̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Brigitte Steger

What next for Japan's women?

ta385 — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 05:00:00 +0000

Japan's women are experimenting with new femininities in challenging times, a new book reveals

̽��ֱ��'P' word

lw355 — Thu, 16 Jan 2020 08:00:00 +0000

How do we shift our 'take, make, throw-away' plastic world towards 'recycle, recover, re-use'? It's time for blue-sky thinking plus practical measures in the battle to reduce plastic waste.

How Japan’s ‘salaryman’ is becoming cool

sjr81 — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 13:50:30 +0000

Read more about the new research into 'Cool Japanese men.

Japanese men are becoming cool. ̽��ֱ��suit-and-tie salaryman remodels himself with beauty treatments and 'cool biz' fashion. Loyal company soldiers are reborn as cool, attentive fathers. Hip-hop dance is as manly as martial arts. Could it even be cool for middle-aged men to idolise teenage girl popstars?

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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‘Herbivore boys’ and other fault lines in Japan’s gender crisis

fpjl2 — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:42:32 +0000

There is a picture of Japanese gender roles familiar to many - the suited ‘salary man’ with the stoic work ethic and slavish commute, and the housewife, single-mindedly occupied with her children’s education and tending to the home.

But, beginning during the nineties recession and snowballing with recent economic meltdowns, rigid gender definitions are being subverted by a generation with shifting values and uncertain futures. ̽��ֱ��challenges and consequences for Japanese society as a result could prove far-reaching.

Now, a new book from Cambridge’s Department of East Asian Studies has collected the latest research into Japan’s emerging gender identities, covering transgender people and absent fathers, girls in manga comics and the emergence of ‘Herbivore boys’, young men uninterested in careers and relationships.

̽��ֱ��book, Manga Girl Seeks Herbivore Boy, is published by Lit and launched on 23rd February at Robinson College. ̽��ֱ��book not only features vanguard research in this field but also represents some of the very best undergraduate work from the Department’s Japanese Studies course over the last three years.

̽��ֱ��editors say that the collection is relevant for both academic and general audiences interested in Japanese society, and hope it will inspire current and future students.

“Some of this research represents the only academic work on these issues currently in English - even in Japan there isn’t much about ‘herbivore boys’ and transgender people,” said Dr Brigitte Steger from the Department, who co-edited the book with researcher Angelika Koch.

“Japan’s gender identities are in turmoil. ̽��ֱ��essays in this volume provide fascinating insights into gender diversity in modern Japan, as well as telling the story of what we are doing at Cambridge.”

One of the four featured essays looks at changing politics around transgender communities. Although sex change surgery was illegal in Japan until the late nineties, there has been cultural acceptance of transgender people as long as they adopt the right stereotype of the flamboyant gay man, often wheeled out on TV shows.

Transgender people have fought successfully for the legalisation of sex reassignment surgery and gender change on their family registers – although in order to be eligible they have to fit these conservative gender moulds.

Another focus of the book is the ‘Herbivore boy’, a subversion of the classic hard-working, sexually assertive male increasingly adopted by young men who assume traits of general sexual apathy, fashion consciousness through make-up and clothes, and refuse to engage with the “corporate employment and marriage” lifestyle that defined Japan for much of the last fifty years.

“Many young men don’t see the point of conforming to ‘salary man’ models anymore. With economic collapse, they don’t see why they should repress creativity and prolonged adolescence - often as a conscious rebellion against the lifestyle of their fathers,” said co-editor Koch.

Fathers and their absence are explored in the book. At the turn of the century, Japan’s ailing birth rate prompted the government to launch campaigns encouraging men to be more active in family life. This, however, isn’t translating into the education for the next generation - quite the opposite according to research from former student Zoya Street.

Moral education textbooks used in Japanese classrooms still promote the distant ‘absent’ father archetype as the ideal, a persistence that may prove increasingly damaging for family life.

̽��ֱ��book also examines the role of women in ‘boys manga’ comics, most commonly a strange mix of pornography and innocence. But increasingly women are given meatier roles, for instance as criminal masterminds.

Such shifting gender types, and other aspects of societal change, have led Japan to experience a “continuous drop” in marriages as well as fertility rates in recent years. Many no longer consider marriage an integral part of their life.

With an ageing population living ever-longer past retirement, and a younger generation disengaging from social contributions that form Japan’s backbone, there is increasing concern about redefined gender roles and their impact on society.

“This isn’t just exceptional undergraduate research,” added Steger. “It’s a very timely examination of the seismic ructions in gender roles that are taking place in modern Japan, and their ramifications”.

