Participants:

Lecturer:               MIYADAI Shinji

Respondents:        AZUMA Hiroki

Moderators:          Jonathan ABEL, Shion KONO

Chair:                  Jonathan ZWICKER

MIYADAI Shinji will examine Japanese subculture in the 1990s and 2000s in terms of the significant roles of the self, fiction, and reflexivity, focusing upon the relationships between the notions of otaku, sekai-kei (the "world-type" fiction), and "Battle Royale" (from the 2000 film).  His lecture will return to develop the themes set in "Sabu karuchā shinwa kaitai" ("Dismantling the subculture myth," 1993), in which he and his collaborators analyzed the history of Japanese subculture in terms of communication models, drawing on social theories of reflexivity and modernity.    

Drawing on a wide range of sociocultural phenomena, including otaku culture, the anime series "Neon Genesis Evangelion," the film "Battle Royale," the religious cult Aum Shinrikyo, and high school girls selling their underwear, Miyadai seeks to recognize a sea change in subjectivity underlying Japanese subculture.

AZUMA Hiroki, the author of Otaku: Japan's Database Animals and a major critical voice in the discussion of Japanese subculture, will comment on Miyadai's lecture.

References

宮台真司・石原英樹・大塚明子『増補版　サブカルチャー神話解体』

(esp. Preface to the expanded bunko edition, Chapter 5)

宮台・東対談 〜『動物化するポストモダン』を読む〜 （miyadai.com）

Hiroki AZUMA, Otaku: Japan's Database Animals

Funded with the generous support of the Japan Foundation.