Hiroki Azuma

(born May 9, 1971) is a Japanese cultural critic, novelist, and philosopher. His specializations include Philosophy, Studies of Culture and Representation, and information society studies. He is a professor at ZEN University and the co-founder of Genron, an independent institute in Tokyo, Japan.

Biography Azuma was born in Mitaka, Tokyo. Azuma received his PhD in Culture and Representation from the University of Tokyo in 1999 and became a professor at the International University of Japan in 2003. He was an Executive Research Fellow and Professor at the Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM) and a Research Fellow at Stanford University's Japan Center.

Azuma demonstrated that the concept of deconstruction Derrida presented early in his career differed from the one he introduced in the 1970s. The former, which Azuma calls "Negative-Theological Deconstruction," focuses on "the unrepresentable 'hole' or 'crack' within the entire system of representation to dismantle the whole."

According to Stefan Hall, Azuma's work functions as a social commentary, arguing that otaku represent a specific type of postmodern condition—"database animals"—who seek "grand nonnarratives," thus eschewing the normative consumption mode that searches for deeper meaning. According to Fabian Schäfer and Martin Roth, Azuma's core ideas regarding databases overlap "surprisingly" with those presented in Lev Manovich's standard work, The Language of New Media.

Philosophy of the Tourist (2017) In this book, Azuma uses the figure of the tourist to address major contemporary political and social impasses. Azuma connects the tourist to the idea of the "postal multitude", arguing that the tourist's experience often results in "misdelivery"—experiences diverging from expectations—which opens up space for "novel political insights."

Yuk Hui identifies the book as an "essential philosophical exercise". The work is welcomed for its goal of responding to the "political impasse of our time," particularly the intensification of geopolitical conflicts and the limitations of the nation-state concept. Hui praises Azuma’s effort to "reinvent the tourist as a figure that heralds the possibility of transcending the limitations of the nation state". This effort is driven by Azuma’s stated refusal to accept a world where the "path toward the universal global citizen has been blocked" (Weltbürgertum).

Notable Awards

1999 - Suntory Literary Prize: Sonzaironteki, Yubinteki (Ontological, Postal) 2010 - Mishima Yukio Prize: Kwontamu Famirīzu (Quantum Families) 2017 - Mainichi Publishing Culture Award: Genron 0: Kankōkyaku no Tetsugaku (Philosophy of the Tourist)

Works Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma. (2007) "The Animalization of Otaku Culture" Mechademia 2 175–188. Hiroki Azuma. Otaku: Japan's Database Animals. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press , 2009. Hiroki Azuma. General Will 2.0: Rousseau, Freud, Google, 2014. Hiroki Azuma. Philosophy of the Tourist, 2023.

Joint works Kiyoshi Kasai & Hiroki Azuma. Masachi Osawa & Hiroki Azuma. Akihiro Kitada & Hiroki Azuma. Eiji Otsuka & Hiroki Azuma. Shinji Miyadai & Hiroki Azuma. Naoki Inose & Hiroki Azuma. Ken Oyama & Hiroki Azuma. Yoshinori Kobayashi & Shinji, Miyadai & Hiroki Azuma. Ken Oyama & Hiroki Azuma. Daisuke Tsuda & Junichiro Nakagawa & Takeshi Natsuno & Hiroyuki Nishimura & Hiroki Azuma. Atsushi Sasaki & Hiroki Azuma. Nozomi Omori & Hiroki Azuma. Makoto Ichikawa & Satoshi Osawa & Ryota Fukushima & Hiroki Azuma. Makoto Ichikawa & Satoshi Osawa & Atsushi Sasaki & Sayawaka & Hiroki Azuma. Hidetaka Ishida & Hiroki Azuma.

Novels Hiroki Azuma. Hiroki Azuma.