Roger Purdy
Professor
Contact
Background
Roger Purdy’s research focuses on wartime Japan’s news media. He has published several articles on Japanese newsreels and the Domei News Agency. His courses cover premodern and modern East Asia with surveys on China and Japan. He also teaches courses on J
Areas of Expertise
Field of expertise: Modern Japan. Additional areas, Japan, China, East Asia
Research Interests
Japan's wartime news media, Japan's wartime newsreels
Education
B.A., M.L.S., Brigham Young University Ph.D., University of California Santa Barbara- Additional study at Sophia University (Tokyo), Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies (Yokohama)
Courses Taught
- research courses on modern Japan and modern China
- survey courses on Japan, China, premodern East Asia, modern East Asia, contemporary East Asia
- topical course on “Japan at War & Peace” and “Japanese Popular Culture”
- Japanese popular culture study tour; China study tour.
Publications
Recent and Forthcoming Publications:
- “The Rise and Fall of the Domei News Agency: “The Ears and Voice of Japan,” 1936-1945. In The Handbook of the News Media in Japan. University of Amsterdam Press. (Forthcoming, 2026.)
- Modern Japan. Louis G. Perez, co-author. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.
- “Review, The Rhetoric of Emperor Hirohito: Continuity and Rupture in Japan’s Drama of Modernization by Suzuki Takeshi.” Historian. Fall 2018.
- “The Creation of the Nippon Newsreel Company: Personal Rivalry and Profit in Wartime Japan.” Historical Journal of Film, Radio, and Television. 16 June 2015.
