Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures Symposium 2025

After last year’s success of the Queer and Feminist Perspectives on Japanese Popular Cultures symposium, we are very excited to announce the second edition! Join us on May 19 to 21 for two and a half days of exciting research presentations and keynotes from experts in the field.

The symposium will be held online in order to accommodate participants in different time zones. This year again, we invited scholars, researchers, activists, and practitioners from around the world to participate in a multidisciplinary two-day exploration of the intersection between Japanese popular cultures and intersectional, trans-inclusive feminist studies. During this symposium, we will explore the convergence of gender, sexuality, race, queerness, disability and class. We aim to provide a platform for critical discussions about gender and Japanese animation, fashion, video games, literature and digital cultures. In doing so we hope to encourage new directions in feminist approaches to Japanese popular cultures and foster community among researchers from marginalized communities. 

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Schedule
(JST in purple, EDT in blue) 

Tues, May 20- 9:45 AM JST
Monday, May 19 – 8:45 PM EDT
Welcome note and housekeeping! 

Tues, May 20- 10:00 AM JST
Monday, May 19 – 9:00 PM EDT

Panel: Mediating Gender

Chair: Megan Catherine Rose (UNSW Sydney, University of Tokyo)

Presenters: 

Kelly Li (University of Sydney) "Romantic Archetypes and the Ideology of Love in Otome Games"

Zhaoyang Yang (University of Tokyo) "Kawaii as Contradiction: Gender Performativity and Embodied Resistance in Odottemita Dance Culture"

Sarah-Anne Gresham (Rutgers University) "Afro/Japanese Placemaking: An Inquiry into Black Women’s Intimacies with Anime Characters"

Lilia Yan (Duke University) "Rebelling Within Constraints: Gender, Sexuality, and Developer Discourse in Persona 5"

Tues, May 20 – 8:00 PM JST
Tues, May 20 – 7:00 AM EDT
Keynote: Michelle Ho (National University of Singapore) "Emergent Genders: Living Otherwise in Tokyo's Pink Economies"
Chair: Megan Catherine Rose (UNSW Sydney, University of Tokyo)

Tues, May 20 – 9:15 PM JST
Tues, May 20 – 8:15 AM EDT
Panel: Revolutionary Genders
Chair: Aurélie Petit (Concordia University)
Presenters: 

River Seager (Independent scholar) ““Amuro, I’m About to Do Something Extremely Wicked:” Queer Subtext and Queer Text in the Gundam Franchise"

Eve McLachlan (University of Dundee) "“Catboy Churches and Pre-Obliterated Twinks:” Early-2000s Yaoi Aesthetics as Tools for Cultural Disruption in the Digital-native Fiction of Porpentine Charity Heartscape and Blake Planty"

Bleuenn Gacel (Linköping University) ““I Am Human:” Trans, Disabled and Feminist Criticism of Shonen Hegemonic Masculine Representation and its Limitations in Dororo"

Wed, May 21 – 6:00 AM JST
Tues, May 20 – 5:00 PM EDT
Panel: 
Chair: Aurélie Petit (Concordia University)
Presenters: Rebellion, Politics and (Un)rest

Elya Myers (Concordia University) "The Hikikomori Heroine: Bed Rotting Under Kawaii Quarantine"

Serafina Paladino (University of California) "Playing Queerly Under Capitalism in Jet Set Radio Future"

Wed, May 21 – 7:00 AM JST
Tues, May 20 – 6:00 PM EDT
Keynote: Kimberly Hassel (Duke University) "Mediating Afro-Japanese Encounters from Yasuke to Megan Thee Stallion"

Chair: Aurélie Petit (Concordia University) 

Wed, May 21 – 9:00 AM JST
Tues, May 20 – 8:00 PM EDT
Panel: LGBTQ Representation & Regulation 
Chair: Megan Catherine Rose (UNSW Sydney, University of Tokyo)
Presenters: 

Roy Yan (University of British Columbia) "Unapologetically Rezubian: Lesbian Identities in Contemporary Yuri Manga"

María Camila Neira (Ritsumeikan University) "Women just like…? Exploring Female Bisexuality Through Images and Self-representations in Japanese Social Media and Pop Culture"

Yuuki Namba (Ritsumeikan University) "‘Kakei-san, You Don't Come Off as Gay at All—Whether it's Your Looks, the Way You Talk, or Your Whole Personality’: A Critical Analysis of Actor Persona and Gender Representation in What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Kinō Nani Tabeta?)"

Ashley Remminga (University of Tasmania) "Obscene Australia: Australia’s Regulation on Explicit and Erotic Material"

Wed, May 21 – 10:30 AM JST
Tues, May 20 – 9:30 PM EDT
Panel: Trans and Genderqueer 
Chair: Ashley Remminga (University of Tasmania)
Presenters:

Megan Catherine Rose (UNSW Sydney, University of Tokyo) and Patrick Galbraith (Senshū University) "Girlish Transformations: Transfeminine Crossings in Manga and Anime Sapphic English-Speaking Fandoms"

Zoe Li (University of Sydney) "“Guys Can be Cute Girls as Well!”: Investigating Gender Exploration and Empowerment Amongst VTuber Live Streamers"

John Paolo Sarce (Polytechnic University of the Philippines) "From Mistranslation to Canonizing Queer Anime: The Case of Gender Bending Characters from the Filipino-Dubbed Anime Ghost Fighter"

Wed, May 21 – 3:30–5:00 PM JST
Wed, May 21 – 2:30–4:00 AM EDT
Megan Catherine Rose Public Lecture (Hybrid – Kanagawa University) "Hyperfeminine Harajuku: Queer KAWAII Practices"
Click here to read the event flyer. If attending in-person, please register via the details on the flyer.

Wed, May 21 – 8:00 PM JST
Wed, May 21 – 7:00 AM EDT
Keynote: Akiko Sugawa-Shimada (Yokohama National University) "Devout Believers or Monsters?: 2.5D Cultural Practices and Female Fans’ Produsage in the '2.5D' Culture"
Chair: Emerald King (University of Tasmania)

Wed, May 21 – 9:00 PM 
Wed, May 21 – 8:00 AM
Panel: Women and Media 
Chair: Aurélie Petit (Concordia University) 
Presenters: 

Moon Taha Teen Nikita (BRAC University of Bangladesh) "Silence of Periods: Representation of Menstruation in Japanese Anime and Manga and the Reinforcement of Menstrual Normativity"

Khushboo Bansal (University of Delhi) "Netflix Streaming of Gendered Anime: A Content Analysis of the Recommendation Process in Netflix India"

Asuka Ozumi (Università degli Studi di Torino) "Motherhood in Torikai Akane’s Works: A Feminist Perspective"

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We look forward to your participation in our symposium!

Symposium team (contact us at  popculturesjapan (at) gmail (dot) com)
Aurélie Petit
Concordia University, Canada

Megan Catherine Rose
UNSW Sydney, Australia
The University of Tokyo, Japan

Supported by the Media, Gender and Sexualities Study Group, University of Tokyo, Japan, and the Platform Lab, Montreal, Canada.