Japanese Transnational Fandoms

Research program: Culture and Representation

In recent years Japanese manga and animation fandom has, via the Internet and other new media, exerted a strong influence upon youth cultures globally. Of particular interest is the yaoi or ‘boys’ love’ fandom popular with girls and young women. There have, since 2000, been annual fan conventions in the United States dedicated to the genre and mainstream publishing houses in the US (and elsewhere, including throughout Asia,) are translating original Japanese as well as commissioning their own boys’ love titles. This project investigates the different ways in which a ‘traditional’ Japanese literary genre has been taken up and deployed by female fans transnationally. Comparisons will be made between Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean boys’ love fandoms and the exchange of imagery and narratives that takes place between them. The way in which these stories and images are received in different cultures as well as the (sub)cultural ends to which they are deployed will be investigated, as will the impact of the fandom on the changing nature of gender, sexual identity and sex roles in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

Association of Internet Researches YAOI panel, October 2007

Workshop Details - 3rd & 4th July 2008