is a male film critic and one of the most popular professional academic researchers on French literature

French literature

French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...

 in Japan. He is also the former president of the University of Tokyo

University of Tokyo

, abbreviated as , is a major research university located in Tokyo, Japan. The University has 10 faculties with a total of around 30,000 students, 2,100 of whom are foreign. Its five campuses are in Hongō, Komaba, Kashiwa, Shirokane and Nakano. It is considered to be the most prestigious university...

, and is still continuing his critical activities after his retirement.

Family

Hasumi's father Shigeyasu was a professor at Kyoto University

Kyoto University

, or is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university, and formerly one of Japan's Imperial Universities.- History :...

. His wife Chantal Van Melkebeke is a pedagogue from Belgium; she is the daughter of Belgian painter and writer Jacques Van Melkebeke

Jacques Van Melkebeke

Jacques Van Melkebeke was a Belgian painter, journalist, writer, comic strips writer.Friend of Hergé, he took part in a semi-official way in the development of some of the storylines of The Adventures of Tintin, adding a number of cultural references. He is also supposed to have contributed to...

.

Research

Hasumi was influential in introducing French post-structuralist theory

Post-structuralism

Post-structuralism is a label formulated by American academics to denote the heterogeneous works of a series of French intellectuals who came to international prominence in the 1960s and '70s...

 to Japan and his writings on the film directors Yasujiro Ozu

Yasujiro Ozu

was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...

, John Ford

John Ford

John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

, and Jean Renoir

Jean Renoir

Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...

 helped define the field of film criticism in Japan in the 1980s. He was central in promoting such new directors as Takeshi Kitano

Takeshi Kitano

is a Japanese filmmaker, comedian, singer, actor, film editor, presenter, screenwriter, author, poet, painter, and one-time video game designer who has received critical acclaim, both in his native Japan and abroad, for his highly idiosyncratic cinematic work. The famed Japanese film critic...

 and several of his students, including Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Kiyoshi Kurosawa

is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre.-Biography:Born in Kobe on July 19, 1955, Kiyoshi Kurosawa is not related to director Akira Kurosawa...

, Shinji Aoyama

Shinji Aoyama

is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, composer, and novelist. He graduated from Rikkyo University. He won two awards at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival for his film Eureka.-Biography:...

, Masayuki Suo

Masayuki Suo

is a Japanese film director. He is perhaps best known for his two Japan Academy Prize-winning films, 1992's Sumo Do, Sumo Don't and 1996's Shall We Dance?.According to Suo:- Life and career :...

, and Makoto Shinozaki

Makoto Shinozaki

is a Japanese film director.-Career:Born in Tokyo, Shinozaki attended Rikkyō University where he studied under Shigehiko Hasumi, made 8mm films, and appeared in the then amateur works of other Rikkyō graduates such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa...

, have gone on to become major filmmakers, each bearing some influence of their teacher.