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Paper short abstract

This study examines the migration of visual kei musicians into men’s underground idol scenes. Based on participant observation and comparison, it shows how performance, fan relations, and monetization are reconfigured, highlighting labor mobility and emotional labor in Japanese music subcultures.

Paper long abstract

The visual kei music industry, once a central pillar of Japanese youth subculture, has experienced long-term contraction amid changes in media environments and live performance economies. In contrast, men’s underground idol scenes have grown by leveraging highly personalized fan engagement and intimacy-centered monetization strategies. Against this backdrop, visual kei musicians have increasingly migrated into men’s underground idol activities. This study investigates why this transition occurs and how forms of performance, intimacy, and labor are reconfigured through it.

Methodologically, the study is based on participant observation conducted within men’s underground idol venues, supplemented by comparative analysis of visual kei live performances and fan practices. Rather than treating the two scenes as discrete genres, the study approaches them as adjacent subcultural industries connected through shared audiences, aesthetics, and affective economies.

The analysis focuses on three dimensions: (1) performative practices and bodily presentation, (2) modes of fan interaction, and (3) monetization structures. While visual kei emphasizes visual spectacle, narrative distance, and musical authorship, men’s underground idol culture foregrounds proximity, repetition, and emotional availability. Musicians transitioning between these spaces transfer skills in character construction and visual performance, yet must adopt new forms of emotional labor that render intimacy itself a primary economic asset.

This comparison reveals a broader transformation in Japanese music subcultures, where loyalty, care, and affective engagement increasingly function as forms of investment. By conceptualizing this shift as labor mobility across subcultural music industries, the study contributes to anthropology, sociology, and media studies by highlighting how intimacy-based business models reshape gendered performance and creative labor. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that contemporary subcultures are not isolated domains but dynamic fields linked by circulating practices of monetization, media strategy, and affective work.