University of San Diego Digital USD Theses Theses and Dissertations Summer 8-7-2018 Professional Heartbreakers: Male Entertainers and the Divide Between Popular Culture and History in Japan Meradeth Lin Edwards University of San Diego Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/theses Part of the Asian History Commons, and the History of Gender Commons Digital USD Citation Edwards, Meradeth Lin, "Professional Heartbreakers: Male Entertainers and the Divide Between Popular Culture and History in Japan" (2018). Theses. 31. https://digital.sandiego.edu/theses/31 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO Professional Heartbreakers: Male Entertainers and the Divide Between Popular Culture and History in Japan A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History by Meradeth Lin Edwards Thesis Committee Yi Sun, Ph.D., Chair Michael Gonzalez, Ph.D. 2018 The Thesis of Meradeth Lin Edwards is approved by: _________________________________________________________ Thesis Committee Chair _________________________________________________________ Thesis Committee Member University of San Diego San Diego 2018 ii Copyright 2018 Meradeth Lin Edwards Limitations: No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without the author's prior written consent for a period of three years after the date of submittal. _______________________________________ Meradeth Lin Edwards iii Dedicated to my American parents, who were undoubtedly the most enthusiastic fans of this work and are patient with my free spirit, and my Japanese parents, who instilled in me a great love of their culture, history, and lifestyle.