Gender Fluidity in Japanese Arts and Culture

Japan is often perceived as a land of custom, convention, and conservatism. While much of Japan’s population does uphold tradition, the nation also has a history of confronting conformity when it comes to gender representation in the arts. Revealed in the pages of the famous Tosa Nikki, through the characters of the Kantai Collection media mix, and in many more expressions of art and media, the diverse stories of gender fluidity have permeated Japanese culture for centuries.
In this volume of critical essays, scholars from around the world bring international perspectives on subjects ranging from 10th century poetry to 21st century photography. They examine various facets of Japanese culture, including prose, theater, music, cinema, anime, computer games, and contemporary drag performance. These essays explore the impact of flexible approaches to gender representation in the arts, highlighting the role that artists play in shaping attitudes towards gender in Japanese society.

Dean Conrad is a writer, producer and teacher who has taught film-, theater- and television-related subjects in schools, colleges and universities in the United Kingdom and the United States. He lives and works in England.
Sayuri Hirano is a Japanese Language teacher. Her experience includes teaching both English and Japanese at The University of Hull, Tokyo International University, and the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology in Alexandria. She lives in Japan.

Edited by Dean Conrad and Sayuri Hirano
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 235
Bibliographic Info: 20 photos, notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9007-0
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5447-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi

Introduction: Confronting Conformity 1

A Note on the Use of Japanese Language Characters 15

(En)gendering Literature: Tosa Nikki, or Where Writing Begins   Robert Ono 17

Disturbing Gender Norms: Yasunari Kawabata’s Otome no Minato and Translations of Torikaebaya Monogatari   Masaho Kumazawa 32

Almost Transparent Blues: Postwar Years, Deconstruction of the Male Self, and the Transformations of Gender Relations in the Cultures of the 1970s   Yuji Kato 51

Trans Bodies and Gender Fluid Fatherhood in Contemporary Japanese Literature   Letizia Guarini 67

Transcending the Traditional: Developments in Contemporary Kabuki Helen S.E. Parker 83

Otokoyaku in Drag: Moving Beyond a Gender Role Binary in the Takarazuka Revue   Zuzanna ­Baraniak-Hirata 100

A “beautiful woman in men’s clothes”: Takiko Mizunoe and the Development of ­Cross-Dressing in ­Pre-War Japanese Entertainment   Michael Furmanovsky 119

The Politics of Trans Visibility in Japanese Film: ­Close-Knit and Midnight Swan   Naoki Kambe 139

Female Kings and Feminized Warships: Moefication in the Fate and Kantai Collection Media Mixes   William Schrage 161

Tokyo Drag: Contemporary Perspectives   Nina Ždanovič 177

Gender Beyond Boundaries: The Fluid Photography of Ayano Sudo   Federica Cavazzuti 195

A Final Word 212

About the Contributors 215

Index 217