Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Senior Honors Theses Honors College 2006 Girl Power: Feminine Motifs in Japanese Popular Culture David Endresak [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/honors Recommended Citation Endresak, David, "Girl Power: Feminine Motifs in Japanese Popular Culture" (2006). Senior Honors Theses. 322. http://commons.emich.edu/honors/322 This Open Access Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact lib- [email protected]. Girl Power: Feminine Motifs in Japanese Popular Culture Degree Type Open Access Senior Honors Thesis Department Women's and Gender Studies First Advisor Dr. Gary Evans Second Advisor Dr. Kate Mehuron Third Advisor Dr. Linda Schott This open access senior honors thesis is available at DigitalCommons@EMU: http://commons.emich.edu/honors/322 GIRL POWER: FEMININE MOTIFS IN JAPANESE POPULAR CULTURE By David Endresak A Senior Thesis Submitted to the Eastern Michigan University Honors Program in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation with Honors in Women's and Gender Studies Approved at Ypsilanti, Michigan, on this date _______________________ Dr. Gary Evans___________________________ Supervising Instructor (Print Name and have signed) Dr. Kate Mehuron_________________________ Honors Advisor (Print Name and have signed) Dr. Linda Schott__________________________ Dennis Beagan__________________________ Department Head (Print Name and have signed) Department Head (Print Name and have signed) Dr. Heather L. S. Holmes___________________ Honors Director (Print Name and have signed) 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Printed Media................................................................................................... 3 Foreword......................................................................................................................... 3 About the Authors and Stories........................................................................................ 7 Natural Elements and Forces ........................................................................................ 12 Goddess Incarnate......................................................................................................... 19 Summary....................................................................................................................... 25 Works Cited .................................................................................................................. 28 Chapter 2: Digital Media ................................................................................................. 30 Foreword....................................................................................................................... 30 Yin/Yang ........................................................................................................................ 36 Motherhood and Family................................................................................................ 42 Tatemae/Honne ............................................................................................................. 52 Summary....................................................................................................................... 62 Works Cited .................................................................................................................. 64 Appendix: 'I My Me! Strawberry Eggs'........................................................................... 69 Glossary of Terms and General Cultural Notes............................................................ 69 Character Profiles.......................................................................................................... 75 Second Year, Class Indigo — Boys.......................................................................... 75 Second year, Class Indigo — Girls........................................................................... 77 Gochiso ..................................................................................................................... 80 Seitoh Sannomiya Private Academy......................................................................... 81 Series Analysis.............................................................................................................. 82 Volume 1 — 1 st Quarter Lesson: Make-up Exam .................................................... 82 Episode 01: Desperate First Lipstick .................................................................... 82 Episode 02: Forbidden Narrow Eyeliner .............................................................. 86 Episode 03: Selfish Blush Magic.......................................................................... 90 Episode 04: Delicate Tear Concealer.................................................................... 93 Volume 2 — 2 nd Quarter Lesson: Pop Quiz ............................................................. 95 Episode 05: Wicked Dream Foundation............................................................... 95 Episode 06: Fragile Powder Puzzle ...................................................................... 98 Episode 07: Longed for Complexion Toner ....................................................... 101 Volume 3 — 3 rd Quarter Lesson: School Spirit...................................................... 103 Episode 08: Rebellious Eyelash-Curler Boys..................................................... 103 Episode 09: A Midsummer's Night Sexy Gloss.................................................. 104 Episode 10: Bemusing Love Palette ................................................................... 107 Volume 4 — 4 th Quarter Lesson: Absent................................................................ 109 Episode 11: Fragrance Heart to Adulthood ........................................................ 109 Episode 12: Cleansing Shock of Deception........................................................ 112 Episode 13: Someday, Without Make-up, as Promised...................................... 115 Works Cited ................................................................................................................ 118 Endnotes.......................................................................................................................... 119 2 3 Chapter 1: Printed Media Foreword Myths, folktales, and fairy tales from around the world offer a rich source of inspiration for stories of contemporary popular culture and entertainment. A common belief is that popular entertainment stories that focus on a male protagonist offer a strong, positive image, while stories that focus on a female protagonist offer a weak, passive image. We often hear or read reports that blame this alleged injustice on the patriarchal nature of various societies. Since Japan is believed to have a strongly patriarchal society, we would expect stories from Japanese pop culture to demonstrate strong heroes and weak heroines. However, if we closely examine such stories, we discover that this is not the case. We learn that stories of Japanese pop entertainment offer extremely powerful feminine images and elements. In order to illuminate these findings, we will explore a few examples of feminine imagery within three specific examples of storytelling in Japanese comics, or manga. 1 Our examples will consist of one title from each of three separate genres of Japanese pop culture storytelling: shounen, 2 bishoujo, 3 and shoujo. 4 Using examples from multiple genres allows us to see how powerful feminine elements are used in Japanese stories regardless of the intended audience and regardless of the gender of the original author(s). Although our analysis will be restricted to a discussion of a few specific feminine elements such as the dichotomous, creative versus destructive aspect of life, the audience should take notice of other feminine aspects within such works even if discussing them is beyond the scope of the analysis we are presenting here. 4 Before we begin our exploration, it is important to state clearly that the use of terms such as feminine and masculine is intended to be understood as reflecting a symbolic, psychological approach to scholarly analysis. The same is true for terms such as matriarchal and patriarchal . This type of terminology is not referring to an individual's physiology or biological reproductive capability but rather to an individual's psychological or spiritual mindset and philosophy of life. By extension, such terminology can be applied to groups of people within a society. Any individual can have a feminine or masculine mindset about any specific topic, just as we speak of individualistic cultures as having more masculine tendencies and collectivistic cultures as being more feminine in nature (Neuliep 192-194). It should also be noted that our analysis will use original Japanese terms whenever possible in order to retain accuracy and authenticity. Readers who are unfamiliar with certain terms or who wish to learn about terminology they may have learned through other sources are encouraged to refer to the explanatory footnotes. One point we will compromise on is the representation of names. Like many Asian cultures, Japan normally presents names in the order of surname first, given name last. This is quite important, but