The Soulmate in the Imperial Palace :　the Imperial Family and Spiritual Culture in SHINSAN Nameko’s Works

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  • ソウルメイトは二重橋の向こうに : 辛酸なめ子における皇室とスピリチュアリティ
  • ソウルメイト ワ ニジュウバシ ノ ムコウニ : シンサンナメ コ ニ オケル コウシツ ト スピリチュアリティ

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The Imperial Household and the New Spirituality Culture in Shinsan Nameko In this essay, I examine a way of critical thinking on the Symbolic Emperor System and the new spirituality culture through reading works by Shinsan Nameko. Today, the Emperor appears to be the innocuous and nonpolitical "symbol" of Japanese nation. And the new spirituality culture provides some sense of "healing" to the people in the neo-liberal society. However, these "symbol" and "recreation" often reveal their violent and repressive phase in the seemingly harmless atmosphere, which the adherernts creats around them. Although there are some criticisms of such violence and repression, the modern critical language - such as that of critique of ideology -- has lost its efficacy against the Emperor System and the new spirituality culture in today's postmodern context. In this situation, Shinsan Nameko's language has a potential to become a new and significant tool of criticism. In her works, Nameko takes the Imperial Household and the new spirituality culture as themes to draw up the humorous world by caricaturing them. There are two points which characterize her works. First, she finds herself simultaneouslly an insider and outsider of the fan communities of the Imperial Household and the new spirituality culture. Second, she incorporates various genres of contemporary culture -- the Imperial Household, new spirituality culture, girl's school culture and gossips of TV stars -- , through which her works make the violence and repression of the Emeror System and the new spirituality culture inoperative. As the modern language of criticism from outside does not seem to be effective, her works present the possibility of a new language of criticism, which cracks what the Emperor System and the new spirituality culture enclose.

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  • 人文學報

    人文學報 107 103-129, 2015-09-30

    THE INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN HUMANITIES, KYOTO UNIVERSITY

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