Matthew Shores

Dr. Matthew Shores is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Languages and Cultures within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Sydney. He joined the university in 2019 after previously serving as Fellow and Director of East Asian Studies at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Dr. Shores holds a BA and MA from Portland State University, an MA from Tezukayama University, and a PhD in Japanese literature from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.

Dr. Shores specializes in Edo-period (1600-1868) literary arts and entertainment, with particular expertise in rakugo (Japanese comic storytelling). His research interests include premodern and modern Japanese theatre and performing arts, popular culture and media, colloquial dialogue and humor in Japanese texts, and literature by underrepresented groups in Japan such as Ainu, Burakumin, disabled individuals, LGBTIQ communities, Ryūkyūans, seniors, women, and Zainichi Koreans.

Dr. Shores apprenticed with rakugo masters Katsura Bunshi V (1930-2005) and Hayashiya Somemaru IV (b. 1949) and has trained extensively in traditional performing arts including bunraku, kabuki, kyōgen, nō, and shamisen. His recent publications focus on Japanese comedy, rakugo history, and cultural studies, demonstrating his commitment to examining Japanese entertainment as both popular culture and literary tradition. His 2021 monograph The Comic Storytelling of Western Japan received the School of Languages and Cultures Early Career Researcher Prize for Best Book in 2022.

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Award (2022)
• Inoue Yasushi Award for Outstanding Research in Japanese Literature, Culture and Art (2022)
• School of Languages and Cultures Early Career Researcher Prize for Best Book (2022)

Dr. Shores teaches units on Japanese language and culture, including modern/contemporary Japanese literature, East Asian cinema, Japanese theatre and cultural history, Edo-period literature and culture, classical Japanese, modern Japanese language, translation, and academic writing. He serves on the editorial boards for Asian Studies Review and Asian Theatre Journal, and is currently working on a second monograph examining engei (variety entertainment) as both popular culture and literary tradition. His work bridges academic scholarship with practical performance experience, creating a unique interdisciplinary approach to Japanese cultural studies.