How an Australian became an expert in Japanese language and literature

Emerald L King‘s About page on the University of Tasmania looks the same as any lecturer in language and literature’s.

That is, until you read the first sentence: “Interested in most things dark and twisty, Emerald L King is Lecturer in Humanities and an award-winning cosplayer.”

While your professor may scoff at your cosplaying obsession, King would probably help you sew and finetune your character’s costume.

She would probably do it better than you too, given how she’s represented Australia at the World Cosplay Summit (think of it as the art form’s World Cup).

King earned her PhD in Japanese literature from the University of Tasmania in 2012 after completing a Japan Foundation Doctoral Fellowship to conduct research at Ochanomizu University (Tokyo, Japan) for 11 months under Dr Satako Kan and Dr Kazuko Takemura.

Today, her work as a language and literature expert spans everything from Japanese literature, the history of pop culture, gender theory in writing, to kimono studies in text.

“People look at my work and think it’s all over the place,” says King, who teaches language and literature at the University of Tasmania. “But for me, it’s all connected. I view my work – especially cosplay – as an act of translation.”

And it all began by leaving the country.

 

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Her first foray into foreign language and literature

King was only 16 when she left Australia for a year-long high school exchange in Niigata, Japan — an experience that would shape the rest of her life.

“My mom worked at a chocolate factory, and they had a partnership with AFS International that would select the children of one employee every year to study abroad in Asia,” she says. “I didn’t have much hope because my mom was a lab tech, but I got selected, and shortly after that, I was on the plane to Niigata.”

This was around 1999, before fast Internet was a thing, which meant King had limited ways of learning the language, or even reaching out to her family back home. While staying with a host family, she could only afford one return phone call a month, and during winter, the calls would sometimes drop due to the heavy snow.

And then there was school. King was lucky enough to have been assigned to a school that prided itself on hosting international students, which meant she had great support while settling in.

She initially thought learning the local language and culture would be difficult, but it was the opposite. The school offered extra classes for students like her to learn Japanese and actively encouraged them to participate in clubs and societies.

Teachers would even give her manga to read so she could better her Japanese faster.

“I half expected to sit in a library for most of my days back then,” she confesses. “I was pretty surprised when they allowed me to sit in for any classes I wanted, so I did math, biology, Japanese history and philosophy. Even though my Japanese wasn’t great at the start, I had a really good time and felt confident enough to speak my mind in class.”

With such an intense, immersive experience, King could speak, read, and write the language within a few months.

It was as if someone had changed the audio track on a film. “It was such a weird shift to wake up and suddenly understand everything,” she says.

She became interested in language and literature studies, especially in Japan — going on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Japanese and English Literature all the way to a PhD in Japanese literature, part of which she completed in Tokyo through the Japan Foundation fellowship.

“After I finished my honours year back in Australia, I took some time off and worked in hospitality jobs for a while,” she says. “Then I was threatened by a chef in the kitchen, and then I was like, well then! Maybe I’ll go back to university.”

Aside from being an educator, Dr King is also an award-winning cosplayer. Source: Dr Emerald L King

After graduating with her PhD – and winning some cosplay competitions along the way – King spent a few years working as a Japanese language lecturer in New Zealand and Australia, before returning to her alma mater to become a humanities lecturer.

“UoT (University of Tasmania) is great because I have the opportunity to teach not just Japanese, but also the English literature programme here, along with other things like gender studies,” she says. “It’s been really nice to explore all these different areas of my language and literature research through the classroom.”

Today, she is best known for her academic work on Japanese literature and pop culture and for representing her home country, Australia, at the World Cosplay Summit. All she does remains firmly intertwined with language and literature, whether through her cosplay work, research, or classes.

But if you had to ask what she truly learned throughout her journey, it was that you don’t have to be good at a language to study it.

What you need is passion.

“I have taught – and currently – teach things like gender studies, Japanese language, pop culture, English literature, and so on, and one thing I always tell people is that if they don’t love the language or what they’re doing, they’re not going to love the experience at all,” she says.

Dr King has worked as a volunteer interpreter and translator for the World Cosplay Summit, which is held annually in Nagoya, Japan. Source: University of Tasmania

The underrated reason everyone should study foreign language and literature

As a language and literature expert, one thing King always hears – from both the public and her students – is that nobody, especially those from an English-speaking background, wants to study languages because it’s too hard. What’s the point when everyone already speaks English?

“I just feel like this is used as a justification for so many things, such as not offering interpreting services, to shutting down language programmes at universities – these are all such wasted opportunities,” she says.

To King, pursuing foreign language and literature means becoming more employable, as you can communicate with a broader range of people worldwide. Even if the humanities are sometimes viewed as “unserious” subjects, she believes there is a deeper layer to it all that people must access.

“At the end of the day, learning and research in academia is all about connecting with others, capitalising on these connections, and then understanding that these connections will allow you to do other things in life,” she says. “You could end up in a better job, or an industry you enjoy even more – it comes down to our interpersonal connections and being able to communicate and tell stories, which will help you no matter where you end up.”

King even argues that the biggest cultural phenomenon today — Korean music, dramas, and films — are built on foreign language and literature.

“I’ll die on this hill, but I believe that one of the reasons Hallyu is so successful now is because the K-Pop industry was built off J-Pop in the first place,” she says. “Even back then, when little old ladies were still absolutely losing their minds over masterpieces like ‘Winter Sonata,’, a lot of inspiration came from Japan.”

For those who ultimately decide to study foreign language and literature, King understands it’s challenging to grasp at first. Much of her work as a lecturer involves nudging her students to love the language first.

Making her classes a safe space so everyone can express themselves with confidence is another priority.

“Language learning is one of the most vulnerable things you can do,” she says. “You’re going to make mistakes in front of people. You’ll mispronounce things. You might not get your point across, and that’s terrifying to think about – but I really want my students to be able to love and enjoy what they do and feel accomplished about how far they’ve come.”