For more information, please contact Brigitte Steger: bs382@cam.ac.uk

A new book of student research into key areas of gender in modern Japan highlights emerging trends of redefinition between sexes, and the impact on its society.

̽��ֱ��essays in this volume provide fascinating insights into gender diversity in modern Japan, as well as telling the story of what we are doing at Cambridge

Brigitte Steger

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Land of the (early) rising sun

bjb42 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

New research from Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� reveals how a countrywide preoccupation with getting up early, last seen in Japan in the first half of the 20th century, is making a comeback. Furthermore, the study adds that in some cases it bears the hallmarks of a "conscious and co-ordinated attempt" to foster national identity.

Many commentators and critics believe that Japan is presently undergoing a nationalist revival. Recent governments have, for example, tried to review Article Nine - the famous "no war" clause at the heart of the country's pacifist constitution - explicitly for the sake of national pride. They have also passed a law that requires schools to teach students how to be patriotic.

Dr Brigitte Steger, a ̽��ֱ�� lecturer in Modern Japanese Studies who wrote the new report, argues that the fad for early rising is a more subtle manifestation of the same trend.

" ̽��ֱ��key reason for the revival in early rising culture is that it teaches people to control their emotions, feelings and desires," she said. "It is training in spiritual determination so that people feel motivated to contribute selflessly to a common cause.

"That cause can often be economic, but there are clear signs that many of these movements encourage people to take pride in their country and the part they play in Japanese life. In some ways, they are being urged to overcome their own spiritual weaknesses and replace them with nationalist pride."

̽��ֱ��report appears in a new book, Worlds Of Sleep, which Dr Steger also co-edited. She wrote her analysis after months of fieldwork and archival work in Japan during which she studied attitudes towards sleep and interviewed people about their sleeping habits.

She found evidence that early rising is fast becoming a social duty, and even a point of honour, for the Japanese. Initiatives such as the Tokyo-based asa expos (morning expos), which offer commuters early-morning workshops on topics ranging from yoga to coffee-brewing, have sprung up across the country in recent years. Companies and schools are increasingly scheduling compulsory sessions in gymnastics, sports and reading before the working day begins.

People who do not get up early, Dr Steger was told, are even regarded as darashi ga nai - meaning that they do not lead a "proper life" and cannot be entrusted with difficult assignments at work. ̽��ֱ��pressure on people to get up early, even when they have to stay up in the evenings, has also led to a surge in sales of energy and vitamin drinks to help them make it through the day. About 150 different kinds of drink are available to Japanese customers, with roughly 1,260 million bottles sold annually.

̽��ֱ��report suggests that this growing national concern with early rising has parallels with a similar craze that occurred in the decades before World War II. During the early 20th century, government-sponsored "early rising" associations were established in every village throughout the country. ̽��ֱ��aim was to encourage self-discipline among the general population, but it was also believed that foregoing morning sleep led to the development of a healthy, sound person who would be able to contribute to the nation's military and economic success.

Those sentiments - in particular the need to build up a firm and determined spirit for the sake of the national good - are now being echoed by modern early rising associations, Dr Steger says.

Since October 2003, for example, teachers and students have had to stand every morning and sing the national anthem while the Japanese flag is raised in schools. "Beautiful Country Japan", the slogan on which the last Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, ran his nationalistic reform agenda, later led to the establishment of the Council to Make Japan Beautiful. This institution set up many of the new early rising initiatives, such as the pre-school "early to bed, early to rise, breakfast" campaign and the asa expos. ̽��ֱ��campaign in support of the expos encourages participants to make the most of "the beauty of the nation" early in the morning.

Japanese people are also being encouraged to rise early to increase their contribution to the nation's economic welfare. Self-help guides and advice books encourage readers to cut back on their sleep to create new time in which to be more productive. One author argues that by reducing daily sleep by five hours, the reader could gain 70 full days a year in which to work towards intellectual qualifications or success in business and social life.

"Early rising is believed to help a person suppress their emotions, or physical desires and become more morally fortified," Dr Steger added. "That idea has become more potent with the revival in Japanese nationalism. It is no coincidence that nation-wide initiatives to encourage early-rising have regained momentum at a time when Japanese leaders have worked towards increasing love for the nation."

Worlds Of Sleep, edited by Lodewijk Brunt and Brigitte Steger, is published by Frank & Timme.

They say that early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise; but in Japan, it may also be feeding a nationalist revival not seen since World War II.

Early rising is believed to help a person suppress their emotions, or physical desires and become more morally fortified.

Dr Brigitte Steger

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