Papers by Elizabeth Chappell
theconversation.com, 2025
Survivors of Hiroshima continue to confront the physical, social and psychological effects of the... more Survivors of Hiroshima continue to confront the physical, social and psychological effects of the atomic bombs dropped on August 6 and August 9 1945, on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively.
The Irenaut, 2024
The starting point for my study ‘Hibakusha Narratives in Context: A Dialogical Approach’, was a... more The starting point for my study ‘Hibakusha Narratives in Context: A Dialogical Approach’, was an empirical observation that hibakusha, survivors of Hiroshima, are very reticent (Chappell 2016; 2020). As I progressed with my research I found that the reasons for hibakusha reticence were complex and heavily influenced by the long shadow of what has been termed the long ‘post-war’ in Japan. To counteract silencing and self-silencing in the field, in my thesis, I applied ‘whole life’ interviewing methods as theorised by Henry ‘Hank’ Greenspan and others. This allowed me to engage with the ethical complexities of researching hibakusha and to critically consider iterative methodologies when working with ‘difficult’ (i.e. challenging/hard to reach) subjects. I turned the core aspects of my research into a play which was performed in November 2024 and is currently attracting interest for a co-production.
This blog is written by Elizabeth Chappell who is currently completing a PhD at The Open
Universi... more This blog is written by Elizabeth Chappell who is currently completing a PhD at The Open
University based on her original interviews with survivors (hibakusha) of Hiroshima.
Elizabeth has published fiction and non-fiction in, among others, Wasafiri, Japan Society
Review, Japan Times, Contemporary Review, The Conversation and Auto/biography (The
British Sociological Journal). Her anthology of writing on Japan, Japan: Through Writers’
Eyes, was published by Eland.
Wasafiri 102 , 2020
We are delighted to have sold out of Wasafiri 102: Japan: Literatures of Remembering, and are cur... more We are delighted to have sold out of Wasafiri 102: Japan: Literatures of Remembering, and are currently awaiting a new shipment of issues. Preorder now to get your copy.
Editorial The Making and Re-making of Memory
Interview Mieko Kawakami
Articles Hayao Miyazaki’s European Animation; Poems of the Perilous Season: Akiko’s Princess Saho; Unruly Subjects in 'Walking a Street Named Peace' and Tokyo Ueno Station; Hibakusha Memories: Between the Generations
Art Manga as Memory: Cocoon, In this Corner of the World and Popular History, The Politics of Ownership: Notes on Miyako Ishiuchi’s Photographs
Fiction Hideo Furukawa, Minako Ōba
Poetry Mimi Hachikai, Tamiki Hara, Hiromi Itō, Naha Kanie, Mieko Kawakami, Martha Nakamura, Sayaka Ōsaki, Ryōichi Wagō
Life-writing Kumiko Kakehashi, Susan Southard
Review Essay The Transformation of Identity in Contemporary Japanese Fiction
Reviews Osamu Dazai, A Shameful Life; Hiromi Kawakami, The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino; Aoko Matsuda, Where the Wild Ladies Are; Yoko Tawada, The Last Children of Tokyo
and more...
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Papers by Elizabeth Chappell
University based on her original interviews with survivors (hibakusha) of Hiroshima.
Elizabeth has published fiction and non-fiction in, among others, Wasafiri, Japan Society
Review, Japan Times, Contemporary Review, The Conversation and Auto/biography (The
British Sociological Journal). Her anthology of writing on Japan, Japan: Through Writers’
Eyes, was published by Eland.
Editorial The Making and Re-making of Memory
Interview Mieko Kawakami
Articles Hayao Miyazaki’s European Animation; Poems of the Perilous Season: Akiko’s Princess Saho; Unruly Subjects in 'Walking a Street Named Peace' and Tokyo Ueno Station; Hibakusha Memories: Between the Generations
Art Manga as Memory: Cocoon, In this Corner of the World and Popular History, The Politics of Ownership: Notes on Miyako Ishiuchi’s Photographs
Fiction Hideo Furukawa, Minako Ōba
Poetry Mimi Hachikai, Tamiki Hara, Hiromi Itō, Naha Kanie, Mieko Kawakami, Martha Nakamura, Sayaka Ōsaki, Ryōichi Wagō
Life-writing Kumiko Kakehashi, Susan Southard
Review Essay The Transformation of Identity in Contemporary Japanese Fiction
Reviews Osamu Dazai, A Shameful Life; Hiromi Kawakami, The Ten Loves of Mr Nishino; Aoko Matsuda, Where the Wild Ladies Are; Yoko Tawada, The Last Children of Tokyo
and more...