Diva Nation

Laura Miller is the Ei’ichi Shibusawa-Seigo Arai Endowed Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, where she teaches courses and does research on Japan.  Rebecca Copeland is Professor of Japanese Literature at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where her research and teaching focus on modern women writers, mystery fiction, gender, and translation studies.

“At turns witty and wise, frothy and fascinating, there’s something for anyone interested in gender studies, Japanese culture or the shadowy layers of its subculture.”

• List of Illustrations viiAcknowledgments ixPreface: Transnational and Time-Travelling Divas xiLaura HeinDiva Seductions: An Introduction to Diva Nation 1Laura Miller and Rebecca Copeland1. Kirino Natsuo Meets Izanami: Angry Divas Talking Back 13Rebecca Copeland2. Ame no Uzume Crosses Boundaries 34Tomoko Aoyama3. Searching for Charisma Queen Himiko 51Laura Miller4. Izumo no Okuni Queers the Stage 77Barbara Hartley5. From Child Star to Diva: Misora Hibari as Postwar Japan 95Christine R. Yano6. Yoko Ono: A Transgressive Diva 115Carolyn S. Stevens7. Transbeauty IKKO: A Diva’s Guide to Glamour, Virtue, and Healing 133Jan Bardsley8. Seizing the Spotlight, Staging the Self: Uchida Shungiku 151Amanda C. Seaman9. The Unmaking of a Diva: Kanehara Hitomi’s Comfortable Anonymity 168David Holloway10. Ice Princess: Asada Mao the Demure Diva 185Masafumi MondenAfterword: Diva tte nan desu ka? (What Is a Diva?) 203Rokudenashiko (Translated by Kazue Harada)Bibliography 207Contributors 229Index 233