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Niwa Lab
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A lab that explores the discourse and expression of media such as television, film, and manga through their history.
AboutAbout the lab
Reading the history of television and moving images through archives
The Niwa Lab studies media, journalism, and popular culture.
It deals with the discourse and expression of a wide range of media, including television, film, newspapers, magazines, advertising, manga, the internet, and social media.
Its research approaches are historical, theoretical, and practical.
In collaboration with broadcasters and archives, the lab is carrying out research that re-examines preserved television programs, as well as efforts to collect, preserve, and make public documentary films.
Key terms
- Popular culture
- Mass culture that many people enjoy in their daily lives, such as TV programs, manga, and popular music
- Archive
- A collection of records and materials that have been gathered, preserved, and organized so that they can be consulted later. The term also refers to the place where they are kept
- Video streaming service
- A service that delivers movies and programs over the internet so that people can watch them whenever they like
NewsLab news
A master's student received the Course Chair's Award (Outstanding Master's Thesis Award) from the Socio-information and Communication Studies Course
A master's student received the Course Chair's Award (Outstanding Master's Thesis Award)
A master's student received the Department Chair's Award (Outstanding Master's Thesis Award)
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies the history and present of media, including television and film, using programs and footage preserved in archives as clues. It runs projects in collaboration with broadcasters, film and video archives, other universities, and others.
*Illustrative imageTelevision in the Age of Video Streaming
The lab focuses on how the culture and formats of television are being incorporated into video streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube. Rather than viewing this as the decline of television, it reframes it as television crossing boundaries and transforming, and clarifies the expansion and restructuring of the television industry and culture.
*Illustrative imageResearch on Television Archives
The lab re-examines programs preserved in archives, such as dramas, documentaries, and news, and investigates the history of television from various angles. In collaboration with broadcasters, libraries, and museums, it is building a hub for television studies.
*Illustrative imagePreserving and Using Documentary Films
The lab collects, preserves, and makes public prewar and postwar documentary films that are being lost, for example because production companies have gone bankrupt, and explores the possibilities of research and education using moving images. It collaborates with the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts, the National Film Archive of Japan, and others.
*Illustrative imageBuilding a Hub for Media Production
The Media Studio of the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies is a production space for students who aspire to become journalists or video creators. In collaboration with leading journalists and video creators, the lab is creating a new hub for media production using the studio.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Niwa Lab consist of faculty, project researchers, doctoral and master's students, graduate research students, and international research students.As of 2026
- ProfessorYoshiyuki NiwaPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Four old tube television sets in Chagoda, Vologda Oblast (93)” Svetlov Artem / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Television in the Age of Video Streaming: “Vintage Rank-Arena television set (Model C )” Matthew Paul Argall from Australia / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Research on Television Archives: “Video tape archive storage ( )” DRs Kulturarvsprojekt from Copenhagen, Danmark / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Preserving and Using Documentary Films: “Super-8-mm-film-on-a-spool-02” CEphoto, Uwe Aranas / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Building a Hub for Media Production: “Television News Control Room” Asterzenback / CC0 (cropped)
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