ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a reading of the embodied and embodying practices of the self of a group of Japanese men who have persistently tried to produce a somatic self that revolves around increasing muscle tissue and reducing body fat. It highlights, however, how the men are able to produce interpersonal and intrapsychic scripts to subvert structural limitations that prevent the realisation of a muscular somatic self. Official strategies and media reports concerning the aggravation of diseases related to obesity, and overweight have chiefly contributed to the social visibility of the somatic self of middle-aged men in contemporary Japan. The chapter explores the embodied and embodying practices of the self of a group of Japanese men fully engaged in producing a muscular subjectivity through specific practices that revolved around diets and physical exercise routines. It concludes by exploring the emotions embedded in the embodying and embodied practices of the Japanese men.
