Cybermasculinities: masculinities and the Internet in Japan ROMIT DASGUP TA

In September 1999, I attended a two-day conference in the city of Kyoto. In addition to myself there were around 300 delegates, two-thirds of whom were male. This in itself was nothing unusual – conferences and conventions tend to be maledominated affairs anyway, particularly in Japan. However, the delegates attending this conference were part of an emerging “community” of individuals who had gathered to discuss, problematize, and interrogate notions of “masculinity” and being male. The official title given to this gathering was the “Kyoto Men’s Festival” (or, in Japanese Kyôto Menzu Fesuta), and delegates came from all over Japan.