ABSTRACT
In looking at the social and cultural construction of a new set of possibilities for women to act, women’s magazines served as a force in moulding new identities for Japanese women in the 1920s. Because of the efforts made to increase circulation, many young women not in the habit of reading became subscribers and accessed information about modern lifestyles unlike their own. Interwar women’s magazines were censured for their conservatism and frivolity, but almost no one credited them with effecting positive changes which thrust average women into wider society. Moreover, the actions of women themselves helped shape these media formulations.
