Dr. Ayaka Yoshimizu's dissertation, After Displacement: Excavating Memories of Migrant Sex Workers and Becoming Entangled with the Water Trade in Yokohama, looks at the “memoryscapes” of the sex trade that existed in the district of Koganecho in the 2000s.

During her doctoral studies, Dr. Yoshimizu published two book chapters and six articles in internationally respected journals, including Cultural Studies and Gender, Place and Culture. She had also spoken at a number of conferences about her research into the sex trade in Japan and the memoryscapes of displaced transnational migrant sex workers that were displaced. Because of the shame associated with this topic, there is little information on its early history, and her work helps to share the stories of a disenfranchised population.

Dr. Yoshimizu received a number of prestigious awards to support her research, including the Michael Stevenson Graduate Scholarship, the William and Ada Isabelle Steel Memorial Graduate Scholarship, and $60,000 from the Japanese government in support for long-term studying abroad.

Dr. Yoshimizu has received a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship for her next project, “Graves Across the Water: Transpacific Memories of Japanese Sex Migrant Workers” and will be based at the Department of Asian Studies at UBC. 

Dr. Yoshimizu says, "My PhD was impossible without the material, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual support I received from my supervisor, my committee, friends and colleagues at SFU, people who generously participated in my research, and my family. I was extremely fortunate and privileged."