Papers Presented

“Orbiting the Genba – Issues in the study of Contemporary Japanese Buddhism,” Tracing Japanese Buddhism: An International Conference, University of California, Berkeley, September 2009.

“The Death of Buddhism in Contemporary Japan,” Oxford Brookes University, UK, April 2009.

“Producing Expertise in Post-War Japanese Buddhism,” Training Buddhist Priests – Numata Conference, University of Toronto, April 2009.

“Navigating Contemporary Japanese Buddhism - Priestly Routes Over Rough Terrain,” Japan Anthropology Colloquium, Yale University, April 2009.

“Biographies of Non-Eminent Monks – Situating Contemporary Japanese Buddhist Priests,” Buddhist Studies Colloquium Series, University of California, Berkeley, February 2009.

“I Fought the Dharma and the Dharma Won: Temple Versus Sectarian Buddhism in Contemporary Japan,” Triangle East Asia Colloquium, Duke University, September 2008.

“Praying at and Preying on Japanese Buddhist Altars,” Society for the Anthropological Study of Religion, Phoenix, April 2007.

“Themes in the Memorialization of Pets in Japan,” Respondent - Japan Anthropology Workshop, Oslo, Norway, March 2007. 

“Surveying Emptiness: The Role of Research Centers in Post-War Japanese Buddhism,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Philadelphia, December 2005.

"Dying for Agency: Posthumous Divorce in Contemporary Japan," presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Anthropology, Washington D.C., December 2005.

Co-organizer of the 7th Annual Buddhist Studies Graduate Student Conference, Princeton University, April 2005.

“Post-Mortem Reproductions: Families, Buddhists, and Doctrine,” presented at a conference on Reproduction in Modern Japan, Yale University, October 2004.

“Gaikokujin kara Mita Nihonjin no Shiseikan” (A Foreigner’s Take on Japanese views of the Afterlife), presented for the Japanese Culture Lecture Series, Tōchōji Temple, Tokyo, Japan, September 2004.

“Gendai Bukkyōgaku to Sōsai Mondai” (Contemporary Buddhist Studies and the Funeral Problem), presented to the Jiinshi Kenkyūkai (Temple History Research Group), Tokyo University, May 2004.

“Where are the Ancestors?” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Anthropological Study of Religion, Providence RI., April 2003.

“Blurring the Lines: Buddhist Responses to the Changing Place of the Dead,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Toronto, November 2002.

“Natural Funerals and the Grave Free Promotion Society in Contemporary Japan,” presented at a conference on Death and Dying in Buddhist Cultures, Princeton University, May 2002.

“Scattering Ashes in Contemporary Japan,” presented at the Annual Meeting for the Society for the Anthropological Study of Religion, Cleveland, April 2002.

Television Appearances

Path To Enlightenment. “Buddhism & Academia: Teaching Buddhism,” Omni Television. Filmed in November 2006, broadcast in February 2007.

3D Dialogue. “Lived Buddhism in Japan Today,” Omni Television. Filmed in October
2006, broadcast in January 2007.