ABSTRACT
An NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) survey in September 2018 suggested that 79 per cent of respondents thought that the Heisei period would be best remembered as an era of sustained sweetness (amai jidai). As suggested by the title, ‘From tiramisù to #MeToo’, this chapter counters that rosy characterization and explores the bitter underside of sweetness by interrogating the politics of sex, gender, and sexuality. Shōjo (girl) culture, ‘genderless’ males, amateur prostitution, charismatic housewives, the hegemonic koseki (household registration) system, and the tension between heterosexism and same-sex marriage are among the intersectional topics explored.
