KU researcher AkikoTakeyama has been studying "the host" in Japanese society. The host is the male equivalent of the geisha, and became part of the Japanese economy with the decline of the seniority system and a shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. Changing gender roles, and expectations that Japanese women be "superwomen," demand that some tasks be outsourced; romance, an imported western concept according to Takeyama, is among them.
Guest:
- Akiko Takeyama, associate professor of gender studies and anthropology, The University of Kansas
