Description
Located in a region with rising tensions and a persistent military build-up, Japan’s seeming shift towards becoming a more assertive military power has attracted much scholarly attention. However, the focus is almost universally on politicians combatting lingering anti-militarist attitudes hindering the so-called Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). This leaves the JSDF’s own agency to escape its social restraints largely unexplored. My research is addressing this, by examining strategic narratives the JSDF creates of itself, paying particular attention to the use of gendered imagery to sanitise and rehabilitate military virtues.
I conduct discourse analysis of mainly visual materials produced by or with the JSDF through various channels. Namely, I examine JSDF PR and recruitment materials, military museums, and pop-cultural products such as animation series produced in cooperation with the JSDF, supplementing those observations with interviews with Japanese officials, military- and local stakeholders. I explore how the prominent featuring women and portrayal of military values through them allows the JSDF to rehabilitate these values in Japan, overcome social resistances, and enable a more militarist foreign policy. My research thus helps to contextualise Japanese security, whilst also contributing to feminist debates on the utilisation of gender by the military and the social implications thereof.
