Researcher Profile and Settings

URL

http://www.mattiasvanommen.com

researchmap

https://researchmap.jp/mvanommen

Research Experience

• Doshisha University, Faculty of Social Studies Department of Sociology, Assistant Professor, 2021/09 - Today
• Harvard University, Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies, Postdoctoral Fellow, 2020/08 - 2021/06
• Sophia University, Institute of Comparative Culture, Visiting Researcher, 2016/09 - 2017/07

Education

• The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Cultural Anthropology, PhD, 2013 - 2020
• The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Cultural Anthropology, MA, 2011 - 2013
• Leiden University, Japan Studies, BA, 2006 - 2010

Awards

• Reischauer Institute for Japanese Studies Postdoctoral Fellowship
  2020, Harvard University
• Japan Foundation Japanese Studies Fellow
  2016
• Nippon Foundation Fellow
  2015
• Fulbright Graduate Degree Fellowship
  2011

Published Papers

• Convergence and Cosmopolitanism in Online Games: non-Japanese players on Japanese Final Fantasy XIV servers
  Chapter in The Handbook of Japanese Games and Gameplay (edited by Rachael Hutchinson). Tokyo: Japan Documents Press; Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2025, In book
• Guild Wars 2, the Frankfurt School and Dialectical Fairy Scenes: A Critical Approach Towards Massively Multiplayer Online Video Games
  Mattias van Ommen
  Games and Culture, SAGE Publications, 13(6) 547 - 567, Sep. 2018, Scientific journal
  

  URLDOI URL
• Emergent affect in Final Fantasy VII and Japanese role-playing games
  Mattias van Ommen
  Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, Intellect, 10(1) 21 - 39, 01 Mar. 2018, Scientific journal
  

  URLDOI URL
• Extracurricular Paths into Job Markets in Contemporary Japan: The Way of Both Pen and Soccer Ball
  Mattias van Ommen
  Japanese Studies, Informa UK Limited, 35(1) 85 - 102, 02 Jan. 2015, Scientific journal
  

  URLDOI URL

Presentations

• Research in and on Japanese Digital Cultures: Challenges and Opportunities in the (Post-)Pandemic Era
  Chair / organizer / discussant
  Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference. Digital Technology Roundtable., Mar. 2024
• Spoiled Princesses and Online Cross-Dressers: Playing with Gender in Japanese Online Gaming Culture
  Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Mar. 2024, Oral presentation
• ’Free Companies’: Belonging, Intimacy, and Social Drama in a Japanese Virtual World
  Anthropology of Japan in Japan Annual Meeting, Dec. 2023, Oral presentation
• Intra-Asian Digital Mobilities within Japanese Online Video Game Servers: Cross-Cultural Encounter, Virtual Migrations, and National-Cultural Boundaries
  Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Mar. 2023, Oral presentation
• Japanese Online Games, Technical Competence and Social-Emotional Well-Being
  Anthropology of Japan in Japan Annual Meeting, Dec. 2022
• Fantasy, Escapism and the Coronavirus in Japanese Online Games
  The 12th International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS), Aug. 2021, Oral presentation
• Online Fantasy Games and Social Belonging in Pandemic Japan
  Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Mar. 2021, Oral presentation