ABSTRACT
This chapter explores undesirable performance of femininity as ideological and affective labor, paying particular attention to how the performances of female comedians make visible, humorously challenge, and/or reinforce the social stigma of being an unmarried, childless, or childfree woman in Japan. It reveals the affective politics of female desire embedded in heterosexist and patriarchal Japanese society, through the analysis of selected TV episodes and other media sources. The chapter explains the two theoretical perspectives such as interpassivity and affective labor in analyzing the affective politics of humor and comedy in the context of population decline. Japanese comedy has historically been dominated by male comedians, making it difficult for female performers to break into the industry. The chapter proposes an interpassive reading of Mitsuura and Okubo's comedic presence and performance that illuminates the underlying tension behind the shifting gender relations in the context of population decline and hyper-aging society in Japan.
