Japanthem

Jillian Marshall, PhD ’18

Marshall moved to Japan after undergrad, teaching middle-school English in a fishing village, and returned regularly for her doctoral research in ethnomusicology. Her book—subtitled Counter-Cultural Experiences, Cross-Cultural Remixes—intersperses details of her personal journey with an exploration of music’s role in Japanese society. It comprises a series of vignettes drawn from Marshall’s own life, including attending a secret rave in the woods near Mt. Fuji, being bullied by a dance teacher, meeting a pop star in a basement club, and living through the Fukushima nuclear disaster. “In this illuminating debut, Marshall offers an outsider’s look into Japanese culture via its music,” says Publishers Weekly, adding, “This transportive work is a thrilling escape.”

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