Ririchan the “Grantee Gal”: Post-Feminism, Social Media, and the Celebrification of a Female Fraudster in Neoliberal Japan

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November 25, 2025

Ririchan the “Grantee Gal”: Post-Feminism, Social Media, and the Celebrification of a Female Fraudster in Neoliberal Japan
Ririchan the “Grantee Gal”: Post-Feminism, Social Media, and the Celebrification of a Female Fraudster in Neoliberal Japan

Volume 23

Abstract: This research note explores an iconic female fraudster, who achieved celebrity criminal status with a substantial fanbase, by analyzing her status as an empowering female figure and the sociocultural context in contemporary Japan. In due course, we attempt to fill the notable research gap regarding the phenomenon of a female fraudster becoming a “celebrity criminal” from a post-feminist perspective. By analyzing online and interview materials, this article demonstrates that the highlighted otherness in Young’s “transgressive other” (Young 2007, 2011) is hardly applicable. We shed light on instrumentalized femininity shared among young women challenging the pre-existing normative femininity in contemporary Japan.

Keywords: Celebrity criminal, post-feminism, neoliberalism, Ririchan, Kawaii

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Volume 23

About the author:

Yoko Demelius is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland. She has published on civil society and minority citizens’ engagement in Japan. She currently works on social movements inspired by conspiratorial claims in Japan.

Yutaka Yoshida is a lecturer as School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK. He has published on far-right movements in Japan. He is currently researching romance fraud.

The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus is a peer-reviewed publication, providing critical analysis of the forces shaping the Asia-Pacific and the world.

    About the author:

    Yoko Demelius is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku, Finland. She has published on civil society and minority citizens’ engagement in Japan. She currently works on social movements inspired by conspiratorial claims in Japan.

    Yutaka Yoshida is a lecturer as School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, UK. He has published on far-right movements in Japan. He is currently researching romance fraud.

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