Japanese shôjo: Emergence and developments of shôjo in 1910s through 1930s Japan

From the 1910s through the 1930s, education for girls in Japan changed rapidly. The education for girls centered on practical matters such as houskeeping, but girls made communities in the magazines for girls where they can develop modern self identity. Through their communication, the image of shôjo, or girls was created. In this thesis, I will analyze the magazine community from 1910s through 1930s where shôjo culture developed. By presenting the significant characteristics of the community and its teachings, I will explain how the shôjo community connotes notions of both past and future. Then, I will compare the shôjo with several different cases, including male-male relationships in modern Japan, the ‘Modern Girl’ figure, and American movie-struck girls. By comparing, I aim to highlight the correlation of shôjo identity with their age, sex, and nationality. Finally, I am going to discuss how female readers reacted to the image of shôjo created through media, made the identity their own, and passed it onto the next generation with the actual socio economic impact