Modernism,gender and consumer spectacle in 1920s’ Tokyo

A lot has been written about how, in the first decades of the twentieth century, cinema validated new perceptual structures and how these affected literary narrative. But the department store was also a vital part of the mobile spectacle of modernity. Ginza and its department stores provided experiences of urban flâneuring and visual consumption that would have important effects on gender and subjectivity. This essay focuses on three short stories published between 1922 and 1931, all set in department stores or on the Ginza: Tanizaki Jun'ichirō’s ‘Aoi hana’ (The Blue Flower, 1922), Itō Sei's ‘M hyakkaten’ (The M Department Store, 1931) and Yokomitsu Riichi's ‘Nanakai no undō’ (Seven Floors of Exercise, 1927). The stories share a radically experimental modernist form: fragmented interior monologues, montage-like juxtapositions, abrupt shifts of narrative perspective. They are also connected in their preoccupation with looking, with the drama of seeing and being seen. My analysis traces how the domain of vision becomes a place of struggle over subjectivity, how gendered visual hierarchies are undermined and at least temporarily reversed.     

Reading,Back in Vogue

正READING is a long cherished tradition in China.A well-educated family is often approvingly referred to as"a home f illed with the fragrance of books."However,after the market economy swept across the country,frenetic changes in lifestyles began to upend certain long-standing social norms.The number of books read per capita in     

Convenience stores and routine activities in a summer tourist destination

In this paper we examine the effects of alcohol outlets, with particular attention to convenience stores, located in an East Coast Tourist City. Tourist City offered an opportunity to observe the interplay between convenience stores and robberies and assaults in the presence of large volumes of summer tourists. Guided by Routine Activities Theory, we focused on the convergence of potential victims, guardianship and offenders in the vicinity of convenience stores. The first part of our paper concerns the effects of convenience stores on assaults and robberies in block groups. Using grocery stores as a comparison to convenience stores, we found that the number of convenience stores was correlated with significantly higher levels of both robberies and assaults. The second part of our investigation employed small circular buffer areas focusing on the immediate area around the convenience stores. This analysis revealed that these small areas were associated with significantly higher assaults in the summer and offseason but robberies only during the offseason. In addition, we found that variation in the number of other alcohol outlets near the convenience stores increases the number of assaults within the buffer areas.     

New Year,New Wish

正Chinese people embrace the Year of the horse As Spring Festival nears,all kinds of horsethemed products are filling the shelves of stores across the country.The reason is simple:the Year of the Horse is coming!The first day of the Year of the Horse falls on January31 this year,and ends on February 18,2015,according to the Chinese lunar calendar.     

Applying the Chinese Shichen for a Healthy Body and Mind

正Urinary Bladder Meridian The Urinary Bladder Meridian is most active during Shenshi(from 3 to 5 p.m.).During this period body fluids are at optimum level.People feel comfortable due to replenished body fluids that nourish the body.The urinary bladder stores body fluids and water,and circulates body fluids while excreting urine.     

Shanghai–Asia's City of Style

正AT Paris Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2014-2015 in March,Chinese celebrities fitted out in gorgeous gowns featuring Eastern fashion styles attracted much kudos.As China advances further onto the world stage,Shanghai is leading the fashion charge.U.S.-based Global     

Tongrentang Goes International

正THE time-honored Beijing Tongrentang brand has achieved its longstanding goal to go global.The leading Chinese pharmaceutical company has opened 95 stores in 17 countries and regions out of the mainland,as well as a research and development center in Hong Kong.