{"id":5078,"date":"2022-02-10T05:51:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T20:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/?p=5078"},"modified":"2026-03-11T11:17:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T02:17:42","slug":"20220224-2","status":"publish","type":"events","link":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/events\/20220224-2\/","title":{"rendered":"24 Feb. Seminar \u201cTakarazuka as Gendered Landscapes\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

2022.2.24 IGS seminar \u201cTakarazuka as Gendered Landscapes: Transculturality\/Translocality of Fandom and its Possibilities\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date\uff1a February 24, 2022 (Thursday)
\nTime\uff1a14:00-16:30 (JST)<\/p>\n

At the closing ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games all eyes around the world turned to a group of young women singing Japan\u2019s national anthem while dressed in dark green hakamas and colourful kimonos. The group consisted of 20 active members of the Takarazuka Revue \u2013 an all-female theatre company supported almost exclusively by female audience. The performance was hailed by the foreign press as a nod to female empowerment and was welcomed by fans around the world who were pleased with the level of international exposure participating in the event has provided to the troupe. Yet opinions among domestic fans were more critical, with many Japanese fans expressing both anger at seeing Takarazuka supporting an event the public wanted cancelled and concern for health risk posed to their favourite actresses. The situation is emblematic of the clashing images the theatre seems to evoke among Takarazuka\u2019s increasingly transnational fandom. On the one hand, we have what Jennifer Robertson (1998) refers to as the \u201cofficial story\u201d \u2013 a glamorous utopia, a \u201cworld of dreams\u201d created by women which offers escape from everyday oppression of the male-dominated society. On the other hand, we have a theatre tightly controlled by patriarchal corporate structures working hard to preserve Takarazuka\u2019s brand as a bastion of female \u201cmodesty, fairness, and grace\u201d (kiyoku tadashiku utsukushiku<\/em>). In this seminar we will examine these conflicting representations by focusing on Takarazuka\u2019s domestic and sinophone fan communities and discuss the subversive potential of Takarazuka\u2019s transcultural and translocal fandom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Online Seminar<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

(Zoom Webinar)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Guest Speaker<\/strong><\/td>\nLucetta Kam<\/strong> (Associate Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University)
\n\u201cTranscultural Desires and Queer Female Fandom of Takarazuka Revue in Taiwan\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\nZuzanna Baraniak-Hirata<\/strong> (Doctorate Student, Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Ochanomizu University)
\n\u201cCreating the \u201cworld of dreams\u201d: A case study of Takarazuka fan culture in the Kansai region\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Discussant<\/strong><\/td>\nWei-Jung Chang<\/strong> (Assistant Professor, Doshisha Women\u2019s College of Liberal Arts)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Moderator<\/strong><\/td>\n\nFumie Ohashi<\/strong> (Associate Professor, IGS)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Language<\/strong><\/td>\nJapanese and English (simultaneous interpreting)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Registration<\/strong><\/td>\nZoom Registration form<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u300aAbstract\u300b<\/p>\n

Transcultural Desires and Queer Female Fandom of Takarazuka Revue in Taiwan
\nLucetta Kam<\/strong><\/p>\n

The new wave of popularity of Takarazuka Revue in Taiwan after 2000 shows how fandom is inaugurated by the colonial legacy and the post-colonial present where cultural production and consumption are not directly tied to national identities and boundaries. The new generation of queer fans of Takarazuka Revue in Taiwan actively engages in the production and articulation of queer readings and desires through a reservoir of new resources that are made available by local LGBTQ+\/tongzhi movement, queer fan communities and digital technologies. The talk maps out the cultural reservoir in Taiwan that facilitates queer readings and desires of Takarazuka Revue and offers a sketch of the new generation of queer female fans in Taiwan and their activities.<\/p>\n

\n

Creating the \u201cworld of dreams\u201d: A case study of Takarazuka fan culture in the Kansai region
\nZuzanna Baraniak-Hirata<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boasting over a century-long history, the Takarazuka Revue is well-known for glamorous productions which attract a steady following among a predominantly female audience. Much attention has been paid to the charismatic cross-gendered performance of the otokoyaku<\/em> (male role players) and their zealous fans; the distinct relation is often credited for the commercial success of the establishment. However, little attempt has been made at understanding Takarazuka\u2019s phenomenon at the local level, especially when it comes to issues such as theatregoing practices, fan tourism, and fan community formation in physical, geographic spaces. Using the gender perspective, this paper focuses on the local Takarazuka fans\u2019 perceptions of Takarazuka Revue\u2019s birthplace, the Takarazuka City. I analyse individual fan narratives to explore fans\u2019 personal relations and everyday interactions with the space surrounding the Takarazuka Grand Theatre and explain their significance in promoting the creation of a female fan network linked to a distinct Takarazuka fan culture.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Organizer:<\/strong> IGS, Ochanomizu University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5079,"parent":0,"template":"","events_category":[119],"class_list":["post-5078","events","type-events","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","events_category-events-2021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events\/5078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/events"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"events_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.igs.ocha.ac.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/events_category?post=5078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}