the art of seduction and affect economy

251 Pages·2008·1.75 MB·English

by  Akiko Takeyama

THE ART OF SEDUCTION AND AFFECT ECONOMY:
NEOLIBERAL CLASS STRUGGLE AND GENDER POLITICS
IN A TOKYO HOST CLUB

BY

AKIKO TAKEYAMA

B.A., University of Oregon, 1999
M.A., University of Oregon, 2001

DISSERTATION

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology
in the Graduate College of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008

Urbana, Illinois

Doctoral Committee:
Associate Professor Karen Kelsky, Chair
Professor Nancy Abelmann
Associate Professor Martin F Manalansan IV
Associate Professor Alejandro Lugo
Associate Professor Brenda Farnell
ABSTRACT

My dissertation investigates the underground world of Japan’s increasingly
popular host club scene, where mostly young, working-class men “sell” romance, love,
and sometimes sex to indulge their female clients’ fantasy, often for exorbitant sums of
money. I explore this commercialization of feelings, emotions, and romantic relationships
— what I call ‘affect economy’— in the context of Japan’s recent socioeconomic
restructuring, a reaction to globalization that is reshaping the nation’s labor and
commodity forms. Based on ethnographic fieldwork I conducted in Tokyo between 2003
and 2005, I argue that selfhood, lifestyles, and social relationships have become
commodifiable at the intersection of Japan’s postindustrial consumer culture and
neoliberal globalization. My dissertation aims to provide a fine-grained ethnographic
portrait of how hosts and their clients mutually seduce one another to foster a
commodified form of romance whereby both sides seek alternative lives and cultivate
their desirable selves —potentially successful entrepreneurial men and sexually attractive
women—while it simultaneously underscores gender subordination, social inequality,
and the exploitative nature of the affect economy in Japan. I illuminate how mutual
seduction between hosts and their clients intertwines with Japan’s neoliberal
policymaking and governance that similarly capitalizes on and mobilizes individual
hopes, dreams, and self-motivations to satisfy both their own and national interests. In
turn, I theorize seduction as a form of power that entails suggestive speech and bodily
acts to entice the other person(s) into acting for both the seducer’s and the seducee(s)’
ends. Seduction is, I argue, neither a mere sexual temptation nor a sinful deception, but a
ubiquitous yet unstructured tactic that institutions and individuals alike employ to
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manipulate the other and shape power dynamics. The art of seduction is, thus, a form of
social governance-at-a-distance and also a pivot of speculative accumulation of capital.

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For My Family
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This dissertation project would not have been possible without the support of
many people, academic programs, and grant agents. My special thanks go to my adviser,
Karen Kelsky, who strongly believes in students’ creativity and has allowed me to pursue
my academic interests. Her tireless encouragement, practical advice, critical thinking, and
professionalization tips are indispensable, and without her guidance over the last ten
years, I couldn’t have come very far. I also thank my committee members, Nancy
Abelmann, Martin Manalansan, Alejandro Lugo, and Brenda Farnell. Nancy kindly
invited me to her “Nancy’s advisee meetings” and established a friendly environment
where personal and intellectual bonding was nurtured. Her keen ethnographic eyes also
helped me substantiate my vague ideas. Martin guided my project to the study of affect in
relation to gender, sexuality, and the global economy, and also kept challenging me to
think more critically. Both Nancy and Martin’s responsive consideration were invaluable
to the success of my project. Alejandro and Brenda helped expand my scope further to
gender matters in masculinity studies and body movements as meaning making
processes.
I also want to extend my appreciation to the host club owners, who allowed me to
conduct my fieldwork, as well as the hosts and female clients who willingly talked to me
and/or invited me to observe their activities outside the clubs. In Japan, Prof. Ueno
Chizuko generously agreed to serve as a supervisor and accepted me as a special research
fellow at the School of Humanities and Sociologies, University of Tokyo, between 2004
and 2005. I was very lucky to attend her seminars, including the two-night, three-day
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“Ueno seminar trip.” Her witty comments and questions, which unceasingly ask, “So
what?,” pushed me to better equip myself with empirical data and a sound theoretical
framework.
Many programs at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have
been generous in their support of my doctoral research and writing. I received a George
L. Beslow Graduate Fellowship for dissertation writing, a Graduate Student Summer
Research Assistance Award, and numerous conference travel grants and teaching
fellowships through the Department of Anthropology. The UIUC’s Graduate School,
Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, Unit of Criticism and Interpretive Theory, and
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures also provided financial support that
enabled me to teach, present my research papers at academic conferences, and complete
my dissertation in a timely manner.
For research support, I am grateful to many organizations. My preliminary
research in 2002 was supported by the Freeman Student Fellowship for Personalized
Learning in Asia. A National Science Foundation Ethnographic Research Graining Grant
helped me acquire first-hand research training. The Japan Foundation Doctoral
Fellowship enabled my twelve-month ethnographic study in Tokyo, Japan, between 2004
and 2005. A Bestor Prize for Best Graduate Paper in the Society for East Asian
Anthropology of the American Anthropological Association contributed funds and
encouragement to my thesis project. A Dissertation Workshop Fellowship on Market and
Modernities in Asia in the Asian Institute at the University of Toronto also provided me
with an opportunity to interact with other dissertation writers and develop intellectual
networking.
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Finally, thanks to Nancy’s advisees, numerous friends, and my family, who
endured this long process with me always offering support, humor, and love. They taught
me the importance of belief, courage, and hope. In particular, my best friend, rival, and
brother, Masato, has demonstrated that miracles can happen when you don’t give up and
work hard. My parents, as well as grandmother, none of whom have a post-secondary
educational background, have taught me wisdom in life and continue to believe in and
support me. Last but not least, my partner and husband, Will, has been always there for
me to assist in numerous ways. He constantly provided his proofreading, editing, and
journalistic insights into my project. His laid-back attitude, forgiving personality, and
sense of humor made my graduate life so much easier and helped me maintain my
physical and mental health.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1

