Japanese Woodblock Print, c.1920s, publisher unknown

SIZE IN INCHES: shikishi, 9 x 10.25 inches

COMMENTS: Modern girls (moga) were Japanese women who followed Westernized fashions and lifestyles in the period after World War I. These moga were Japan's equivalent of America's flappers, Germany's neue Frauen, France's garçonnes, or China's modeng xiaojie. By viewing her through a Japanese vs Western lens, the nationalist press could use the modern girl archetype to blame such failings as frivolity, sexual promiscuity, and selfishness on foreign influence. The period was characterized by the emergence of working class young women with access to money and consumer goods. Using aristocratic culture as their standard of Japaneseness, the critics of the modern girl condemned her working class traits as "unnatural" for Japanese. Modern girls were depicted as living in the cities, being financially and emotionally independent, choosing their own suitors, and apathetic towards politics.

Good, with flaws as shown