Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to investigate the interrelations among magazine genres, gender categories, and the formation of cultural hierarchy, by reconsidering the significance of interwar mass-market women's magazines in the history of print/reading culture in modern Japan.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to investigate the interrelations among magazine genres, gender categories, and the formation of cultural hierarchy, by reconsidering the significance of a periodical genre hitherto marginalized in academia, namely, mass-market women's magazines, in the history of print/reading culture in modern Japan. It also attempts to regard the changes in print media as reconfigurations of various dichotomies, both modern and premodern.

Analysis of diverse periodicals from the late 19th century to the 1930s, their contemporary commentaries and various surveys reveals that, around the turn of the 20th century, magazine genres became increasingly gendered in terms of their formats, editing styles, content, and readership: magazines for adults evolved into either "serious" general magazines (sōgō zasshi) aimed at men concerning "public" matters or "vulgar" women's magazines (fujin zasshi) on "light" issues related to the "domestic" sphere.

It was the latter magazine genre that led to the democratization of print/reading culture in interwar Japan. Inclusion of various article genres written in highly colloquial styles, extensive use of visuals, stress on entertainment and people's private lives, and increasing collaboration with other industries, were to become common practices among Japanese periodicals after WWII. The new editing style also contributed to the spread of a new reading style in Japan.

With its accessible editorial and promotional styles, interwar mass-market women's magazines attracted readers from a wide range of ages and social classes, including men, and functioned as a "transfeminized" entertainment home magazine. Moreover, other periodicals, including the more "serious" types, also began adopting some of the strategies developed in the popular women's magazines, a periodical genre that had formerly been regarded as "deviant." Arguably, the subversive impact mass-market women's magazines had on the publishing world triggered severe criticism.

The perceived "revolution" in print media in interwar Japan can be considered to be a part of the reconfiguration of various dichotomies in fields including literature, arts, and intellectual history during this period. This could also be regarded as a modern redefinition of a premodern cultural dichotomy, "ga (elegance)" and "zoku (vulgarity)."