Embodying Japan: Cultures of Sport, Beauty, and Medicine 2017

Gender and Identity in Modern Japan


This project is designed to discuss the commodification of identity in Japan and how Japanese youth are rejecting traditional identities endorsed by the Nationalist regime in an effort to take control over their own identities within the globalized Capitalist culture. Japanese men and women have more freedom today than they have historically to pave their own futures and express themselves through sexuality and fashion. However, as new identities emerge and take root within the culture, Capitalist responses to the demand force unexpected changes. This project will explore the motivations for these changes, as well as the commodified response by the global market.