Sarah Frederick: "Travels of Girls' Fiction Writer Yoshiya Nobuko: The Cosmopolitan Shift in Wartime Japan

Travels of Girls' Fiction Writer Yoshiya Nobuko: The Cosmopolitan Shtjt in Wartime JapanSarah Frederick, Assistant Professor of JapaneseBoston UniversityYoshiya Nobuko (1896-1973) was one of 20th-Century Japan's most popular writers, with her girls' fiction, romance fiction, historical novels, and haiku read avidly. Her public persona included her success as a reader contributor to girls' magazine writing contests who then made it big as a professional writer. Also well-known was her relationship with her woman partner Monma Chiyo, who she later adopted in order to form a legal family unit. In the 1920s she wrote of her travels to France and America, while moving into the 1930s and early 40s she traveled to Asia as a reporter for the magazine Housewife's Friend. I will talk about her writings during that time which help us think about the culture of women and issues of sexuality during Japan's imperialist expansion in Asia.