Male Subcultures in Japan: Generating Sexual Capital and Gender-Class Mobility in a Low Birth Society

In Japan, younger male generations who might identify themselves sub-culturally as ‘love market dropouts’ or more unhappily as ‘unpopular’ ( himote ), are also theorized as ‘sexual weaklings’ who have become unable to adapt and survive the processes of neoliberalism or female empowerment. Evidence shows that the structural and sexual marginalization of these men is configured with changes in employment structures, involving a forced flow of men into ‘non-regular’ labour and a ‘working poor’ existence. The ongoing dissolution of heteronormative modern society based around masculine labour privilege informs many of the themes of otaku and idol fan subcultures in East Asia, which are broadly comparable to diverse 21st-century gender subcultures in North America and Europe, including the growth of the social media manosphere and MGTOW [Men Going Their Own Way] and increased biological male participation in queer and nonbinary culture. This article explores how the rise of new modes of cute and girlish male cross-dress in 21st-century Japan can be understood as a form of inchoate mobilization towards new and unknown directions and relational futures predominantly via visual media and digital social space.