LOHAS: Ein Label für den japanischen Buchmarkt nach der Jahrtausendwende

Abstract

In 2006 the acronym LOHAS (Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability) was brought up by the Japanese literature magazine Da Vinci. The American sociologist Paul H. Ray had introduced the term in 2000 and named its devotees “Cultural Creatives”. Especially in Japan, LOHAS stands for an eco-oriented, ego-contemplating new way of living after a depressing decade. 2006 could be considered as a boom-year for LOHAS in Japan. The article examines how the movement appears in Japan and Japanese literature around that time: Which authors could be considered as “LOHAS-writers”, what kind of texts are “LOHAS-bungaku” (“LOHAS-literature”)? Taking a closer look at the new zeitgeist since February 2006, the columns of the book-magazine Da Vinci are the basis for reflections on the phenomenon. Works of YOKOMORI Rika and an initial LOHAS-novel by INAMOTO Tadashi, entitled Rohasu shiti no yoake (“Daybreak in LOHAS-City”, 2006), are characterized as representative “LOHAS-literature”.