Abstract
This chapter examines how relationships are constructed in handbook-like features and interview reports conducted by the magazines, revealing that men tend to exhibit new attitudes toward women and patterns of behavior which are not in line with Japan’s hegemonic masculinity. The analysis presented in this chapter provides a comprehensive idea of what magazines convey as normative gendered behavior. The visible changes in male and female gendered behavior are not intended to eradicate hegemonic patterns of male–female interactions. Instead, they show how especially young men adjust to changing social circumstances and expectations, without, however, losing touch with core elements of the hegemonic gender order.
All translations of quotations from Japanese sources that appear in this chapter are by the author.
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Notes
- 1.
Wasei eigo is a term that describes a Japanese pseudo-Anglicism. These terms stem from English, although they are not proper English expressions.
- 2.
One of the Japanese character alphabets.
- 3.
Omiai is the traditional way of arranged dating in Japan. Usually the parents, or sometimes even superiors, set up a man and woman on a date. The favorable outcome of this date would be that the two become a couple and eventually marry.
- 4.
See Fig. 6.1.
- 5.
See Fig. 6.2.
- 6.
In 2010, the average age of men getting married was 30.5 years old and women 28.8 years old, and in 2005, the average age for men was 29.8 and women was 28.0 years (see Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication Statistics Bureau 2016, 19).
- 7.
Out of 111 statements about the future prospects, 23 (nearly 21%) name marriage as goal. That is followed by 16 other statements about staying together (14%).
- 8.
See Chapter 7.
- 9.
See Chapter 7.
- 10.
See Chapter 3.
- 11.
See Fig. 6.5.
- 12.
As, for example, later in the article on page ME 2006/04, 70.
- 13.
See also “The underlying discourses of relationship articles in CHOKi CHOKi” earlier in this chapter.
- 14.
This is a reference to the Japanese word ashi, which means leg or foot. See Holthus (2009, 263).
- 15.
The Japanese term meshi means food.
- 16.
The verb mitsugu means to financially support someone.
- 17.
See Chapter 7.
References
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Saladin, R. (2019). Be Attractive, Be Gentle, Be a Man: Love, Relationships, and Partnerships. In: Young Men and Masculinities in Japanese Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9821-6_6
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