著者

難波 功士

出版者

関西学院大学

雑誌

関西学院大学社会学部紀要 (ISSN:04529456)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.96, pp.163-178, 307, 2004-03-25

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"Taiyo-zoku (The Sun Tribe)' was the first major youth subculture in postwar era Japan. It was named after a novel "Taiyo-no-kisetsu (The Season of the Sun)" written by Ishihara Shintaro in 1955 and made into a movie in 1956. The novel and movie depicted the lifestyle of bourgeois or middle class young people. In the same year, many Taiyo-zoku movies were released and Shintaro's younger brother, Ishihara Yujiro, became one of the most popular movie stars. Many young people were influenced by Yujiro's style. Later, in 1964, many male high teens gathered, chatted and tried to pick up girls around the Ginza Miyuki street corner in Tokyo. They were called the 'Miyuki-zoku'. Their clothes were a collage of Ivy Leaguers' fashion or European suit styles. Their fashion and behavior were boosted by "Heibon Punch", which was started as a young men's magazine, in particular for "The Dankai Generation" a. k. a. the Japanese baby boomers. None of these zokus were long-lived. But they were not peripheral phenomena, because they reflected some important points of Japanese society in those days. Firstly, they symbolized the transition of a major factor of youth subculture, from class to generation. Secondly, they suggested the change of a major role of youth subculture, from Tokyo-born young to Tokyo-goers. Finally, they reveal the change in fashion trend-setting, from trickle-down to bubble-up. The former means that fashion trends are spread from the upper class to lower class. The latter means that trends are born in the street and then the fashion industry picks them up. In spite of these changes, those two zoku were malecentered. Even among young people, a new view of gender did not appear until the late'60s.