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Sae Kitamura

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In this Japanese name, the surname is Kitamura.
Kitamura Sae
北村紗衣
Sae Kitamura at a bridge
Kitamura in 2018, at the Wikipedia:15 event
Born (1983-04-12) April 12, 1983 (age 42)[4][5]
Shibetsu, Hokkaido, Japan
Occupation(s)Literary scholar, Literary critic [6]
Known for英日翻訳ウィキペディアン養成プロジェクト[7]
Awards10th Araws of The Association for Studies of Culture and Representation, 14th Women's History Award [ja]
Academic background
Alma materKing's College London
University of Tokyo
Hokkaido Asahikawa Higashi High School
ThesisThe Role of Women in the Canonisation of Shakespeare From Elizabethan Theatre to the Shakespeare Jubilee (2013)
Doctoral advisorAnn Thompson and Hannah Crawforth
Other advisorsShōichirō Kawai [ja] and Yasunari Takada [ja]
InfluencesWilliam Shakespeare,[1] Oscar Wilde[2]
Academic work
DisciplineBritish literature, Literary criticism
Sub-disciplineWilliam Shakespeare, performing arts, feminist literature
InstitutionsMusashi University
Notable ideasInner Maggie[note 1]
WebsiteCommentarius Saevus

Sae Kitamura (Japanese: 北村紗衣, born 12 April 1983) is a Japanese scholar specialising in British literature and a literary critic. A graduate of King's College London, her primary areas of research are William Shakespeare, the history of performing arts, and feminist literature. She is also an active Wikipedian, encouraging students to translate articles from English Wikipedia to Japanese Wikipedia in her classes.

Kitamura has been a professor at Musashi University since 2023. She was formerly a lecturer and associate professor at Musashi University from 2014 to 2023, and a director of the Association for Studies of Culture and Representation [ja] in 2019. Some of her notable works include Women Who Enjoyed Shakespeare's Plays, Sugar, Spice, and Something Explosive, and The Classroom of Critique. She also writes essays about synesthesia.

Biography

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Early life

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Kitamura was born on 12 April 1983 in Shibetsu, Hokkaido.[8] Her father is Kitamura Hiroshi [ja], president of the regional newspaper Douhoku Nippou [ja],[9] and her grandfather is Kitamura Junjirō [ja], former president of the Douhoku Nippou and also a literary critic.[10]

Kitamura developed her interest in William Shakespeare after watching Romeo + Juliet starring Leonardo DiCaprio.[11] While studying at Hokkaido Asahikawa Higashi High School, she worked as a library assistant as part of her club activities.[12] During the time, she also read The Second Sex and Wuthering Heights.[13] Her work Drive My Car Crazy won the "39th Arishima Junior Prize" (Japanese: 第39回有島青少年文芸賞),[note 2] and was published in The Hokkaido Shimbun Press [ja] in 2001.[14]

Study on William Shakespeare

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Kitamura entered the University of Tokyo after graduating from high school. To fund her study abroad plans, she worked part-time during her college years.[15] Her major was cultural representation [ja], and she graduated in March 2006. She completed her Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies in the Department of Cultural Representation, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo (東京大学大学院総合文化研究科超域文化科学専攻表象文化論), in March 2008 under the guidance of Shōichirō Kawai [ja] and Yasunari Takada [ja].[16] Her research subject was Antony and Cleopatra.[17] She also befriended Noritaka Moriyama [ja] during this time.[18]

Kitamura entered the University of Tokyo's doctoral program as a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science in April 2008.[19] Her field of study was "Representation of Women in Elizabethan and Jacobean Tragedy" (エリザベス朝及びジェームズ朝の悲劇における女性の表象), exploring Shakespeare’s place in traditional Cleopatra literature, women are portrayed in Shakespeare’s plays, and examining how menstruation and pregnancy were represented in Renaissance England. She also researched a queer reading of As You Like It as performed by Yukio Ninagawa.[20]

