The creation of ideal images of women in Japan

This thesis examines the verbal and visual representations of Japanese women in\ud order to elucidate the internalized Western gaze of Japanese that is cast upon\ud images of women. Exploring Japanese nationalism and modernity after the 1850s,\ud this thesis discusses how Japan has developed its perspectives through interaction\ud with the West, and how these perspectives have been subsumed into men???s\ud representations of women. The focus on representations from male perspectives\ud will show clear illustrations of the internalized Western gaze of Japanese by virtue\ud of men???s singular characteristic that conceptualizes a woman as the Other.\ud Accordingly, it draws attention to Japanese men???s entrapment of women. Ultimately,\ud I will argue that today's ideal image of woman is, in fact, a complicit product\ud between Japan and Western Orientalism, and it eventually hinders the free\ud development of the image of Japanese woman not only domestically but also\ud internationally