Dr Emerald King1, Rebecca Hausler2, Dr Masafumi Monden3, Debbie Chan3
1La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia, 2University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia, 3University of Western Australia, , Australia
Chair: Dr Emerald King
Overview:
This panel presents an array of literary papers that engage with Japan and Japanese literature through the lens of shōjo studies. Hausler’s paper investigates how Japanese POW are presented to school-age readers (of an age with shōjo and shōnen) in Australia and New Zealand in texts from 2016 and 2010. King examines Australian fantasy by applying shōjo theory to critique its young fashion conscious heroines and their cat familiars in the roaring 20s. Monden continues the shōjo theme by looking at what happens when shōjo grow up. Chan’s paper continues the 1920s theme but instead turns to images of the Modern Girl and the Modern Boy in interwar Japan.