Japanese Women: Through Their Iconic Image Doll in Popular Culture Since the War, Licca-chan

Abstract

This thesis achieves a comprehensive look into Licca-chan’s importance to Japanese women, and the way her existence may have changed trends in Japanese culture. Although the appearances of Licca-chan and Barbie are similar in that they both reflect their own popular culture and current events, they are also different in many ways. For example, while the 5th grade version of Licca-chan’s biography talks about her family, Barbie’s biography mentions only sisters, a brother, cousins, and boyfriend, but no adults. Lord explains, “Barbie has no children to betray her. Nor can she rot, wrinkle, overdose, or go out o f style” (7). Also, while Licca-chan has been growing up and maturing since 1967 and has had two children after she got married, Barbie is forever a teenager and has had only had one boyfriend. What factors or ideas make the different concepts of doll production for Licca-chan and Barbie in each country? What happened to the Japanese children who were influenced by Americanization since 1945 and the social constructions under the new American ideas of educational reform?