Tango in Japan : Cosmopolitanism beyond the West / Yuiko Asaba.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Asaba, Yuiko, Author.

Series:

Music and Performing Arts of Asia and the Pacific

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (248 p.) : 12 b&w illustrations

Place of Publication:

Honolulu : University of Hawaii Press, [2025]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Why do Japanese people love tango? Starting with this question, which the author frequently received while working as a tango violinist in Argentina, Tango in Japan reveals histories and ethnographies of tango in Japan dating back to its first introduction in the 1910s to the present day. While initially brought to Yokohama by North American tango dancers in 1914, tango’s immediate popularity in Japan quickly compelled many Japanese performers and writers to travel to Argentina in search of tango’s “origin” beginning in the 1920s. Many Japanese musicians, dancers, aficionados, and the wider public have, since then, approached tango as a new vehicle of expression, entertainment, and academic pursuit. The sounds of tango provided comfort and a sense of hope to many during the most turbulent years of the twentieth century, carving out distinctive characteristics of contemporary Japanese tango culture. Bypassing the West-East axis of understanding cultural transmission, Tango in Japan uncovers the processes of attraction, rejection, and self-transformation, illuminating the tension of cosmopolitan endeavors away from the Euro-American West.Based on Yuiko Asaba’s field and archival work undertaken in both Japanese and Spanish languages in Japan and Argentina across two decades, and drawing on her own background as a tango violinist who performed as a member of tango orchestras in both countries, the discussions move between historical and ethnographic narratives, offering a comprehensive account of tango culture as it emerged in the history of a Japan-Argentina connection. Serving as the first in-depth work on the Japan-Argentina musical relationship, Tango in Japan tells a story that reflects the modern transformations of Japan and Argentina, and the global historical backdrops surrounding both countries.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Preface: “Why Tango in Japan?”

Introduction: Cosmopolitan Otherness, Tango, and the Japan-Argentina Connection

CHAPTER 1 Authenticating Tango in Japan

CHAPTER 2 Regulating and Fashioning the Body through Tango

CHAPTER 3 Knowledge, Patronage, and Japanese Tango Fandom

CHAPTER 4 Performing Emotion and the Middle Culture in Post–World War II Japan

CHAPTER 5 The Institutionalization of Tango in Japan

Conclusion: Tango and Cosmopolitanism in Japan

Glossary

Notes

Bibliography

Index

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Feb 2025)

ISBN:

9798880700165

9798880700158

OCLC:

1454579660