Enrolling at King's College London in October 2009, Kitamura resigned from the research fellowship to continue her study of gender and Shakespeare. She has examined and analysed 800 volumes of Shakespeare-related documents from the 16th to 18th centuries, in both England and New Zealand. There, she discovered letters from the previous owner of the Third Folio during her research at the Auckland Public Library in New Zealand.[21]

Kitamura submitted her doctoral thesis in April 2013 and was awarded a PhD in October 2013. Upon returning to Japan, she worked part-time at Yūshōdō Shoten [ja], Keio University (from 2013, and as a part-time lecturer from 2019), and the University of Tokyo (2013–2016).[22]

Musashi University

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Kitamura became a lecturer in the Department of British and American Studies at Musashi University in 2014. That same year, she conducted a study on the reception of Shakespeare’s works via social media.[23] In October 2015, she began a column on messy (later wezzy),[24] and published writings on synesthesia.[25] She also began incorporating Wikipedia into her coursework.[26]

Since 2017, Kitamura has been an associate professor.[27] She has lectured on Shakespeare at Waseda University,[28] and published a series on Shakespeare in collaboration with The Asahi Shimbun.[29]

In March 2017, Kitamura published Women Who Enjoyed Shakespeare's Plays (Japanese: シェイクスピア劇を楽しんだ女性たち ―近世の観劇と読書―),[30] which received awards from both the Association for Studies of Culture and Representation and the Women's History Award [ja] at Nara Women's University in 2019.[31]

She followed up with Sugar, Spice, and Something Explosive (Japanese: お砂糖とスパイスと爆発的な何か ― 不真面目な批評家によるフェミニスト批評入門 ―) in June 2019. The book includes columns from messy/wezzy,[32] critiques of Frozen, Fight Club, and Vanishing Point from a feminist perspective,[33] and discussions on Burlesque.[34] It was ranked 18th in "Kinobes! 2020: The Best 30 Kinokuniya Bookstore Staff Recommends" (紀伊國屋書店スタッフが全力でおすすめするベスト30 キノベス！2020).[35]

In September 2019, Kitamura published The Classroom of Critique (Japanese: 批評の教室 ― チョウのように読み、ハチのように書く ―), illustrated by "とくながあきこ". The book defines a critic’s role as both interpretation and evaluation.[note 3] One chapter features a student interaction in the editing process.[36] According to The Nikkei, the book was reprinted four times within four months, selling 50,000 copies by January 2022.[37]

Kitamura’s research was supported multiple times by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science through the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [ja], including "The Changes in the Perception of 'Male Beauty' in the Performance History of Early Modern English Drama" (Japanese: 近世イングランド演劇の上演史における「男性美」観の変遷) in September 2019, and "Women and Public Speaking in Early Modern England" (Japanese: 近世イングランドにおける女性とパブリックスピーキング) in April 2023.[38] In 2020, she published an essay on the fourth wave of feminism in Gendai Shiso [ja].[39]

Since April 2023, Kitamura has served as a professor in the Department of British and American Studies and in the European and American Studies Major (Graduate School of Humanities).[27] In June 2023, she released her collection of cultural essays, English Back Alley (Japanese: "英語の路地裏 ― オアシスからクイーン、シェイクスピアまで歩く ―).[40]

From April 2024 to April 2025, Kitamura went on sabbatical leave at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.[41][42] During this time, she served as a Wikipedian in residence at the Library of Trinity College Dublin.[43]

Research

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Kitamura emphasises the importance of literature in teaching English,[44] and encourages her students to analyse literary works from a director’s perspective in university classes.[1]

Kitamura has studied the reception of Shakespeare's works on social media, stating:

シェイクスピアに限らず、時代の試練を生き延びた古典的な芝居には、過去のことを描いているようでいて実は現在に通じるところがある。

...It is not just for Shakespeare, but for all classic plays that have survived the test of time. While these plays appear to depict the past, they actually resonate with the present.

