Dr Ryotaro Mihara

Dr Ryotaro Mihara is a sociocultural anthropologist focusing on the creative industries (with special reference to Japanese animation), entrepreneurship and cross-cultural management. His main regional area of expertise is Japan. Before entering the field of academia, he extensively developed his professional career in the creative industries sector: as one of the founding members and Deputy Director of the Creative Industries Division in Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; as an overseas cross-cultural business consultant for Japan’s foremost advertisement firm and an Indo-Japanese start-up venture; and as a global promotional representative of an independent film. His current interest is to examine how the activities of entrepreneurs (especially their brokerage function) span the boundary of the business of Japanese creative industries in the Asian region. He is now working on a monograph based on his 12-month doctoral fieldwork at an entrepreneurial business project which tries to facilitate the Japanese animation sector’s business expansion from Japan to India. His next research project will ethnographically focus on Japan’s international film co-production projects with China and other Asian countries.