Foreword: Liberty and equality in Japan's unequal society, Suzuki Sadami 1. Towards an introduction: Japan's literature of precarity, Roman Rosenbaum 2. Kirino Natsuo's Metabola, or the Okinawan stage, fractured selves and the precarity of contemporary existence, Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt 3. Precarity, kawaii (cuteness), and their impact on environmental discourse in Japan, W. Puck Brecher 4. Part-timer, buy a house. Middle-class precarity, sentimentality and learning the meaning of work, Christopher Perkins 5. Precarious attraction: Abe Kazushige's Individual Projection post-bubble, Maria Roemer 6. Hirabayashi Eiko and the projection of a viable proletarian vision, Mats Karlsson 7.The Precarious Self: Love, melancholia and the eradication of adolescence in Makoto Shinkai's anime works, Maria Grajdian 8. Graphic representation of the precariat in popular culture, Roman Rosenbaum 9.Towards new literary trend: Contemporary Japanese society mirrored in literature, Yasuko Claremont 10. Cinematic Narratives of Precarity: Gender and Affect in Contemporary Japan, Ritu Vij 11. Precarity beyond 3/11 or 'Living Fukushima'--Power, politics, and space in Wago Ryoichi's poetry of disaster, Kristina Iwata-Weickgenannt

Legacies of the Asia-Pacific War

The ‘Generation of the Burnt-out Ruins’

Japanese Studies, 2007

... the burnt-out ruins. The most celebrated literary record of the yakeato generation is arguabl... more

From the traditions of J-horror to the representation of kakusa shakai in Kurosawa's film Tokyo Sonata

Contemporary Japan, 2010

Postwar Australian-Japanese grassroots reconciliation movements: Grassroots presentations at an international conference to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Asia-Pacific conflict

This paper includes oral presentations delivered on 29 September 2015 during the conference: "Wou... more This paper includes oral presentations delivered on 29 September 2015 during the conference: "Wounds, Scars and Healing: Civil Society and Postwar Pacific Basin Reconciliation," held at the University of Sydney from 29 September to 2 October 2015 to commemorate the seventieth anniversary of the end of the Asia-Pacific War. Each presentation is framed with a research paper addressing the larger issues of reconciliation and commemorative events via civil grassroots movements.

The grassroots workshop presenters were Martin Flanagan (Melbourne, Editor,
TheAge); Fr Paul Glynn (A Song for Nagasaki); Rosemary Gower (Loveday, South
Australia); Fuyuko Nishisato (POW Research Network Japan); Peter Phillips (RSL
President, 1997-2003); Hyun Soon-Hye (constitutional revision issues, zainichi
activist); Yoshiko Tamura (POW Research Network Japan); Mina Watanabe
(WAM Women's Active Museum on War and Peace, Tokyo); Yosuke Watanabe
(POW Research Network Japan).

Introduction: Legacies of the Asia-Pacific War: The Yakeato ( the burnt-out ruins) Generation

Legacies of the Asia-Pacific War: The Yakeato Generation, 2010

This book investigates the genealogy of the Yakeato (焼け跡) generation or those Japanese, who exper... more This book investigates the genealogy of the Yakeato (焼け跡) generation or those Japanese, who experienced the final stage of the war during their adolescent period. The book investigates generational issues of disenfranchised people emerging from the aftermath of the Asia–Pacific War along the lines of other minorities such as Koreans in Japan (migrants or forced labourers), Burakumin, Hibakusha, Okinawans, Asian minorities, comfort women and many others. Several of these groups have been discussed in a large corpus of what we may call ‘disenfranchised literature’, and the research presented in this book intends to add an additional and particularly controversial example to the long list of the voice- and powerless. The presence of members of what is known as the yakeato sedai (焼け跡世代) or the generation of people who experienced the fire-bombings of the Asia–Pacific War is conspicuous in all areas of contemporary Japan. From literature to the visual arts, from music to theater, from architecture to politics, their influence and in many cases guiding principles is evident everywhere and in many cases forms the keystone of modern Japanese society and culture.