Weaving Words

Japanese Dress from a Victorian Point of View

‘The great question before the Japanese woman at present is the question of dress,’ wrote an anonymous contributor to the Pall Mall Gazette in 1888. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century, newly opened Japan sought to westernize not only its political system but also its everyday way of life. Dress was one of the central concerns in this process of modernization. Yet Western views on the westernization of Japanese clothing were often rather pessimistic. In particular, the article cited in this episode emphasised that traditional Japanese attire was far more suitable for Japanese women than the adoption of foreign fashions. The broader discussion of the Victorian reception of Japanese dress is examined in Yamaguchi’s book, Sartorial Japonisme and the Experience of Kimonos in Britain, 1868–1914 (Routledge, 2023).

Jews in Suits: Men's Dress in Vienna, 1890-1938

In modern Vienna, the Jewish men were the important participants in the cultural development and some of them were dressed themselves in ‘modern’ tailored suits. At the turn of the century, wearing suits became fashionable among the urban Jewish men and it also developed new models of Jewish identities beyond the externally prescribed notion of ‘the Jew’. Arisa is joined by Jonathan C. Kaplan-Wajselbaum, the author of an important academic book which is so rich in sources, Jews in Suits: Men's Dress in Vienna, 1890-1938 (2023) to talk about the dress culture of Jewish men in Vienna. Get the copy of the book now on Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/jews-in-suits-9781350244207/ You can get 35% discount with a code: GLRTW2AU (Australia/New Zealand) GLRTW2US(USA) GLRTW2CA(Canada) GLRTW2UK(UK/Rest of World)

The Splendour of Modernity: Japanese Arts of the Meiji Era

The Meiji era (1868-1912) was a major turning point in Japanese history, moving from their long-lasted samurai feudal society to the new paradigm of a modern nation-state that was greatly influenced by Western scientific, technological and political ideas. Thus, Meiji Japan is often missunderstood as super-westernized, thus losing its traditional aesthetics in art and culture. Recently published The Splendour of Modernity: Japanese Arts of the Meiji Era (2024) challenges this common misconception by examining more than 200 artworks of the period between 1865 and 1915. Arisa is joined by the author of The Splendour of Modernity, Rosina Buckland and talks about Japanese art during this transformative period. Buy it now from Reaktion Books: https://reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/the-splendour-of-modernity

To Be A Girl: A Transgender Girl's Fight to Survive as Herself in Victorian England

To Be A Girl (2021) is a sensational novel of a transgender girl’s fight to survive as herself in Victorian England. Arisa is joined by the author of To Be A Girl, Alexandra Hamer. Alex explains why this breathtaking story was written and how she puts her own experiences into words. Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Be-Girl-transgender-breathtaking-Victorian-ebook/dp/B09BP64F1W

"Effeminate" Characters in Japanese Postwar Films

In Japan, since 1945, a lot of films were created in major studios and established a new pattern of Japanese cinema. Very interestingly, there were numbers of ‘effeminate characters’ that appeared in postwar films, showing unique expressions of Japanese ideas of sex and gender. Dr Kenta Kato, a Senior Assistant Professor at the School of Commerce, Meiji University, will discuss the issues not only around sexuality and gender identity, but also race, politics and nationalism of post-war Japan under the American occupation.