Modern girl

Modern girls (モダンガール, modan gāru) (also shortened to moga) were Japanese women who followed Westernized fashions and lifestyles in the period after World War I.

For other uses, see Modern Girl.

Modern girls wearing "Beach Pajama" style clothing walking down Ginza in 1928

Moga were Japan's equivalent of America's flappers, Germany's neue Frauen, France's garçonnes, or China's modeng xiaojie (摩登小姐).[1] By viewing moga through a Japanese versus Western lens, the nationalist press could use the modern girl archetype to blame such failings as frivolity, sexual promiscuity, and selfishness on foreign influence.[2] The period was characterized by the emergence of working class young women with access to money and consumer goods. Using aristocratic culture as their standard of Japaneseness, the critics of the modern girl condemned her working class traits as "unnatural" for Japanese. Modern girls were depicted as living in the cities, being financially and emotionally independent, choosing their own suitors, and apathetic towards politics.[3] The woman's magazine was a novelty at this time, and the modern girl was the model consumer, someone more often found in advertisements for cosmetics and fashion than in real life. The all-female Takarazuka Revue, established in 1914,[4] and the novel Naomi (1924) are outstanding examples of modern girl culture.

Origins and etymology
A 1929 advertisement for the Shirokiya department store featuring actresses walking on the beach at Kamakura

Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's 1924 novel Naomi is credited as creating the term "modern girl". The novel was such a hit that it caused considerable outrage among elders in Japan. However, younger women embraced the story and celebrated the values displayed by several of the main characters. The character became a feature of many silent films produced in Japan at the time by directors like Yasujirō Ozu. Actresses such as Tatsuta Shizue became known for their depiction of modern girls in contrast to the more traditional values depicted by other characters in films.[5]

The modern girl archetype was further bolstered by magazines such as The Housewife's Friend (主婦の友, Shufu no tomo), founded in 1917, and Woman (女性, Josei), founded in 1922; both magazines ran articles, fashion tips, and advice on the modern girl lifestyle,[6] with Josei described as "the bible of the modern girl."[7]

Behavior

The values of modern girls emphasised complete financial and emotional independence.[8] Modern girls would work service industry-style jobs and live on their own, not dependent on their family. They smoked, watched movies, and hung out at the cafes; they were sexually liberated, choosing their own suitors. Many of them participated in casual sex.[6] In a 1928 short story by Kataoka Teppei, a young typist dates three "modern boys" at the same time.[9] She is described as decadent, hedonistic, and superficial.[9]

However, the ideals of modern girls were not considered to be politically-driven, nor did young women adopt modern girl values and behaviours as a direct form of protest. Instead, modern girls sought change via themselves, with consumerism the first and foremost consideration and driving factor. Modern girls constantly shopped at the new department stores and listened to jazz records.

Appearance
Tipsy by Kobayakawa Kiyoshi

A modern girl's appearance was completely Western. Modern girls wore pumps and short dresses, discarding the kimono and traditional hairstyles for Western-style "garçonne" looks; similar to flappers, the bob cut was immensely popular among modern girls, who also openly wore lipstick. Much of their dress and appearance resembled Western film stars such as Olive Thomas, Clara Bow, and Mary Pickford.[6] Pickford is used as a symbol of modernism in Naomi.

End of era

The modern girl was a symbol of Westernization, and a symbol of extravagance and self-centred choices. However, following military coups in the mid- to late 1930s, extreme Japanese nationalism, the Great Depression and the Second Sino-Japanese War, the popularity of Western fashion, ideals and entertainment declined sharply. The decline of the modern girl, previously driven by the use of disposable income on consumerism and shopping, was only exacerbated further by the severe rationing of World War II. Following World War II, the developments of post-war Japan prompted a return to the 19th century ideal of "good wife, wise mother".

See also

References
  1. The Modern Girl Around the World: Consumption, Modernity, and Globalization, Edited by Alys Eve Weinbaum, Lynn M. Thomas, Priti Ramamurthy, Uta G. Poiger, Modeleine Yue Dong, and Tani E. Barlow, p. 1.
  2. The Gender/Sexuality Reader: Culture, History, Political Economy, edited by Roger N. Lancaster and Micaela Di Leonardo, pp. 493-494
  3. The 'Modern' Japanese Woman, The Chronicle 5/21/2004:
  4. Makiko Yamanashi, The Takarasienne and Moga: Modernity in the Prewar Girls' Culture Archived April 13, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Joo, Woojeong (2017). Cinema of Ozu Yasujiro: Histories of the Everyday. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-74869-632-1.
  6. The Gender/Sexuality Reader: Culture, History, Political Economy, edited by Roger N. Lancaster and Micaela Di Leonardo.
  7. "Sex in the City: Chastity vs Free Love in Interwar Japan"
  8. Saunders, Rebecca (December 6, 2021). "'Modern girls': Japan's first recognizable youth culture movement". The Japan Times. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  9. The New Japanese Woman: Modernity, Media, and Women in Interwar Japan

Further reading
  • The Gender/Sexuality Reader: Culture, History, Political Economy, Vintage Books
  • The New Japanese Woman: Modernity, Media, and Women in Interwar Japan
  • Dunn, Michael, Taisho Chic: Modern girls and outrage, The Japan Times, May 10, 2007.
  • The Modern Girl Around the World: Consumption, Modernity, and Globalization Edited by Alys Eve Weinbaum, Lynn M. Thomas, Priti Ramamurthy, Uta G. Poiger, Modeleine Yue Dong, and Tani E. Barlow
  • Silverberg, Miriam (1991). "The Modern Girl as Militant." in Gail Bernstein, Recreating Japanese Women: 1600-1945. pp 239–66.
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