— Sae Kitamura, William Shakespeare, the newest playwright who can do anything (今一番新しい劇作家、何でもありのウィリアム・シェイクスピア), Hakusuisha [ja][45]

She also analyses the business aspects of Shakespeare’s works.[46]

As a Wikipedian

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A group of Japanese Wikipedians standing in front of a wall. Kitamura, who is holding a book, is standing at the rightmost place on the second row from the bottom.
Kitamura attended a Wikipedian offline meeting in Tokyo, photographed in January 2019[47]

Since 2010, Kitamura has been contributing to Wikipedia under the username "さえぼー".[note 4][48] One of her key contributions is running the Wikipedia Translation Project as part of her annual university coursework.[49]

Kitamura organised a panel on editing Wikipedia at a 2016 conference of the History of Science Society of Japan [ja],[50] and co-hosted an academic symposium on 28 September 2019 with Harumichi Yamada [ja] and Tomoaki Watanabe [ja], addressing the use and challenges of Wikipedia in higher education.[51]

Kitamura has participated in Art+Feminism and other edit-a-thons,[52] and has appeared on TV and radio as a Wikipedian.[53][54][55] She also explained privacy concerns on Japanese Wikipedia during the controversy surrounding the Higashi-Ikebukuro runaway car crash article.[56]

Kitamura has addressed the issue of gender bias on Wikipedia by helping to organise WikiGap in 2019,[57][58] publishing a related paper in 2020,[59] and participating in an interview with the Mainichi Shimbun in 2021. There, she discussed the challenges of notability for women, citing the example of Marie Curie's treatment on English Wikipedia.[60]

Personal life

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According to a 2019 interview, Kitamura reads approximately 260 books, goes to a cinema 100 times, and attends the theatre 100 times each year.[61]

Published works

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Main article: Sae Kitamura bibliography
This section is an excerpt from Sae Kitamura bibliography.[edit]
Kitamura's main subjects of her work include William Shakespeare, the history of performing arts, feminist literature, and synesthesia. Her notable works include Women Who Enjoyed Shakespeare's Plays (Japanese: シェイクスピア劇を楽しんだ女性たち ―近世の観劇と読書―), Sugar, Spice, and Something Explosive (Japanese: お砂糖とスパイスと爆発的な何か ― 不真面目な批評家によるフェミニスト批評入門 ―), and The Classroom of Critique (Japanese: 批評の教室 ― チョウのように読み、ハチのように書く ―)

Appearances

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Magazine

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  • "北村紗衣×キャトリン・モラン 王子様を夢見るシンデレラストーリーはもうたくさん!". 週刊文春Woman (11). 文藝春秋 〈文春ムック〉: 89–92. 2021. ISBN 978-4-16-007032-5.

Radio programmes

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  • TBS Radio, 『アフター6ジャンクション』, 2019: 10 April,[62] 3 July (ウィキペディア特集), [53][63], 27 December.[64] 2020: 27 July, [65] 25 December. [65] 2021: 22 September. 2022: 28 December. 2023: 23 March. 2024: September (ウィキマニア特集)[66]
  • CBC Radio, 『若狭敬一のスポ音』, 12 December 2020, 「光山雄一朗の気になったので聞いてみました 第5回 ウィキペデイアの知らない世界に誘います!」[67]
  • FM Yokohama, 『FUTURESCAPE』, 6 February 2021. [68]
  • Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, 『村上信五くんと経済クン』, 30 October 2021[27]

TV programmes

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  • NHK, Eテレ, グレーテルのかまど, 5 August 2019[69]
  • TBS, マツコの知らない世界「ウィキペディアの世界」, 3 September 2019[54][note 5]

Video works

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Awards

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  • December 2001: "39th Arishima Junior Prize" by The Hokkaido Shimbun for Drive My Car Crazy.[14][note 2]
  • June 2019: "10th Studies of Culture and Representation Prize" (第10回表象文化論学会賞 学会賞) from the Association for Studies of Culture and Representation (Japanese: 表象文化論学会) for "シェイクスピア劇を楽しんだ女性たち".[72]
  • November 2019: 14th Women's History Award (Japanese: 第14回女性史学賞) by the Center for Gender and Women's Culture in Asia at Nara Women's University (Japanese: 奈良女子大学アジア・ジェンダー文化学研究センター), also for "シェイクスピア劇を楽しんだ女性たち".[31]
  • December 2019: Ranked 4th in "Kinokuniya Shimbum Prize" (紀伊國屋じんぶん大賞2020) by Kinokuniya for "お砂糖とスパイスと爆発的な何か".[73]
  • December 2024: UK Wikimedian of the Year 2024, Honourable Mention.[74][27]

