An_An

<i>An An</i>

An An

Japanese weekly women's magazine

This article is about the magazine. For the panda, see An An (giant panda).

An An (stylized as an an) is a weekly Japanese women's lifestyle magazine. It is one of the earliest and popular women's magazines in Japan.[1][2] In 2009 it was described by Japan Today as a mega-popular women's magazine.[3] It is also one of the best-selling women's magazines in the country.[4]

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History and profile

The magazine was started as a sister publication of French magazine Elle and was named as Elle Japon.[4][5] The first issue of the magazine was published on 20 March 1970.[6][7][8] The magazine was renamed as an an in 1982,[9] which was the name of a panda bear.[5] Its content was also changed to reflect the trends affecting Japanese women and their self-identity.[5]

At the end of the 1990s an an was published biweekly.[10] The magazine has its headquarters in Tokyo and is published on a weekly basis on Tuesdays.[11][12] The publisher is Magazine House Ltd., a Tokyo based publishing company.[11][13] The company, which was also the founder of the magazine, was formerly named Heibun Shuppan.[14] The magazine has two versions, a regular one and a cheaper one.[1]

Like other young women's magazines in Japan an an frequently features articles on fashion, cosmetics and relationships.[7] On the other hand, it emphasizes the visual aspect and advertisements rather than text.[15] However, instead of focusing on gossip, an an and another women's magazine Non-no provide their readers with self-help materials.[16] In addition, since its inception an an has been instrumental in changing attitudes of young Japanese women as well as in reinforcing new and subversive identities.[17] In 1984 it began to publish an annual sex special issue.[4] Its April 1989 cover read "Become Beautiful through Sex" (sekkusu de kirei ni naru).[4]

The male version of an an, Popeye magazine, was started in 1976.[15]

In the mid-1990s the target audience of an an was stated to be women aged between 19 and 27 years old who were mostly unmarried, office workers and university students.[18]

an an celebrated its publication of 2,000 issues with an exhibition at the Tokyo Metro Omotesando station between 11 April and 17 April 2016.[19]

Circulation

The circulation of an an was between 540,000 copies and 720,000 copies in the period of 1970 and 2009.[7] In the mid 1990s the magazine sold 650,000 copies.[10] In 2006 its circulation was 280,683 copies.[20]

References

  1. [1]
    "Kindle celebrity image rights scandal hits anan magazine". Japan Trends. 21 September 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  2. [2]
    Kaori Shoji (12 May 2008). "Health-conscious Japanese women are running in style". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  3. [3]
    "'Marriage-hunting' is latest buzzword". Japan Today. 1 March 2009. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  4. [4]
    Alexandra Hambleton (2012). "Women and sexual desire in the Japanese popular media". In Youna Kim (ed.). Women and the Media in Asia: The Precarious Self. Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 115–129. ISBN 978-0-230-29272-7.
  5. [5]
    The Art of Seduction and Affect Economy: Neoliberal Class Struggle and Gender Politics in a Tokyo Host Club (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 2008. p. 57.
  6. [6]
    Lise Skov; Brian Moeran (1995). "Introduction: Hiding in the light: from Oshin to Yoshimoto Banana". In Lise Skov; Brian Moeran (eds.). Women, Media, and Consumption in Japan. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-8248-1776-3.
  7. [7]
    Junko Ishiguro (2009). "Westernized body or Japanized Western body: The desirable female body in contemporary Japanese women's magazines". In Bryan S. Turner; Zheng Yangwen (eds.). The Body in Asia. New York; Oxford: Berghahn Books. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-84545-966-6.
  8. [8]
    Emiko Ochiai (1997). "Decent Housewives and Sensual White Women". Japan Review (9): 151–169. JSTOR 25791006.
  9. [9]
    "Section 2: Fashion". National Diet Library. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  10. [10]
    Aviad E. Raz (1999). Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Asia Center. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-674-76894-9.
  11. [11]
    "an an Magazine for Japan's Young Women". Japan Visitor Blog. 15 May 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  12. [12]
    The Far East and Australasia 2003. London; New York: Europa Publications. 2002. p. 625. ISBN 978-1-85743-133-9.
  13. [13]
    Jonti Davies (14 February 2007). "Women's magazine enters Japanese DS market". engadget. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  14. [14]
    Keiko Tanaka (May 2003). "The language of Japanese men's magazines: young men who don't want to get hurt". The Sociological Review. 51 (1): 222–242. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.2003.tb03613.x. S2CID 143669392.
  15. [15]
    Barbara Németh (2014). Masculinities in Japan (MA thesis). Palacký University Olomouc.
  16. [16]
    Yoko Tokuhiro (2009). Marriage in Contemporary Japan. London; New York: Routledge. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-135-23032-6.
  17. [17]
    Katsumi Nakao (2008). "The imperial past of anthropology in Japan". In Jennifer Robertson (ed.). A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. p. 320. ISBN 978-1-4051-4145-1.
  18. [18]
    Reiko Hayashi (1997). "Hierarchical interdependence expressed through conversational styles in Japanese women's magazines". Discourse & Society. 8 (3): 361–362. doi:10.1177/0957926597008003005.
  19. [19]
    "Anan Magazine Commemorates 2,000 Issues Publication with an Exhibit". Arama! Japan. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  20. [20]
    "Manga Anthology Circulations 2004-2006". ComiPress. 27 December 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
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