International Journal of Cultural Studies· 2026Q1
Regulative production: Genre formation and institutional change in the Japanese adult video industry
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Regulation actively shapes cultural industries by reorganizing production, circulation, and genre formation, as demonstrated by the Japanese adult video industry's shift from a rental-focused, single-regulator system to a retail-oriented, pluralized one.
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Key points
- Introduces 'regulative production' as a constitutive force in cultural industries.
- Analyzes the Japanese adult video industry's shift from a rental-based (Biderin) to a retail-based (Medirin) regulatory regime in the mid-1990s.
- This transition led to redistributed industrial risk and diversified circulation channels.
- The shift destabilized the hierarchy between 'tantai' (single-actress focus) and 'kikaku' (story-based focus) production, enabling the hybrid 'kikatan' genre.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This article introduces ‘regulative production’ to theorise regulation as a constitutive force within cultural industries. Moving beyond the production–consumption binary, it argues that regulation is not merely an external constraint but an institutional mechanism that reorganises production, circulation and genre formation. Through a historical analysis of the Japanese adult video industry, the article examines the mid-1990’s transition from the rental-centred inspection regime dominated by the Nihon Ethics of Video Association (Biderin), to the pluralised, retail-oriented framework associated with the Media Ethics Association (Medirin). This restructuring redistributed industrial risk, diversified circulation channels and destabilised the hierarchy between tantai , a style of production centred on a single actress, and kikaku , which emphasises story-based production, thereby enabling the hybrid genre kikatan . The case demonstrates how legal ambiguity, self-regulation and market organisation jointly shape aesthetic boundaries and gendered labour hierarchies, positioning regulation as embedded in, and formative of, cultural production itself.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Urban Studies
Urban StudiesSocial Sciences