Age of Shojo by Dollase Hiromi Tsuchiya;
Author:Dollase, Hiromi Tsuchiya;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 2019-11-14T16:00:00+00:00
CHAPTER SEVEN
Himuro Saekoâs ShÅjo Heroines from Heian to ShÅwa
The physical and fiscal rehabilitation of Japan over the following decades proved very successful. The nation experienced a period of incredible financial growth in the 1960s and 1970s. By the second half of the 1980s, âJapan was involved in the biggest financial mania of this century.â1 It was a period known as the âbubble economy,â2 which was characterized by extravagance and conspicuous consumption. This period was also called âthe Age of Women.â The Equal Employment Opportunity Law, which was passed in 1985, âinspired thousands of well-educated women in their twenties to attempt previously undreamed-of careers.â3 Working women were also powerful consumers, and their new prominence in society attracted media attention. The October 1986 issue of Asahi Journal includes an interview with girlsâ fiction writer Himuro Saeko (1957â2008) by journalist Chikushi Tetsuya. The title of the interview is âGenki jirushi no onnatachiâ (Women Marked by Energy).4 The fact that Himuro Saeko was chosen to represent womenâs culture indicates an acknowledgment of the cultural and commercial influence of girlsâ fiction.
This chapter will discuss girlsâ fiction in the context of womenâs culture of the 1980s. Intriguingly, Himuro Saeko provided commentary on the contemporary male-dominated cultureâs focus on business and money in works that take place in the ancient past. Za chenji (The Change, 1983) is a retelling of the literary classic Torikaebaya monogatari (The Changelings), which was written in the late Heian period by an unknown author. Both the original and Himuroâs version are about a girl who has grown up as a boy, bravely serving as a government official in the imperial court. Himuroâs version resonated with women who had started entering the workforce, traditionally a male sphere, in the 1980s. Nante suteki ni japanesuku (How Splendid Japanesque; intermittently 1984â1991)5 is a romantic comedy centering on a married heroine, Ruri. This work is loosely connected to eleventh-century classic Genji monogatari (The Tale of Genji)6âthe life story of the fabulous prince Genji, chronicling his love affairs and the tragedies that befall him after he secretly consummates a romance with his stepmother. Himuroâs tomboyish heroine challenges and subverts the world of Genji and instead embodies a new idea of love and marriage, as well as a new set of womenâs values. Perhaps Himuro chose the conservative Heian period (794â1185) as the stage of these stories because it was a time when gender roles were clearly demarcated and women were utilized by men as their means of success and social promotion. Her heroinesâ outrageous modern behavior, defying cultural expectations, captivated readers of the 1980s.
Himuro is an important figure who created âa new direction in modern Japanese girlsâ literature.â7 She widened the definition of girlsâ fiction by portraying young adults and even married women as heroines. More importantly, her use of first-person narration and colloquial language drew her audience into the world of her stories, and the tone of sarcastic humor she deployed became an important trait of modern girlsâ fiction. After an overview of the transformation of
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