Abstract
In this paper, we examine the role of literary taste among youth in Japan.
Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of taste assumes that individuals are ranked according
to their taste from the most refined to the most vulgar. Reading novels appears
to be a perfect example of Bourdieu’s theory, as reading is taught directly in
school. However, Bourdieu’s theory seems to be at odds with the Japanese situation,
where influential literary critics have witnessed the ‘downfall’ of onceesteemed
literature that, as they saw it, has now ceased to be relevant to society
and become merely entertainment.
Even when the popularity of“ light novels” and“ cell phone novels” caused
controversy in the 2000s regarding their quality due to the former’s anime/
manga-like characters and the latter’s unconventional style of writing and
excessively sentimental plots, scholars and journalists countered the disparaging
discourse on these supposedly “lowbrow” novels. Although Bourdieu
assumes individuals to be taste-sensitive and taste to be a fundamental capital
in every field of cultural practice, for the case of novel reading in Japan, this
very assumption must be called into question.
Drawing from the 2010 Youth Culture and Communication Survey in Nerima
（Tokyo）, we explore whether literary taste is still relevant to the sense of distinction
among young novel readers. We examine the difference between selfcategorized
novel hobbyists and non-hobbyist novel readers, and we test
whether what they read accounts for the gap between the two groups.
The findings show that the types of novels are relevant to their self-categorization.
In particular, those who read classical novels are more likely to regard
reading novels as a hobby and those who read cell-phone novels are less likely.
Against literary critics’ skepticism about the cultural authority of literature in
Japan, these findings indicate that even urban youth conform to the conventional
hierarchy of literary taste.
