In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

vii Acknowledgments This project was made possible with the help and support of many people and institutions. The Japan Foundation generously funded two research trips to Japan. The Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame, provided support for research and writing in both Japan and the United States as well as publication support. I conducted archival research at a number of institutions. Foremost among these was the International Manga Museum in Kyoto. I am particularly indebted to Yoshimura Kazuma, Itō Yū, and Watanabe Tomoko for their generosity and help in using the archives; thanks also to Omote Tomoyuki and Kuramochi Kayoko. I am also grateful to Takabatake Sumie and Takabatake Asako, curators of the Takabatake Kashō Taishō Roman-kan in Ehime, for their hospitality at the museum and for allowing me to access their archives. The exhibits at the Yayoi Museum/Takehisa Yumeji Museum in Tokyo gave me the opportunity to view additional material. I conducted further research at the Cartoon Library at The Ohio State University thanks to librarian Maureen Donovan. During my research trips to Japan, I was hosted twice at Waseda University in Tokyo through the kind offices of Katsukata-Inafuku Keiko. This research would not have been possible without her help and the institutional support at Waseda. I am deeply grateful to the many people who have read this work and provided feedback over the years. I thank Alan Tansman, Miryam Sas, and Linda Williams, for their patience, insight, and suggestions through successive drafts. Thanks are also due to John Treat for encouraging me to write on shōjo manga. Many other scholars have also shared their expertise in helping me to develop my ideas. Kanai Keiko, Omuro Minako, Sugiyama Naoko, Barbara Sato, Nakagawa Shigemi, Tanada Teruyoshi, and eve Zimmerman were all very generous with their time in meeting with me to discuss various sections of my project. Thanks especially to Takemiya Keiko at Seika University for graciously answering my questions about her career in shōjo manga. viii Acknowledgments I have benefited greatly from the friendship of many scholars in Japan and in the United States. In particular, I want to thank Steve Ridgely, Melek Ortabasi, Stephanie DeBoer, Mara Patessio, Tracey Gannon, Takahashi Mizuki, Nakagaki Kotaro, Sugawa-Shimada Akiko, Xavier Bensky, Pat Noonan, Kukhee Choo, Heather Warren-Crow, Sarah Teasley, Ry Beville, and Jennifer Prough for moral support and academic expertise. Yamanashi Makiko, above all, was a kind and generous host, a font of information and encouragement, and an enthusiastic guide to shōjo bunka and the traces of “Taishō roman” in contemporary Tokyo. Permission to reproduce the images in this book was generously provided by Hagio Moto, Himawariya, Hukiya Tatsuo, Ikeda Riyoko Production, Jitsugyō no Nihonsha, Kōdansha, Maki Miyako, Shōgakukan, Takahashi Makoto, Tezuka Productions, and the Yayoi Museum. I am particularly grateful to Uchida Shizue at the Yayoi Museum for her help in obtaining permissions. My editor at the University of Hawai‘i Press, Patricia Crosby, provided invaluable support through all stages of publication. Thanks as well to the two anonymous readers for their comments and advice. My husband, Jason Banta, has been a steady source of support, encouragement , and love throughout the writing process. He also offered feedback and helped with proofreading. I owe tremendous thanks to him for all the help he has given me. Finally, I wish to thank my parents for their love and understanding. To my father, for his patience and enthusiasm, and to my mother, my first and best writing teacher, I am forever grateful. This work is dedicated to them. ...

Share