Buying the Tokyo Dream! Working Women’s Metropolitan Romance in Japanese Television Drama

Abstract

ABSTRACT Building on existing scholarship on the representation of female singlehood in Japanese television dramas, this article examines depictions of female romantic and professional development in two scripted streaming media series: Tōkyō joshi zukan and Tōkyō rabu sutōrī 2020. Both series’ female leads prioritise personal development and self-realisation over their love interests and end with singlehood (loosely defined as the status of being outside officially registered marriage). I examine the relationships between these women’s financial capacity and their attitudes toward love and marriage, followed by a comparison of these idealistic representations with the dilemmas facing working women in reality. As the ‘Tokyo’ in their titles suggests, the geographic location of the capital plays a central role in both dramas. Their characters’ negotiation of gender and power dynamics is inextricable from the socio-spatial attributes of Tokyo, framing the striving single female professional as an essentially urban character.