著者

カキン オクサナ

出版者

お茶の水女子大学大学院人間文化創成科学研究科

雑誌

人間文化創成科学論叢

巻号頁・発行日

no.21, pp.223-230, 2019-03-31

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Admiring of" immaturity" is a unique aspect of fan culture that can be observed in Japan. Since long ago Japanese people found enjoyment in observing the process of learning, growing, and maturing by performers of traditional Japanese arts. Currently, a similar process can be observed in contemporary Japanese idols fan culture, with the training system of Jonny's Jr. as one of the examples. However, very little work has been undertaken on this phenomenon.The purpose of this paper is to examine the cultural aspect of idols training observed in the behavior of core fans of Japanese idols. Semi-structured interview survey was conducted among 13 informants in the period from May to September 2017. The informants were recruited among female Japanese core fans of young male idols under talent agency Johnny & Associates.The survey uncovered several findings. First, fans are active and creative participants of the idol training who see idols "immaturity" as an object to admire and polish. Second, I found that the process has several stages: measuring, evaluating, approving, polishing and admiring. Finally, the process ends with fans moving on to the next young and" immature" idols as their previous idols grew mature.