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Maggie refers to Margaret Thatcher. Inner Maggie (内なるマギー) here means an oppression of "being wholeheartedly successful in a male-dominated society", or "dressing and styling in a manly way to suit a male-dominated society".[3]
  2. ^ a b The "39th Arishima Junior Prize" (Japanese: 第39回有島青少年文芸賞), aimed at middle and high school students in Hokkaido, is sponsored by The Hokkaido Shimbun and supported by the Hokkaido Prefectural Board of Education in memory of Takeo Arishima.[70] Notable past winners include Yasushi Sato [ja], recipient of the 4th award.[71]
  3. ^ Kitamura defines interpretation (解釈) as "Extracting hidden meanings from a work, that may not be obvious at first glance", and evaluation (価値づけ) as "Determining the work's quality and position"
  4. ^ Also known as "Saebou".
  5. ^ Under her name "さえぼー" on Wikipedia.[55]

Inline citations

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  1. ^ a b 夢ナビ! 2018.
  2. ^ 篠原 2019.
  3. ^ Kitamura 2019b.
  4. ^ SPICE 2019, 北村 紗衣（きたむら さえ）プロフィール.
  5. ^ Kitamura 2012.
  6. ^ 矢内 2019a; Okawada 2019.
  7. ^ Kameta 2017; Mantani 2017; WIKIPEDIA15 2018.
  8. ^ SPICE 2019, 北村 紗衣（きたむら さえ）プロフィール; 篠原 2019, お話を聞いた人.
  9. ^ Kitamura 2006; Hokkaido Printing 2013.
  10. ^ サンデータ 1982; Okawada 2019.
  11. ^ 夢ナビ! 2018; Nakajima 2019.
  12. ^ 矢内 2019b.
  13. ^ Nakajima 2019; 篠原 2019.
  14. ^ a b Hokkaido Shimbun 2001.
  15. ^ Kitamura 2014.
  16. ^ JST 2019; Kitamura 2013.
  17. ^ NII 2008b.
  18. ^ Kitamura 2017.
  19. ^ Kitamura 2014; NII 2008a.
  20. ^ NII 2008a; NII 2008b; NII 2009.
  21. ^ Kitamura 2014; Nakajima 2019; Okami 2020.
  22. ^ Kitamura 2014; JST 2019.
  23. ^ JST 2019; NII 2014.
  24. ^ Kitamura 2019a, あとがき.
  25. ^ Kitamura 2016a.
  26. ^ WIKIPEDIA15 2018; Kameta 2017; Mantani 2017.
  27. ^ a b c d JST 2019.
  28. ^ "あなたがまだ知らないかもしれないシェイクスピア". 早稲田大学エクステンションセンター. Waseda University. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  29. ^ Asahi 2018a; Asahi 2018b.
  30. ^ Hakusuisha 2018.
  31. ^ a b Nara Women's University 2019; The Shakespeare Society of Japan 2019.
  32. ^ Kitamura 2019a, あとがき; 篠原 2019.
  33. ^ Nakajima 2019; Okami 2020; SPICE 2019.
  34. ^ Nikkei 2022; Nakajima 2019.
  35. ^ Kinokuniya 2019b.
  36. ^ Asahi 2022; Oyama 2022.
  37. ^ Nikkei 2022.
  38. ^ NII 2014; NII 2023.
  39. ^ Kitamura 2020b.
  40. ^ ALC 2023.
  41. ^ B&B 2025.
  42. ^ "あなたの感想って最高ですよね！ 遊びながらやる映画批評第1回 飲酒推奨映画？ アルコールでジェンダー境界を越える『酔拳』". 太田出版のWebマガジン OHTABOOKSTAND. 27 June 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2025. 2024年度はアイルランドのトリニティ・カレッジ・ダブリンにてサバティカル中。
  43. ^ TBS Radio 2024; B&B 2025.
  44. ^ GOTCHA!編集部 (29 August 2019). "TOEICやビジネス英語で「実用的な英語の運用能力」が獲得できない理由【北村紗衣：大学の英語教育②】". ENGLISH JOURNAL (in Japanese). Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  45. ^ Kitamura 2016c.
