More than just the regional promotion in Japan: The case of Chita Musume. (May 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Abe, Yasuhito
• Is Part Of: International journal of cultural studies. Volume 26:Number 3(2023)
• Page Start: 326
• Page End: 342
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Subjects: Japan -- male gaze -- moe -- regional promotion -- transmedia practice; Culture -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1177/13678779231160568
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-8779

Abstract

This article investigates a Japanese transmedia regional promotion project known as Chita Musume Jikkō Iinkai (or the Executive Committee of Daughters of Chita); it critically discusses how the elusive concept of moe was deployed to facilitate and promote regional tourism. Drawing on the male gaze as a theoretical framework, this study uses Rose's discourse analysis I to investigate a wide variety of texts and documents related to the project. In doing so, it demonstrates that this regional promotion practice does not merely contribute to reinforcing its audience as heteronormative masculine subjects, but also redesigns its region as a gazed-upon dating spot.