2025
Hyogo University, April 4th–6th (joint JAWS/AJJ conference)
Marta FANASCA
(University of Bologna, Hosei University)
Ritualizing Intimacy: Gender, Female Agency, and the Commodification of Desire in Contemporary Japan’s Pink Economy
Abstract: In contemporary Japan, the market for female/female commodified emotional and/or sexual intimacy, though a niche market, is developing at the intersection of private desire and money. Several businesses focused on providing emotions, support, or more bodily-oriented and less platonic services for women are emerging, shaping a new sector of the pink economy closely tied to the urban landscape. Despite differences among these services (dates, sex, sexual massages etc), it is impossible not to notice the constant performance of certain acts or the repletion of sequences of actions—not only across repeated meetings within the same business, but also between different types of services—which imbues encounters between providers and clients with a sense of “ritual”. Using Joy Hendry’s suggestions about the relationship between reality and authenticity (2000) as a starting point, and drawing on Baudrillard’s concept of hyperrealism (1981/2001), this intervention highlights and discusses how paid encounters between providers of commodified intimacy and clients can be understood as “semi-ritual” space to explore gender, sex and emotions. Taking as case studies a) the business of Female-to-Male crossdressing (dansō) escorts offering dates to their female clients, and b) female prostitution for women, my aim is to explore how these practices navigate the intersections of gender, commodification, and female agency, highlighting how ritualized interactions serve as a medium through which clients and providers negotiate identity and intimacy within a market-driven framework.
Runner-up:
Marco Di Francesco (Oxford University), “Changing Ritual Practices in the 21st-Century Rakugo World”
2024
Tōhoku University, Aoba Campus, November 30th–December 1st
Miku Narisawa
(Tōhoku University, PhD candidate)
Navigating Uncertainty: Climate Change and the Future of Seaweed Cultivation in Japan
Abstract: This presentation explores the adaptation of seaweed aquaculture to climate change in Japan, with a specific focus on a case study from Higashimatsushima City in the Tohoku region. The study highlights the livelihoods of coastal communities, the modernization of seaweed (nori) aquaculture, and how local farmers have cultivated a reciprocal relationship with the ocean amid these challenging times, drawing on fieldwork and recent studies. Seaweed cultivation is a cornerstone of the local economy and an integral part of Japanese food culture. Over the past two years, many seaweed farmers have experienced significant impacts from climate change, including rising water temperatures and increasingly unstable nutrient balances. The uncertainty surrounding these environmental threats has had profound effects on local marine ecosystems, fishing markets, and traditional practices. Nevertheless, these challenges also underscore the complex intersection of human domestication and ecological uncertainty. Finally, the presentation introduces the “Nori Summit,” a new initiative where over 150 seaweed farmers from across Japan come together to share their experiences and innovative solutions for confronting the unknowns posed by climate change.
Runner-up:
Mariia Ermilova (Tōyō University, Adjunct Professor), Growing Knowledge Together: Plant Cultivation as a Method of Collaborative Anthropology in a Japanese Neighborhood
Highly Commended:
Evan Koike (University of Tokyo, Assistant Professor), Between Admiration and Skepticism: How Japanese Parents View the Imaginary Figure of the White Western Father
2023
Meiji Gakuin University, Shirokane Campus
Anna Wozny
(Tokyo College at the University of Tokyo, Postdoctoral Fellow)
Marriage-hunting: intimacy at the nexus of state and market forces
Abstract: This paper explores the entanglements of economic and political forces in the formation of intimate relationships by drawing on the case of Japanese “marriage-hunting” industry. Marriage-hunting (konkatsu), a term originally coined by sociologist Yamada Masahiro, encompasses myriad private and public sector services that facilitate heterosexual romantic relationships for a fee. Against the backdrop of rapid population decline and aging, marriage-hunting has additionally been defined as an arena with the potential to boost Japan’s marriage—and, by extension, childbirth—rates. Drawing on nine months of multi-site ethnographic fieldwork in Japan, including participant observation in marriage-hunting events and interviews with industry professionals as well as men and women who use these dating services, I demonstrate how the marriage-hunting market implicates individual desires in state reproduction. Specifically, I show how marriage-hunting professionals 1) mobilize population science to link individual experiences to state goals, and 2) rely on discourses of quantification and economization to portray marriage-hunting as a competitive marketplace. I then show how this conceptualisation of marriage-hunting as a market influences individual perceptions of status and desirability. Ultimately, I argue that the marriage- hunting market contributes to uneven social valuation of men and women depending on a mixture of ascribed and achieved characteristics.
Runner-up:
Maiko Kodaka (Sophia University and Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Adjunct Lecturer), Women’s Consumption of Sex: The Question of Sex Positivism
Highly Commended:
Koure Makita (Keio University, PhD candidate), Suffering and Conflicts of Women Priests in Jinja Shinto
Dylan O’Brien (University of California at San Diego, PhD candidate), Silences out of the Past: Fables of Rescue and the Politics of Historical Memory in Multicultural Japan
for more about the Harumi Befu Prize, click HERE.