ABSTRACT
This article is concerned with the representation and experience of bodyboarding in Japan, paying attention to the board type and the geographical location, as well as sex and gender. In the masculine surfing world, bodyboarders tend to be marginalised in general, however, how they are marginalised and how they react to it is depends on each place. Women are not necessarily marginalised. Through the fieldwork, as a researcher and insider of a surfers’ community and the collection and analysis of bodyboarding representation on media, I examine the characters of bodyboarding in Japan; bodyboarding in Japan related to women, femininity, fashion, and lifestyle; feminised bodyboarding provides women with more chances to go surfing. This study expands surfing studies by paying attention to bodyboarding in Japan, as yet undocumented.
