Japan's Imperial Underworlds

David Ambaras is Associate Professor of History at North Carolina State University. His research explores the social history of modern Japan and its empire, particularly through a focus on transgression and marginality. He is the author of Japan’s Imperial Underworlds: Intimate Encounters at the Borders of Empire (forthcoming from Cambridge University Press); Bad Youth: Juvenile Delinquency and the Politics of Everyday Life in Modern Japan (University of California Press, 2006); as well as articles and book chapters on urban space, total war mobilization, and class formation in modern Japan. Ambaras received his M.A. and Ph. D. in History from Princeton University; an M.A. in Area Studies from the University of Tokyo; a License in Language and Literature from the Institut des Langues et Civilisations Orientales in Paris; and a B.A. in Religion from Columbia University. He has been awarded fellowships from the National Humanities Center and the National Endowment for the Humanities.