Abstract:
This research of identity crisis, loss and nostalgia in contemporary Japanese horror narratives aims to analyze the characters' identity crisis in Japanese social and cultural context under the scope of loss and nostalgia through the following contemporary Japanese horror narratives: Strangers (1987) by Taichi Yamada, Shikoku (1993) by Masako Bando, Revenge (1998) by Yoko Ogawa, Outlet (2000) by Randy Taguchi and Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (2004) by Akiyuki Shinbo. The research shows that selective contemporary Japanese narratives were created under horror genre and consist contents of ghost, haunting, nostalgia, returning to childhood, death-related fantasy and parallel world. These show each character's identity crisis as follows: alienation and rootless state which resulted from rapid changes in contemporary Japanese society. This is an effect of the country's defeat during World War II.