Akiko Sugawa-Shimada is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Urban Innovation at Yokohama National University. She holds a PhD from University of Warwick and an MA from the University of Chicago. Dr. Sugawa-Shimada is the author of a number of books and articles on anime, manga, and cultural studies, including Girls and Magic: How Have Girl Heroes Been Accepted?, chapters in Japanese Animation: East Asian Perspectives and Teaching Japanese Popular Culture, and Rekijo, Pilgrimage and 'Pop-Spiritualism': Pop-culture-induced Heritage Tourism of/for Young Women in Japan Forum and Interplay with Fantasy: 2.5-dimensional Culture as Performance, and Imagination in Eureka. Her website is www.akikosugawa.2-d.jp.
