Hiroki Azuma is one of the most influential young literary critics in Japan, focusing on literature and on the idea of individual liberty.
[3] He began writing inspired by the work of Kojin Karatani and Akira Asada.
In the late 1990s, Azuma began examining various pop phenomena, especially the emerging otaku/[4]Internet/video game culture, and became widely known as an advocate of the thoughts of a new generation of Japanese.
He is interested in the transformation of the Japanese literary imagination under its current “otaku-ization.” Azuma has published seven books,[5] including Sonzaironteki, Yubinteki (Ontological, Postal)[6] in 1998, which focuses on Jacques Derrida's oscillation between literature and philosophy.
[7] He has also set up a non-profit organization to encourage cutting-edge critics who might be shut out of the existing publishing world.