Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture

This is the most complete and compelling account of idols and celebrity in Japanese media culture to date. Engaging with the study of media, gender and celebrity, and sensitive to history and the contemporary scene, these interdisciplinary essays cover male and female idols, production and consumption, industrial structures and fan movements. Spend even a day in a major Japanese city like Tokyo or Osaka and you won't be able to ignore them: 'idols,' or heavily produced and promoted men and women who perform across media genres and platforms. They appear in magazines and advertisements, perform on TV and on stage, recorded and live. Though central to the workings and experience of media in Japan, idols have unfortunately had only a marginal place in the scholarship. This collection offers the most complete and compelling account of one of the most fascinating and least understood aspects of Japanese media culture today. It brings together a group of interdisciplinary scholars who engage the study of media, gender and celebrity. Sensitive to history and the contemporary scene, essays cover male and female idols, production and consumption, industrial structures and fan movements Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction: The Mirror of Idols and Celebrity....Pages 1-32 Front Matter....Pages 33-33 The Jimusho System: Understanding the Production Logic of the Japanese Entertainment Industry....Pages 35-55 Megaspectacle and Celebrity Transgression in Japan: The Sakai Noriko Media Scandal....Pages 56-71 Through a Looking Glass Darkly: Television Advertising, Idols, and the Making of Fan Audiences....Pages 72-93 Front Matter....Pages 95-95 Johnny’s Idols as Icons: Female Desires to Fantasize and Consume Male Idol Images....Pages 97-112 From Boys Next Door to Boys’ Love: Gender Performance in Japanese Male Idol Media....Pages 113-130 The Homo Cultures of Iconic Personality in Japan: Mishima Yukio and Misora Hibari....Pages 131-149 Front Matter....Pages 151-151 Idol as Accidental Activist: Agnes Chan, Feminism, and Motherhood in Japan....Pages 153-165 Emotions, Desires, and Fantasies: What Idolizing Means for Yon-sama Fans in Japan....Pages 166-181 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Idols: The Image of Desire in Japanese Consumer Capitalism....Pages 185-208 The Virtual Idol: Producing and Consuming Digital Femininity....Pages 209-228 Back Matter....Pages 229-239 Cover 1 Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture 4 Contents 6 Illustrations 8 Foreword: Revisiting “Idology” 9 Acknowledgments 11 Contributors 14 Introduction: The Mirror of Idols and Celebrity 17 Part I Systems 49 1 The Jimusho System: Understanding the Production Logic of the Japanese Entertainment Industry 50 2 Megaspectacle and Celebrity Transgression in Japan: The Sakai Noriko Media Scandal 71 3 Through a Looking Glass Darkly: Television Advertising, Idols, and the Making of Fan Audiences 87 Part II Desire 109 4 Johnny’s Idols as Icons: Female Desires to Fantasize and Consume Male Idol Images 110 5 From Boys Next Door to Boys’ Love: Gender Performance in Japanese Male Idol Media 126 6 The Homo Cultures of Iconic Personality in Japan: Mishima Yukio and Misora Hibari 144 Part II Difference 163 7 Idol as Accidental Activist: Agnes Chan, Feminism, and Motherhood in Japan 164 8 Emotions, Desires, and Fantasies: What Idolizing Means for Yon-sama Fans in Japan 177 Part II Image 193 9 Idols: The Image of Desire in Japanese Consumer Capitalism 194 10 The Virtual Idol: Producing and Consuming Digital Femininity 218 Index 238 "Spend even a day in a major Japanese city like Tokyo or Osaka and you won't be able to ignore them: 'idols, ' or heavily produced and promoted men and women who perform across media genres and platforms. They appear in magazines and advertisements, perform on TV and on stage, recorded and live. Though central to the workings and experience of media in Japan, idols have unfortunately had only a marginal place in the scholarship. This collection offers the most complete and compelling account of one of the most fascinating and least understood aspects of Japanese media culture today. It brings together a group of interdisciplinary scholars who engage the study of media, gender and celebrity. Sensitive to history and the contemporary scene, essays cover male and female idols, production and consumption, industrial structures and fan movements"--Provided by publisher