Literature Review................................................................................................9
Of Japan’s Host Club.........................................................................................29
Sites, Methodology, and Self-Reflection............................................................36
Organization of Dissertation..............................................................................42

CHAPTER 2: THE TRIUMPH OF ROMANCE: AFFECTIVE SELF AND THE ART
OF SEDUCTION..........................................................................................................46

“Genuine” Self: Cute Culture in the 1970s.........................................................55
Fragmented Self: Sign Economy in the 1980s....................................................62
“Natural” Selfness: Neoliberal Economy in the 1990s........................................69
Affective Self in the New Millennium................................................................79
Chapter Conclusion............................................................................................90

CHAPTER 3: COMMODIFIED ROMANCE IN A TOKYO HOST CLUB..................93

Kabuki-chō in the Sign of Differences...............................................................98
Walking Alone in the Red Light District..........................................................103
Affective Labor and Intimacy in Club Fantasy.................................................107
Intensified Intimacy in the After Hour Activity................................................118
Various “Falling For” Hosts.............................................................................124
Chapter Conclusion..........................................................................................129

CHAPTER 4: NEOLIBERAL CLASS STRUGGLE: SELF-NARRATED
ENTREPRENEUR HOSTS VIA COMMODIFYING THE SELF...............................133

The Opportunity Myth.....................................................................................137
Topography of Self-Motivation........................................................................144
Self-Narrated Entrepreneurs.............................................................................150
Speculative Accumulation of Capital...............................................................158
The Art of Seduction........................................................................................166
Chapter Conclusion..........................................................................................176

CHAPTER 5: THE GENDER POLITICS OF PASSIVITY: TRANSGRESSING
NORMS AND SELF-FASHIONING ‘DESIRABLE’ WOMEN.................................180

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Romance as an All-Purpose Means..................................................................186
Pursuit of the “Super Woman”.........................................................................195
The Gendered Logic of Romantic Love...........................................................203
Chapter Conclusion..........................................................................................211

CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION.....................................................................................214

REFERENCES............................................................................................................221

AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY.........................................................................................242

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This is an ethnographic study about affect —feelings, emotions, desires, and
intimacy— and its commodification in Japan. Affect, which is rooted in the body and
scripted through social interaction, is a vehicle for self-expression and interpersonal
communication. It has increasingly become commercialized as a means of evoking
excitement, pleasure, and a sense of ‘freedom’ in postindustrial consumer culture, and
has accelerated in the wake of Japan’s recent neoliberal restructuring and market
deregulation. As part of my study, I investigate Japan’s increasingly popular host club
scene, where working class men “sell” romance, love, and sex to their female clients, for
often exorbitant sums of money. In the club, hosts and their clients mutually seduce one
another—fostering a commodified form of romance—whereby both sides seek
alternative lives and perform and cultivate their desirable selves. I argue that the
commodification of romance manifests and magnifies what I call an ‘affect economy’ in
Japan’s socio-historical conjuncture of postindustrial consumer culture and neoliberal
globalization.
Affect economy is the term I use to refer to the so-called service industry and by
extension postindustrial socioeconomy that capitalizes on affect in order to entice
individuals into acting for both their own and various institutional or collective ends. It is
not, however, merely capitalist manipulation of the mass or state governance of
individual affect. Rather, it is a form of cultural politics within which individuals, as well
as social institutions, strategize their speech and bodily acts and stir another’s emotions,
desires, and psychology for advantageous trade in sexual, romantic, business, political,
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