DELC Research Seminar Series: Akane Kawakami In brief Date - 2 December 2026Venue - Lecture Theatre 3, Appleton TowerSpeaker - Professor Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London)Title - Tokyo's "Shitamachi" (Downtown) in Toshiyuki Horié's Istuka Ohji eki de (2001), Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters (2018) and Wim Wenders' Perfect Days (2023) About the eventWhat – and where – is Tokyo’s shitamachi (literally, ‘downtown’)?Set against the Yamanote area, which is situated west of the Imperial Palace and home – since the Edo period – to the upper classes, the shitamachi areas are geographically ‘lower’ than the hilly Yamanote wards, and traditionally house the more popular, less affluent classes. As such, and in a similar fashion to other city cultures across the world, ‘downtown’ Tokyo has oft been mythologised as the more authentic, nostalgic part of the city where the ‘real’ Tokyoites live and speak their distinct language, thus exuding ‘shitamachi joucho’ (the shitamachi ‘aura’).This talk will analyse representations of Tokyo’s shitamachi in three contemporary works: Toshiyuki Horié's 'Itsuka Ohji eki de' (2001), Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters' (2018) and Wim Wenders' 'Perfect Days' (2023). Horié, an essayist, academic and Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist, is famous for his delicate, autofictional writings about the everyday. His 'Itsuka Ohji eki de' describes everyday life in a well-known shitamachi ward called Arakawa, famous for the Arakawa tramline. Kore-eda’s 'Shoplifters' is also mostly set in Arakawa ward, and the interactions of the characters with their locality is key to their way of life; by contrast, the main character of Wenders’ 'Perfect Days' spends his working life in the Yamanote area of Meguro ward cleaning the beautiful toilets there, but returns home to Asakusa, another famous downtown area, where he visibly relaxes.Professor Kawakami will show how these works avoid mythologising the ‘shitamachi’ but attempt nonetheless to capture its difference from the upper-class Yamanote areas. Her focus will be on the human/nonhuman balance in these representations of the shitamachi, to show how it is interestingly ‘equal’ in all three of these works, and will conclude with some suggestions as to why this might be the case.About the speakerProfessor Akane Kawakami is Professor of French at Birkbeck, University of London. She teaches and researches in the field of twentieth–century and contemporary French and Francophone literature. Her interests include travel narratives and exoticism, photography and the photographic, contemporary fiction, and interactions between literary and visual culture.How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required - just come along!About the seminar seriesThe DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and coproduction between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.Entry is free and everyone is welcome. No registration is necessary.Are you interested in studying European Languages and Cultures?Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in nine European languages, and the many cultures worldwide in which they're spoken, with experts in film, literature, theatre, translation and intermediality. Working with colleagues elsewhere in LLC, and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about studying with us Tags European Languages and Cultures Asian Studies Film and Intermediality Dec 02 2026 5:15pm - 6:30pm DELC Research Seminar Series: Akane Kawakami An in-person seminar by Professor Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London) analysing representations of Tokyo's 'shitmachi' ('downtown') in Toshiyuki Horié's 'Itsuka Ohji eki de' (2001), Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters' (2018) and Wim Wenders' 'Perfect Days' (2023). Lecture Theatre 3 Appleton Tower 11 Crichton Street University of Edinburgh EH8 9LE Find the venue: Appleton Tower This article was published on Wednesday 22 October 2025
DELC Research Seminar Series: Akane Kawakami In brief Date - 2 December 2026Venue - Lecture Theatre 3, Appleton TowerSpeaker - Professor Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London)Title - Tokyo's "Shitamachi" (Downtown) in Toshiyuki Horié's Istuka Ohji eki de (2001), Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters (2018) and Wim Wenders' Perfect Days (2023) About the eventWhat – and where – is Tokyo’s shitamachi (literally, ‘downtown’)?Set against the Yamanote area, which is situated west of the Imperial Palace and home – since the Edo period – to the upper classes, the shitamachi areas are geographically ‘lower’ than the hilly Yamanote wards, and traditionally house the more popular, less affluent classes. As such, and in a similar fashion to other city cultures across the world, ‘downtown’ Tokyo has oft been mythologised as the more authentic, nostalgic part of the city where the ‘real’ Tokyoites live and speak their distinct language, thus exuding ‘shitamachi joucho’ (the shitamachi ‘aura’).This talk will analyse representations of Tokyo’s shitamachi in three contemporary works: Toshiyuki Horié's 'Itsuka Ohji eki de' (2001), Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters' (2018) and Wim Wenders' 'Perfect Days' (2023). Horié, an essayist, academic and Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist, is famous for his delicate, autofictional writings about the everyday. His 'Itsuka Ohji eki de' describes everyday life in a well-known shitamachi ward called Arakawa, famous for the Arakawa tramline. Kore-eda’s 'Shoplifters' is also mostly set in Arakawa ward, and the interactions of the characters with their locality is key to their way of life; by contrast, the main character of Wenders’ 'Perfect Days' spends his working life in the Yamanote area of Meguro ward cleaning the beautiful toilets there, but returns home to Asakusa, another famous downtown area, where he visibly relaxes.Professor Kawakami will show how these works avoid mythologising the ‘shitamachi’ but attempt nonetheless to capture its difference from the upper-class Yamanote areas. Her focus will be on the human/nonhuman balance in these representations of the shitamachi, to show how it is interestingly ‘equal’ in all three of these works, and will conclude with some suggestions as to why this might be the case.About the speakerProfessor Akane Kawakami is Professor of French at Birkbeck, University of London. She teaches and researches in the field of twentieth–century and contemporary French and Francophone literature. Her interests include travel narratives and exoticism, photography and the photographic, contemporary fiction, and interactions between literary and visual culture.How to attendThis event is free to attend and open to all. No registration is required - just come along!About the seminar seriesThe DELC Research Seminar Series (DRSS) encourages collaboration and coproduction between staff and students across European Languages and Cultures and beyond.Entry is free and everyone is welcome. No registration is necessary.Are you interested in studying European Languages and Cultures?Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in nine European languages, and the many cultures worldwide in which they're spoken, with experts in film, literature, theatre, translation and intermediality. Working with colleagues elsewhere in LLC, and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages. Find out more about studying with us Tags European Languages and Cultures Asian Studies Film and Intermediality Dec 02 2026 5:15pm - 6:30pm DELC Research Seminar Series: Akane Kawakami An in-person seminar by Professor Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London) analysing representations of Tokyo's 'shitmachi' ('downtown') in Toshiyuki Horié's 'Itsuka Ohji eki de' (2001), Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters' (2018) and Wim Wenders' 'Perfect Days' (2023). Lecture Theatre 3 Appleton Tower 11 Crichton Street University of Edinburgh EH8 9LE Find the venue: Appleton Tower This article was published on Wednesday 22 October 2025
Dec 02 2026 5:15pm - 6:30pm DELC Research Seminar Series: Akane Kawakami An in-person seminar by Professor Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London) analysing representations of Tokyo's 'shitmachi' ('downtown') in Toshiyuki Horié's 'Itsuka Ohji eki de' (2001), Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters' (2018) and Wim Wenders' 'Perfect Days' (2023).
