An An
{{Short description|Japanese weekly women's magazine}}
{{about|the magazine|the panda|An An (giant panda)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox magazine
| logo = Anan logo.svg
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| publisher = Magazine House Ltd.
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| language = Japanese
| country = Japan
| based = Tokyo
| firstdate = 20 March 1970
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| category = Women's magazine
| frequency = Weekly
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| website = [https://ananweb.jp an an]
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An An (stylized as an an) is a weekly Japanese women's lifestyle magazine. It is one of the earliest and popular women's magazines in Japan.{{cite news|title=Kindle celebrity image rights scandal hits anan magazine|url=http://www.japantrends.com/anan-magazine-kindle-nozomi-sasaki/|access-date=28 April 2016|work=Japan Trends|date=21 September 2015}}{{cite news|author=Kaori Shoji
|date=12 May 2008|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/12/style/12iht-fshoji.1.12793298.html?_r=0|title=Health-conscious Japanese women are running in style|access-date=28 April 2016}} In 2009 it was described by Japan Today as a mega-popular women's magazine.{{cite news|title='Marriage-hunting' is latest buzzword|work=Japan Today|date=1 March 2009|access-date=28 April 2016
|url=http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/marriage-hunting-latest-trend}} It is also one of the best-selling women's magazines in the country.{{cite book|editor=Youna Kim|title=Women and the Media in Asia: The Precarious Self|chapter=Women and sexual desire in the Japanese popular media|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6CEYa4bnLD0C&pg=PA119|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|pages=115–129
|year=2012|isbn=978-0-230-29272-7|author=Alexandra Hambleton|location=Basingstoke; New York}}
History and profile
The magazine was started as a sister publication of French magazine Elle and was named as Elle Japon.{{cite thesis|title=The Art of Seduction and Affect Economy: Neoliberal Class Struggle and Gender Politics in a Tokyo Host Club
|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/213407723.pdf|year=2008|location=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|page=57|degree=PhD}} The first issue of the magazine was published on 20 March 1970.{{cite book|editor1=Lise Skov|editor2=Brian Moeran|title=Women, Media, and Consumption in Japan|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLXfn3_YXqgC&pg=PA60|year=1995|location=Honolulu|isbn=978-0-8248-1776-3
|page=60|publisher=University of Hawaiʻi Press|chapter=Introduction: Hiding in the light: from Oshin to Yoshimoto Banana|author1=Lise Skov
|author2=Brian Moeran}}{{cite book|editor1=Bryan S. Turner|editor2=Zheng Yangwen|title=The Body in Asia|year=2009|page=104
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6m3WEmqbv8C&pg=PA104|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-84545-966-6|author=Junko Ishiguro
|location=New York; Oxford|chapter=Westernized body or Japanized Western body: The desirable female body in contemporary Japanese women's magazines}}{{cite journal|author=Emiko Ochiai|title=Decent Housewives and Sensual White Women|year=1997|issue=9|journal=Japan Review
|pages=151–169|jstor=25791006}} The magazine was renamed as an an in 1982,{{cite web|title=Section 2: Fashion|access-date=26 September 2016|url=http://www.ndl.go.jp/france/en/column/s2_2.html|work=National Diet Library}} which was the name of a panda bear. Its content was also changed to reflect the trends affecting Japanese women and their self-identity.
At the end of the 1990s an an was published biweekly.{{cite book|author=Aviad E. Raz|title=Riding the Black Ship: Japan and Tokyo Disneyland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Jk9mv25eloC&pg=PA76|year=1999|location=Cambridge, MA; London|publisher=Harvard University Asia Center|isbn=978-0-674-76894-9|page=76}} The magazine has its headquarters in Tokyo and is published on a weekly basis on Tuesdays.{{cite web|title=an an Magazine for Japan's Young Women|url=http://japanvisitor.blogspot.com.tr/2014/05/anan-magazine.html|work=Japan Visitor Blog|access-date=28 April 2016|date=15 May 2014}}{{cite book|title=The Far East and Australasia 2003|publisher=Europa Publications|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LclscNCTz9oC&pg=PA625|year=2002|isbn=978-1-85743-133-9|page=625|location=London; New York}} The publisher is Magazine House Ltd., a Tokyo-based publishing company.{{cite news|author=Jonti Davies|title=Women's magazine enters Japanese DS market|url=https://www.engadget.com/2007/02/14/womens-magazine-enters-japanese-ds-market/|access-date=28 April 2016
|work=engadget|date=14 February 2007}} The company, which was also the founder of the magazine, was formerly named Heibun Shuppan.{{cite journal|author=Keiko Tanaka|title=The language of Japanese men's magazines: young men who don't want to get hurt|journal=The Sociological Review|date=May 2003|volume=51|issue=1|pages=222–242|s2cid=143669392|doi=10.1111/j.1467-954X.2003.tb03613.x}} The magazine has two versions, a regular one and a cheaper one.
Like other young women's magazines in Japan an an frequently features articles on fashion, cosmetics and relationships. On the other hand, it emphasizes the visual aspect and advertisements rather than text.{{cite thesis|degree=MA
|author=Barbara Németh|url=https://theses.cz/id/w3ov0n/|title=Masculinities in Japan|year=2014|location=Palacký University Olomouc}} However, instead of focusing on gossip, an an and another women's magazine Non-no provide their readers with self-help materials.{{cite book|author=Yoko Tokuhiro|title=Marriage in Contemporary Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7ONAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA45|year=2009
|page=45|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-23032-6|location=London; New York}} In addition, since its inception an an has been instrumental in changing attitudes of young Japanese women as well as in reinforcing new and subversive identities.{{cite book|editor=Jennifer Robertson|title=A Companion to the Anthropology of Japan|year=2008|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U51zs-HHchQC&pg=PA320|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|isbn=978-1-4051-4145-1|page=320|author=Katsumi Nakao|location=Malden, MA|chapter=The imperial past of anthropology in Japan}} In 1984 it began to publish an annual sex special issue. Its April 1989 cover read "Become Beautiful through Sex" (sekkusu de kirei ni naru).
The male version of an an, Popeye magazine, was started in 1976.
In the mid-1990s the target audience of an an was stated to be women aged between 19 and 27 years old who were mostly unmarried, office workers and university students.{{cite journal|author=Reiko Hayashi|title=Hierarchical interdependence expressed through conversational styles in Japanese women's magazines|journal=Discourse & Society|year=1997|volume=8|issue=3|pages=361–362|doi=10.1177/0957926597008003005}}
an an celebrated its publication of 2,000 issues with an exhibition at the Tokyo Metro Omotesando station between 11 April and 17 April 2016.{{cite news|title=Anan Magazine Commemorates 2,000 Issues Publication with an Exhibit|work=Arama! Japan
|url=http://aramajapan.com/news/fashionnews/anan-magazine-commemorates-2000-issues-publication-with-an-exhibit/57485/|access-date=28 April 2016}}
Circulation
The circulation of an an was between 540,000 copies and 720,000 copies in the period of 1970 and 2009. In the mid-1990s the magazine sold 650,000 copies. In 2006 its circulation was 280,683 copies.{{cite web|title=Manga Anthology Circulations 2004-2006|work=ComiPress|access-date=6 February 2017|url=https://comipress.com/article/2007/12/26/3040.html|date=27 December 2007}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|http://magazineworld.jp/anan/}}
{{Japanese fashion magazines}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:An An}}
Category:1970 establishments in Japan
Category:Biweekly magazines published in Japan
Category:Lifestyle magazines published in Japan
Category:Magazines established in 1970
Category:Magazines published in Tokyo
Category:Weekly magazines published in Japan