MGS

Thomas Baudinette・Boys Love Media in Asia: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture
2023-12-19 16:30 - 18:00 (Asia/Tokyo)
Lecture

Abstract:

In this presentation, Thomas Baudinette introduces his research into Thailand’s “Boys Love” media industry by reflecting on a decade of ethnographic observations of this popular culture form’s celebrity production systems and transnational fandoms. Arguing that Thai BL represents an important example of queer emancipatory media that has garnered legions of dedicated fans across the globe, Baudinette explores what the rise of Thai BL can teach us about celebrity and fandom culture from an Asian perspective. Baudinette concludes by considering how the process of writing the first English language book on Thai BL has led him to challenge Western-centric theories of queer media and advocate for an appreciation for Asia’s central positioning within new global regimes of queer knowledge production.

Presenter:

Thomas BAUDINETTE is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Communications, Creative Arts, Languages and Literatures at Macquarie University. His work explores consumption of popular culture among queer communities in Japan, Mainland China, Thailand, and the Philippines. He is the author of Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2023) and Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo (University of Michigan Press, 2021).

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Jason G. Karlin・Media Incitements in Japan: Social Contagion, Self-Harm, and Freedom of Expression
2024-06-19 15:30 - 17:00 | Kanagawa University, 西区みなとみらい４丁目５−３, Room 5030 (5F), 横浜市, 神奈川県, 220-8739, Japan
Lecture

Abstract:

Despite forecasts that suicides would increase during the COVID-19 pandemic, suicide rates in the US and many other countries declined. Notably, suicide rates increased in Japan after a more than decade-long drop. Though, middle-aged and older men typically account for most suicides in Japan, the pandemic spike was skewed towards the younger generation and women. Through a review of the dominant narratives about suicide in Japan that are often highly reducionist, oversimplifying the issue by focusing on a single factor, this presentation will emphasize the complexity of self-harm behavior and the many factors that may contribute to it, including the role of the media. The analysis will present how the concept of media contagion, or the Werther Effect, has been received in Japan. It will discuss the role that traditional media has played in inciting suicides through reckless reporting. Finally, it will assess the dangers of social media in providing an unregulated space for the circulation of information and images that can trigger urges to self-harm and enable social connections with others who are self-harming.

Presenter:

Jason G. KARLIN is a professor of media studies in the Interfaculty Initiative for Information Studies at the University of Tokyo. His research and teaching focuses on gender, social media, and computer mediated communication. He is the co-author of AKB48 (2019), and co-editor of Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture (2011) and Media Convergence in Japan (2016).

Igor Prusa・Scandal in Japan: Transgression, Performance and Ritual
2024-07-02 15:00 - 16:30 | University of Tokyo, iii Main Building, 6F, The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
Lecture

Abstract:

This talk is an exploration of media scandals in contemporary Japanese society. In shedding new light on the study of scandal in Japan, the talk offers a novel view of scandal as a highly mediatized social ritual which manifests and manages revealed transgressions. The first part of the talk focuses on Japanese scandal as “media product”, and it delves into the media’s role in constructing, shaping, and distributing scandals in Japan. Here, I explicate the role of Japanese media organizations in a symbolic process of transforming leaked gossip into a full-fledged scandal. The second part of the talk approaches Japanese scandal as “social ritual”: it explores the performative nature of scandal, highlighting how the scandal actors become characters in a larger social drama. Further, it demonstrates how the social drama of confession, exclusion and reintegration is turned into a spectacular media event with a high degree of ritualization.

Presenter:

Igor PRUSA is a Czech scholar in Japanese studies and media studies, currently affiliated with Ambis University Prague and Metropolitan University Prague. He worked at the Czech Academy of Sciences. Prusa received his first PhD in media studies at Prague’s Charles University in 2010. In 2017 he defended his second doctoral thesis at the University of Tokyo. He is the author of Scandal in Japan: Transgression, Performance, and Ritual (Routledge, 2024). His research interests include contemporary Japanese society, media scandals, and anti-heroism in popular fiction. He published more than 30 articles in a wide range of publications, including Media, Culture & Society, Contemporary Japan and Heroism Science.

Maura McGrath・Emotional Labor and Workplace Conditions at Women-Owned Snack Bars in Tokyo
2024-08-27 17:00 - 18:30 | University of Tokyo, iii Main Building, 6F, The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan
Work-in-Progress Discussion

The MGS will meet at the University of Tokyo on Tuesday, 27 August 2024 to hear a presentation by Maura McGrath on her dissertation project entitled “Emotional Labor and Workplace Conditions at Women-Owned Snack Bars in Tokyo.”

Presenter:

Maura MCGRATH is a 3rd-year Ph.D. student in social anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, PA, USA). Her research interests include emotional labor, feminist geography (with a particular focus on the body as a spatial scale), and urban economies.

Abstract:

This research focuses on women’s emotional and entrepreneurial labor within snack bars, or “sunakku,” in Japan. McGrath asks how women who occupy the dual roles of business owner and service worker navigate gendered expectations regarding their labor when shaping their workplace conditions. She is also interested in exploring generational trends in snack bar ownership to understand changing attitudes toward women’s entrepreneurial labor in Japan.

*Not open to the public

Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2025
2025-05-20 10:00 - 2025-05-21 22:00
The symposium will be held online in order to accommodate participants in different time zones. This year again, we invited scholars, researchers, activists, and practitioners from around the world to participate in a multidisciplinary two-day exploration of the intersection between Japanese popular cultures and intersectional, trans-inclusive feminist studies. During this symposium, we will explore the convergence of gender, sexuality, race, queerness, disability and class. We aim to provide a platform for critical discussions about gender and Japanese animation, fashion, video games, literature and digital cultures. In doing so we hope to encourage new directions in feminist approaches to Japanese popular cultures and foster community among researchers from marginalized communities.

Conference Website