  46. ^ GOTCHA!編集部 (15 August 2019). "文学不要論者が知らない、シェイクスピアが「もうかる」理由【北村紗衣：大学の英語教育①】". ENGLISH JOURNAL (in Japanese). Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  47. ^ Tokyo Midtown Design Hub. "ウィキペディアンが「棚から一掴み」してみたら（Wikipedia Day企画）". www.designhub.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  48. ^ TBS Radio 2019b; WIKIPEDIA15 2018.
  49. ^ Kameta 2017; Mantani 2017.
  50. ^ Kitamura 2016b.
  51. ^ Tokyo Keizai University 2019.
  52. ^ Musashi University 2018.
  53. ^ a b TBS Radio 2019b.
  54. ^ a b "英語英米文化学科 北村 紗衣 准教授がTBSテレビ「マツコの知らない世界」に出演します". Musashi Academy of the Nezu Foundation [ja]. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  55. ^ a b "ウィキペディアの"中の人"が登場！ 意外なメリット・デメリットとは＜マツコの知らない世界＞". ザテレビジョン. 3 September 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  56. ^ 杉浦 2020.
  57. ^ "白水社の本棚2022春「汗牛充棟だより5 - ウィキペディアとジェンダーとウクライナ」" (PDF). 白水社. Retrieved 1 March 2025.
  58. ^ 栗林史子 (29 September 2019). "登場人物は男性ばかり ウィキペディアにもっと女性を！". 朝日新聞デジタル. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  59. ^ Kitamura 2020a.
  60. ^ 椋田 2021.
  61. ^ 矢内 2019a.
  62. ^ TBS Radio 2019a.
  63. ^ アフター6ジャンクション："ウィキペディア"との正しい付き合い方 特集！！ [Special feature: How to properly interact with Wikipedia!!]. 公式 TBS Podcast (Podcast). アフター6ジャンクション (in Japanese). TBS Radio. 19 March 2024. Retrieved 21 June 2025 – via YouTube.
  64. ^ TBS Radio 2019c.
  65. ^ a b TBS Radio 2020a.
  66. ^ JST 2019; TBS Radio 2024.
  67. ^ “光山雄一朗の気になったので聞いてみました～ウィキペディアの知らない世界①～”. CBCアナウンサーブログ. (2020年12月12日) 2021年9月28日(UTC)閲覧。“光山雄一朗の気になったので聞いてみました～ウィキペディアの知らない世界②～”. CBCアナウンサーブログ. (2020年12月13日) 2021年9月28日(UTC)閲覧。“光山雄一朗の気になったので聞いてみました～ウィキペディアの知らない世界③～”. CBCアナウンサーブログ. (2020年12月14日) 2021年9月28日(UTC)閲覧。
  68. ^ FM Yokohama 2021.
  69. ^ "英語英米文化学科 北村 紗衣 准教授がNHK Eテレ 「グレーテルのかまど」に取材協力しています". Musashi Academy of the Nezu Foundation [ja]. 29 July 2019. Archived from the original on 3 September 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  70. ^ "有島青少年文芸賞". The Hokkaido Shimbun Press. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  71. ^ "佐藤泰志（さとう やすし）1949年～1990年". 函館ゆかりの人物伝. 函館市文化・スポーツ振興財団. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  72. ^ "第10回表象文化論学会賞". 表象文化論学会. Retrieved 20 June 2025.
  73. ^ Kinokuniya 2019a.
  74. ^ "UK Wikimedian of the Year 2024". Wikimedia UK. Retrieved 26 February 2025.

Sources

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Japan Science and Technology Agency

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National Institute of Informatics

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Sources by Sae Kitamura

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News coverage

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Radios

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Published journal or books

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Other sources

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Further reading

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[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sae Kitamura.
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