Completion ReportJapanese Women’s Dojinshi Culture and its Transcultural Impact on Women’s Popular Culture inSoutheast Asia
Kristine Michelle L. Santos
Full Time Instructor
History Department
Ateneo de Manila University
The research I conducted and funded by the Sumitomo Foundation from April 2018 until April 2019 onJapanese Women’s Dōjinshi Culture and its Transcultural Impact on Women’s Popular Culture in Southeast Asia
has been pivotal in laying the foundation on my research that explores the commercialization of informal affective
fan economies in the region. Due to my Sumitomo funding, which allowed me to travel to various comic and fanevents in Manila (Komiket [October 2018 & February 2019] Komikon [April 2018, November 2019, April 2019]),
Singapore (Doujima [May 2018]), Indonesia (ComiFuro [August 2018]), Japan (October & December 2018), andMalaysia (ComicFesta [December 2018], I was able to notice a remarkable shift in production of affective goods inthese fan spaces. While Japan continues to focus on the production of fan literature (dōjinshi) which ranges fromillustration books (irasutohon), novels (shōsetsu), and mostly comics, women’s fan literature outside of Japan areprimarily illustration books, a handful of fan comics and fan novels. To add to this, most fans in Southeast Asia
produce fan merchandise (dōjin sakuhin) than fan literature.
The difference in the production of goods entails the following three points: first, the production of fanliterature, specifically fan comics, requires the support and development of fans’ comic literacies; second, there must
be printers and publishers that provide fans spaces to produce fan literature at a manageable cost; and third, in theabsence of the first two, new media technologies offer opportunities for more fan produced works however products
shift away from cohesive narratives and focuses towards the production of various character goods. Based on theevents I have attended in Southeast Asia, the third point proves to be the direction of affective fan products in theregion. The range of fan merchandise produced in Southeast Asia is varied with prices that are quite accessible toyoung fans. That said, with the accessibility of Chinese manufacturers that can produce high-quality fan goods,
ranging from acrylic stands to enamel pins, fan-produced merchandise can now compete with commerciallyproduced merchandise.
Despite the diversification of fan merchandise in the region, the foundations of these fan products are stillgrounded on the structure of Japan’s narrative database which fans in Southeast Asia informally learn by virtue ofaffectively consuming Japanese popular media and engaging with its online fanbase. Concepts such as boys love,moe, kawaii, tsundere, among many other narrative and visual tropes associated with manga and anime culture arestill reflected, and to a certain extent, experimented by these fans in Southeast Asia. It is important to note that due
to conservatism in the region, non-normative fan concepts such as boys love are not as erotic compared to Japaneseworks. Female fans of boys love negotiate their works with their spaces, producing works that impact and affectfellow fans but not elicit attention from more conservative fans. These preliminary results highlight a growing shift
in fan expression while also showcasing the transforming fan economy which merits further research.

Publication of the Results of Research Project:
Verbal Presentation (Date, Venue, Name of Conference, Title of Presentation, Presenter, etc.)
5 July 2018, ASAA 2018, University of Sydney, Localising Transcultural Fan Literacies: The
Transnationalisation of Yuri on Ice as Seen in #yoizineph, Kristine Michelle L. Santos)
JSA-Asean (6 December 2018, JSA Asean Conference, Le Meridien Hotel, Japanese women's dōjinshi
culture and its transcultural impact on Southeast Asian young women's culture, Kristine Michelle L. Santos )3 August 2019, Siliman University, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Conference 2019, Fujoshi Bait: The
Transcultural Flows of Japanese Women's Rotten Discourse in Southeast Asian Youth Culture, Kristine
Michelle L. Santos)
Thesis (Name of Journal and its Date, Title and Author of Thesis, etc.)
I intend to submit my research in the following journals in 2019 based on the data that I have gathered from thisSumitomo grants
Inter-asia Cultural Studies Journal, Fujoshi Bait: The Transcultural Flows of Japanese Women's Rotten
Discourse in Southeast Asian Youth Culture, 2019, Kristine Michelle L. Santos)
Social Transformations, Affective Economies and the Capitalization of the Fan Economy in the Philippines,
2019, Kristine Michelle L. Santos)
Book (Publisher and Date of the Book, Title and Author of the Book, etc.)
This research contributes to the foundation for a book I am developing on transcultural affects in Southeast Asia
youth culture. The data needs further research hence it is still in development and would be developed into abook by 2022.