Boundaries of Night - Delicate Day and Bare Night (2010-2020)

Boundaries of Night - Delicate Day and Bare Night (2010-2020)

The words of anonymous female student C, "daytime girls are more sensitive, while nighttime girls are more outspoken," reflect the structural changes in Japanese society from the Heisei era to the 2022 era: since the 2010s, the emphasis in the workplace and universities has been on cooperation and the ability to read the atmosphere, forcing women to adapt while suppressing their inner feelings. In the nightlife world, on the other hand, numbers such as sales and popularity became the measure of evaluation, fostering a culture of openly expressing emotions. For Ms. C, the nighttime world, where she could "speak frankly," was a liberating space that was the opposite of oppression. While women played the role of happy women, their loneliness deepened. Women in the nighttime workforce rather rejected this fiction and regained their self-esteem by exposing their emotions. Her words illustrate the "classification of emotions" and women's survival strategies in the early 2022 era.