Japanese writer Abe Kazushige’s fiction describes the worlds of men. However, research on the author has not analyzed his novels and short stories from a perspective of masculinities studies yet. This paper closes this gap: it argues that Abe’s Amerika no yoru (1994), Minagoroshi (Massacre, 1998) and Triangles (1997) destabilize hegemonic notions of manliness by feminizing their male protagonists. All of them are attached to women who are absent. They spend their time waiting for these women’s attention. Men waiting for women is a feminization of them according to Roland Barthes theory of romantic love.

This paper relates Barthes’ trope of male waiting to cultural narratives on shifting male identities in post-bubble Japan. Tadao, Ōta and Suzuki are freeters. In 1990s Japan, being a male flexible worker did not correspond to the image of hegemonic masculinity projected by the salarīman. Moreover, not being able to be the breadwinner of a family made it difficult for male freeters to hold heterosexual relationships (or get married), which society in turn considered as a major male failure.

This paper analyzes through what specific images Amerika no yoru, Minagoroshi and Triangles evoke the male waits of their protagonists as complications of romantic love. It highlights these complications as possible expressions of the men’s insecurities based on their professional choices. In doing so, the paper offers, for the very first time, a reading of the three pieces through the lens of masculinities studies.