The Construction of “Eating Disorders” in Modern Japan

The Changes in the Semantic Understanding of Self-Starvation

Abstract

In Japan, self-starvation（SS）has only recently begun to be recognized as an eating disorder. Although SS has existed for a long time, it was not initially understood as an eating disorder. This paper describes the transition of the semantic understanding of SS in Japan from a historical point of view.

This paperʼs analysis focuses on articles published from 1872 to 2018. A keyword search for six terms related to SS was conducted and a total of 13,577 articles were collated. The changes in the meanings of SS based on the data collected will be further summarized through text mining and content analysis.

In the late nineteenth century, SS was understood in various contexts such as religious fasting, hunger strikes for political purposes, and suicide to escape from society. In the middle of the 20th century, SS was begun to see as a mental illness under various medical names. From the 1980s onwards, medical professionals, educators, and feminist counselors treated it as a mental problem and it gradually became considered as anorexia nervosa. During this time, they described it as a mental problem and tried to make sense of it in relation to social problems. SS was regarded as a problem, and the cooperation of public and non-public organizations, including medical care, was highly encouraged. Entering the twenty-first century, SS has become more prevalent across Japan. Entering the twenty-first century, SS has become more prevalent across Japan. Some psychiatrists and social workers have begun understanding it as an addiction, habitual behavioral problem. In recent years, people suffering from eating disorders have started to receive social support from local communities in Japan. This new trend is can be related to the new semantic understanding of SS as a habitual behavioral problem rather than as a mental problem.