Jan 30, 2018: Just before January leaves us, we wanted to share our Top 10 Articles for 2017. It’s an interesting mix of old favourites and new ones too.
Our top article for 2017 uses the quirky metaphor of ”a kimono riding a bicycle” to frame an ethnographic study of changes in Japan’s traditional fashion industry. It shows how kimono is being adapted to suit everyday life in contemporary Japan (complete with gorgeous photos by the author).
Three of the remaining papers are concerned with the intersection between pop culture and gender (see #3, #5 and #6). One examines socialisation among the Japanese diaspora in Australia (#2).
Another two take a deep look at the embedded cultural meanings in Japanese language through the linguistic framework of Natural Semantic Metalanguage (#4 and #8). Of the remaining papers, two cover contentious areas of politics (#7 and #9), and one examines the cultural mechanisms behind the enduring popularity of an early modern Japanese legend (#10).
So for the record, here’s our #NVJSTop10 list. We’re open access: download them all!
1. Re-Fashioning Kimono: How to Make Traditional’ Clothes for Postmodern Japan
(Jenny Hall, NVJS7)
2. Japanese Wives in Japanese-Australian Intermarriages
(Jared Denman, NV3)
3. ”Girls are Dancin’”: Shōjo Culture and Feminism in Contemporary Japanese Art
(Emily Jane Wakeling, NV5)
4. A Comparison of English and Japanese Proverbs Using Natural Semantic Metalanguage
(Miles Neale, NVJS7)
5. A Centaur in Salaryman’s Clothing: Parody and Play in est em’s Centaur Manga
(Anne Lee, NVJS8)
6. Transcultural Flow of Demure Aesthetics: Examining Cultural Globalisation through Gothic & Lolita Fashion
(Masafumi Monden, NV2)
7. After the Ainu Shinpō: The United Nations and the Indigenous People of Japan
(Crystal Porter, NV2)
8. The Cultural Semantics of the Japanese Emotion Terms Haji’ and Hazukashii’
(Gian Marco Farese, NVJS8)
9. Who are the Ianfu (Comfort Women)?
(Kirsten Orreill, NV2)
10. Romanticising Shinsengumi in Contemporary Japan
(Rosa Lee, NV4)
Big congratulations go out to the authors, and big thanks go out to you for reading.
Keep sharing!
(Photo by Jenny Hall.)
