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Department of the Languages and Cultures of Japan and Korea

Japan and Korea Departmental Staff

Head of Department

Professor Andrew Lo

Associate Head of Department

Professor Andrew Gerstle

Undergraduate Admissions Tutors

Dr Alan Cummings (Japan)
Dr Grace Koh (Korea)

Undergraduate Programme Convenors

Professor Andrew Gerstle (BA Japanese)

Dr Alan Cummings (BA Japanese plus another subject)

Dr Jaehoon Yeon (BA Korean)

Postgraduate Programme Convenors

Dr Stephen Dodd (MA Japanese Studies & MA Japanese Literature)

Dr Anders Karlsson (MA Korean Studies)

Dr Grace Koh (MA Korean Literature)

Dr Isolde Standish (MA Global Cinemas and the Transcultural)

Dr Barbara Pizziconi (MA Applied Linguistics and Language Pedagogy)

Postgraduate Research Tutor

Dr Anders Karlsson

Please note that for Masters Students the Admissions Tutor and Personal Tutor is the Postgraduate Programme Convenor.

Academic Staff

Andrew Gerstle
Professor of Japanese Studies
Head of Department of Japan and Korea
Drew Gerstle Japanese literature, drama and thought, primarily of the Tokugawa period, with particular interest in Bunraku and Kabuki theatre and the plays of Chikamatsu
  • Tel: 020 7898 4207
  • Email: ag4@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 390
  • Office Hours: Wednesdays 11:00-12:00 and by appointment
Stephen Dodd
Senior Lecturer in Japanese
Steve Dodd Modern Japanese literature, with particular interest in representations of the native place (furusato), gender/sexuality and modernity
  • Tel: 020 7898 4216
  • Email: sd5@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 381
  • Office Hours: Wednesdays 15:00-16:00 and by appointment

Anders Karlsson
Senior Lecturer in Korean
Anders Karlsson Korean language; literature and society; history of 19th century Korea
  • Tel: 020 7898 4265
  • Email: ak49@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 388
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 16:00-17:00/Thursdays 11:00-13:00
Griseldis Kirsch
Lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Culture
Griseldis Kirsch

Contemporary Japanese culture, with particular interest in Japanese media and popular culture, representations of 'Otherness', social phenomena and war memory.

  • Tel: 020 7898 4288
  • Email: gk10@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 377
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 14:00-15:00 and by appointment

Mika Kizu
Lecturer in Japanese
Staff Silhouette Theoretical Linguistics; Syntax; Japanese Linguistics; Second Language Acquisition
Grace Koh
Lecturer in Korean Literature
Grace Koh

Korean and East Asian literary traditions (prose and fiction); literary and intellectual history; travel literature and cultural encounters; critical theory and comparative literature

  • Tel: 020 7898 4290
  • Email: gk5@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 385
  • Office Hours: Fridays 11:00-13:00

Owen Miller
Lecturer in Korean Studies
Owen Miller

Modern Korean history and society; Korean historiography; social and economic history of 19th and 20th century Korea

  • Tel: 020 7898 4363
  • Email: om4@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 408
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 14:00-15:00/Thursdays 13:00-14:00
Barbara Pizziconi
Senior Lecturer in Applied Japanese Linguistics
Barbara Pizziconi Japanese applied linguistics; language teaching methodology; second language acquisition with emphasis on pragmatic aspects; linguistic politeness
  • Tel: 020 7898 4225
  • Email: bp3@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 362
  • Office Hours: Wednesdays 15:00-16:00 and by appointment

Isolde Standish
Reader in Film and Media Studies, Department of Japan and Korea
Isolde Standish: Centre for Media and Film Studies

East Asian film and visual media

  • Tel: 020 7898 4227
  • Email: is16@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 574
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 9:00 - 11:00
Jae Hoon Yeon
Professor of Korean Language and Linguistics
Jaehoon Yeon Korean language and linguistics, especially morpho-syntax and linguistic typology; structure and history of Korean language; Korean language teaching and translation; modern Korean literature
  • Tel: 020 7898 4232
  • Email: jy1@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 384
  • Office Hours: Fridays 14:00 - 15:00 and 16:00-17:00

Principal Lectors

Senior Lectors

Misako Kanehisa
Senior Lector in Japanese
Staff Silhouette
  • Tel: 020 7898 4235
  • Email: mk7@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 387
  • Office Hours: Mondays 13:00-14:00 / Wednesdays 12:00-13:00
Miwako Kashiwagi
Senior Lector in Japanese
Miwako-Kashiwagi-56
  • Tel: 020 7898 4236
  • Email: mk56@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 387
  • Office Hours: Mondays 16:00-17:00 / Wednesdays 16:00-17:00

Miki Kawabata
Senior Lector in Japanese
Staff Silhouette
  • Email: mk90@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 480
  • Office Hours: Mondays 13:00-14:00 / Wednesdays 15:00-16:00
Kyung Eun Lee
Senior Lector in Korean
Kyung Eun Lee

Korean language teaching

  • Tel: 020 7898 4267
  • Email: kl14@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 395
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 15:00 - 16:00

Teaching Fellows

Jaehee Cho
Teaching Fellow in Korean
Staff Silhouette
Alan Cummings
Senior Teaching Fellow In Japanese
Alan Cummings
  • Tel: 020 7898 4200
  • Email: ac50@soas.ac.uk
  • Room: 391
  • Office Hours: Mondays 17:00-18:00/Fridays 16:00/17:00

Keiko Kelly
Teaching Fellow in Japanese
Staff Silhouette
Heejae Lee
Senior Teaching Fellow in Korean
Staff Silhouette

Satona Suzuki
Senior Teaching Fellow in Japanese
Staff Silhouette

Research Associates

J E Hoare
Research Associate
J E Hoare

FCO Research Analysts (China, Japan and Korea) for 33 years. PhD from SOAS 1971 in Japanese history. Served in Seoul, Beijing and in 2001-2002, established the British Embassy in Pyongyang., Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Has taught Korean history at SOAS and currently teaches a course, “The Other Korea” on North Korea since 1945. Numerous publications, broadcasts etc.

Robert O Khan
Research Associate
Staff Silhouette

Research Fellows

Akiko Yano
Staff Silhouette

Japanese art and culture of the 16th to 19th centuries