Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture

This is the most complete and compelling account of idols and celebrity in Japanese media culture to date. Engaging with the study of media, gender and celebrity, and sensitive to history and the contemporary scene, these interdisciplinary essays cover male and female idols, production and consumption, industrial structures and fan movements.

PATRICK W. GALBRAITH is a researcher at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He is the author of The Otaku Encyclopedia (2009), Tokyo Realtime: Akihabara (2010) and Otaku Spaces (2012).

JASON G. KARLIN is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo, Japan, where he teaches courses on gender and media studies. He is the author of The Empire of Fashion: Gender, Nationalism, and the Media in Modern Japan.

Forward: Revisiting 'Idology'; H. Aoyagi
Introduction: The Mirror of Idols and Celebrity; P.W.Galbraith & J.G.Karlin
PART I: SYSTEMS
The Jimusho System: Understanding the Production Logic of the Japanese Entertainment Industry; W.D.Marx
Megaspectacle and Celebrity Transgression in Japan: The Sakai Noriko Media Scandal; I.Prusa
Through a Looking Glass Darkly: Television Advertising, Idols and the Making of Fan Audiences; J.G.Karlin
PART II: DESIRE
Johnny's Idols as Icon: Female Desires to Fantasize and Consume Male Idol Images; K.Nagaike
From Boys Next Door to Boys' Love: Gender Performance in Japanese Male Idol Media; L.Glasspool
The Homo Cultures of Iconic Personality in Japan: Mishima Yukio and Misora Hibari; J.D.Mackintosh
PART III: DIFFERENCE
Idol as Accidental Activist: Agnes Chan, Feminism and Motherhood in Japan; A.Hambleton
Emotions, Desires and Fantasy: What Idolizing Means for Yon-sama Fans in Japan; Ho Swee Lin

PART IV: IMAGE
Idols: The Image of Desire in Japanese Consumer Capitalism; P.W.Galbraith
The Virtual Idol: Producing and Consuming Digital Femininity; D.Black
Index