Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age

By (author) Mark McLelland

Publication date:

31 March 2005

Length of book:

256 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

236x167mm
7x9"

ISBN-13: 9780742537866

Scholarship on Japan has recently broadened to include minority perspectives on communities from marginal workers to those whose sexuality has long been overlooked. This volume, with its combination of fieldwork in the gay and lesbian communities and the use of historical sources such as journals and documents, breaks important new ground in this field. It examines gay life in the Japanese Pacific War, addresses transgender and lesbian as well as gay issues, examines the interface of queer society with the U.S. occupation and the international community, contests major interpretations of contemporary queer society, and introduces readers to the development of lesbian, transgender, and gay communities in postwar Japan. Including a wealth of images from the 'perverse press,' this book will appeal to students and general readers interested in modern and contemporary Japan and in gender studies and sexuality. Visit our website for sample chapters!
[This] book will serve as a welcome corrective to sparse earlier publications that have overly generalized, homogenized and singularized homosexuality and other queer experiences in Japan. The book will be appreciated by students of Japan's post–World War II era who have found it difficult so far to position Japan's queer culture in an international setting.