[SPECIAL LECTURE] A Case Study of the Linguistic Landscape of Shin-Okubo “Koreatown”

Описание: — Abstract —
This presentation draws upon longitudinal ethnographic fieldwork of Japanese women’s fandom for K-pop idol groups between 2015 to 2025 to develop a theory of the gendered nature of consumer space in Japan. Through careful attention to the Linguistic Landscape (LL) of Tokyo’s so-called Koreatown of Shin-Ōkubo, I explore how this district has conspicuously transformed from an ethnic enclave into a “K-pop space” due to the heavy penetration of K-pop related linguistic and other semiotic resources across the neighbourhood over the past decade. In particular, I argue that the materiality of K-pop merchandising in Shin-Ōkubo and its ties to other markers of “Koreanness” transform the district itself into K-pop content to be consumed by fans who are presumed to be heterosexual women. In so doing, I unpack how the LL of Shin-Ōkubo is specifically coded as feminine, considering how the study of LL can expand and nuance our understanding of the gendered nature of consumer culture in contemporary Japan. Through my attention to the role of Shin-Ōkubo’s LL in naturalizing specific fantasies of Korea and related (heterosexual) desires central to the broader Korean Wave in Japan, I consider how the neighbourhood thus represents a space where one’s gendered identity as a K-pop fan is negotiated through the very act of visiting and experiencing the district. I conclude the presentation by reflecting on the potentials of K-pop spaces in Japan to function as sites where female fans can exercise their agency and produce feminist solidarities designed to combat heteropatriarchy.

— Bionote —
Dr Thomas Baudinette is Senior Lecturer in Global Cultures, School of International Studies, Macquarie University. A cultural anthropologist, his research explores the role popular culture plays in shaping knowledge about gender and sexuality across East and Southeast Asia. His first book is Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo (University of Michigan Press, 2021). His second book is Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture (Bloomsbury, 2023). Thomas is currently working on three book projects: an edited collection titled Riding the Thai Wind: Globalising Thai Media, Transnational Fandom, and Soft Power Potentials, the updated English-language edition of Akiko Hori and Mori Naoko’s seminal text BL no Kyōkasho (A BL Textbook), and a monograph tentatively titled Queer Fantasies of Asia: Japanese and Korean Media Fandom in the Philippines.