Description
How do international relations incidents shape national identity? In Japan, a prominent case study to answer that question is found in scholarly discussions about how the “Abduction Issue”, a series of North Korean abductions of Japanese citizens, has facilitated a rightward shift in politics and attitudes. However, the role of gender in this shift remains unheeded. My research addresses this by examining the Abduction Issue through a feminist lens, arguing that gender is at the heart of both the problem stated and the solution implied in Abduction Issue discourse.
I base this argument on two case studies of influential media concerning the Abduction Issue. The first case study are two posters which were part of a nationwide campaign, depicting a female victim and a male actor respectively. The second case study is former Prime Minister Abe Shinzō’s bestselling book “Towards a Beautiful Country” and the references to the Abduction Issue therein. Paying particular attention to the use of masculinities and femininities in these cases, my research supports feminists claims about the interdependence of masculinity and national identity, concretely demonstrating how through an explicitly gendered frame an international relations incident can be mobilised to shape both national identity and hegemonic masculinity.
