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This paper focuses on communication in a corporate misconduct which reflects enactments of corporate hegemony. Japanese organizations traditionally have a strong relationship with their employees, and this psychological or mental connection between an organization and employees are recognized as organizational identity. In this paper, transformation of corporate identity is discussed in terms of critical perspective. A Japanese case of the cover-up scandal by Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) is analyzed, and three aspects of organizational deception are confirmed: offensive, defensive, and collaborative deceptions. There are a couple of important findings. (1) Strong identification with an organization is reified into a corporate brand through ingroup communication. (2) Symbolic process of discourse and knowledge creation discipline MMC workers in concertive control. (3) In corporate hegemony, top management does not directly commit the crime, but collective will made the organizational members to naturally commit misdeeds. (4) Organizational identity is transformed into idolatry, and their organizational communication becomes fetish in corporate hegemony. I conclude that corporate misconduct is neither errors nor mistakes in management but it is a natural consequence of the current management systems, and a center of a corporate misconduct must be considered as transformation of organizational identification and reification of communication ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan is the second largest economic agency worldwide. However, Japanese culture has never permeated the rest of East Asia. This paper investigates the reasons why Japanese cultural products did not penetrate other countries worldwide as well as East Asian countries. It argues cultural, historical as well as economic issues because these backgrounds substantially affect an individual¡¯s choices of foreign programs. This paper also examines the recent trends of Japan¡¯s trial of the expansion of its cultural products. My aim is to figure out whether this new trend is a sign that Japan is attempting to develop and enlarge important roles in the communications field both regionally and globally. Finally, the paper speculates about the impact of the economic depression of Japan on cultural goods production and trade over the last decade and the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a paper highlighting the challenges of mobile access to online reviews and price comparison in Japan. The paper was presented at the 61st International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference, held at Boston, Massachusetts, on May 29, 2011. It explores the objective of the Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) project, which was launched in 2006, with a leading principle that customers must have freedom, and not be slaves to vendors.

This paper looks at mixi, a Japan-based social network site (SNS) with a focus on its web interface. It argues that mixi's interface imagines the boundary of the social network of an 'average Japanese person,' which in effect sets a criteria for what types of people can 'fit in' in the 'Japanese society.' It also demonstrates that the interface does not simply embody preexisting notions about Japaneseness and politics of inclusion and exclusion prevalent in Japanese society. Rather, there is a 'neighborhood of relations' residing in and around the interface. Thus, the way mixi's interface draws a boundary around 'Japan' differs from the ways in which traditional modes of boundary making do so. Additionally, this paper examines how this imagined boundary affects members of different racial, ethnic and cultural minorities living in Japan and discusses implications of the findings in relation to future directions in internet studies and SNS research. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of when and how cultural differences between media producers and audiences negatively influence the success of media exports. It proposes the 'Lacuna and Universal Model' that provides a terminology and a theoretical classification of various phenomena, explaining why particular media content may or may not be appreciated internationally. It puts forward the term 'Lacuna' for possible reasons for the cross-cultural failure of media content, and it argues that media content is not successful with audiences outside its culture of production when audiences perceive a mismatch between their own 'cultural baggage' and that of the producer. Depending on what elements of the 'cultural baggage' do not match, this paper introduces the terms 'Content Lacuna', 'Capital Lacuna', and 'Production Lacuna'. Furthermore, it puts forward the term 'Universal' for possible reasons for the international success of media content. Specifically, it proposes the terms 'Content Universal', 'Audience Created Universal', and 'Company Created Universal' for content attributes or circumstances as a result of which content is successful despite possible cultural differences. For each category of Lacuna and Universal, this paper provides examples that have been identified through in-depth interviews with representatives of some of the largest western media companies and their Asian subsidiaries and affiliates. Interviewees were asked to describe why they thought certain western media was or was not successful with audiences in China, India, and Japan. The analysis of the interviews also allows for a comparison across countries and media types with regard to cultural barriers. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing a construct of performativity offered by Judith Butler as the role of the leitmotif, this paper analyzes the December 1981 advertisement, "Father Didn't Know - Mother Wants Her Own Desk (Okāsan ga tsukue o hoshigatte iru koto o otōsan wa shiranakatta)" presented by the Seibu Retailing Group of Japan. This is about housewives, a group which has not been considered at the forefront of women's empowerment in the 1970s and the 1980s. How Seibu appealed to those housewives is a topic of interest in this paper. Using Critical Discourse Analysis as the analytical tool, I analyze the visual, the verbal and the aesthetics spheres of the advertisement with socio-historical consideration. In particular, a subjectivity that the advertisement emanates is analyzed on three levels: of the women who appeared in the ad; of the advertiser's own voice; and of the society that generated the advertisement. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990’s, a cycle of Japanese anime films has been released to western markets, many of which have proven very successful. Oshii Mamoru’s SF anime Ghost in the Shell is no exception. Since its release in 1995, it has either been acclaimed as an original and revolutionary breakthrough or denounced as too philosophical and obscure for a commercial film. This paper looks at Ghost in the Shell as a critical engagement with feminist media criticism, cyborg theories, and philosophy that deals with body. Through the examination of this film, I argue that this film owns a subversive “new shell” of postmodernism in its depiction of an unconventional female protagonist, the inverted sexual/power roles, and the extinction of the human’s uniqueness in a post-human world; on the other hand, though, this film also befriends a conventional “old ghost” in the sense of the ways of representing female characters, the stress on the female’s maternal function of reproduction, and the reiteration of the mind’s agency over body. These result in the conclusion that Ghost in the Shell and many other successful anime innovatively present ideological norms sanctioned by cultures in the form of an open text, which might account for anime’s international popularity. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalization cannot be discussed without dealing with the notions of nation, culture, and identity. Globalization both homogenizes and heterogenizes the world. The hegemony of the English language is tightly connected with the globalization process and creates tension, intensification, and modification in people's national identity. In January 2000, an advisory commission to the late Japanese Prime Minister Obuchi published a report in which they suggested that English be adopted as the second official language of Japan. The proposal triggered heated debates among Japanese people. Using a critical discourse analysis approach, the present paper explores how Japanese people express their national identity through an examination of the opinions posted on a Japanese national newspaper's website. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this short essay, a particular Japanese term, wakimae, is investigated aiming to develop the concept as a theoretical construct within the framework of face-to-face interaction and investigate a unique nature of face-to-face interaction in the Japanese culture. This type of emic research is expected to contribute not only to a better understanding of an implicit theory of interaction in Japanese culture, but also to the different type of cross-cultural studies (i.e., the etic approach). That is, the relative conceptualizations of related communication concepts to wakimae (e.g., politeness), which is often assumed to be absolute or universal across cultures, can be better understood and, in turn, can be validly re-defined as an analytic tool for the future comparative studies. In this paper, a case study is reported that explores the folk knowledge of the concept among the Japanese speakers. The preliminary analysis of the data revealed that the concept wakimae involves a wide range of interactional factors that are expected to guide one's behavior in general or specific situations. Specifically, it was found that wakimae is specifically conceptualized as one's keen sensitivity to or capability of correctly/effectively assessing such factors as a) situational context, b) situational limit/risk, c) the partner's physical or mental status, d) one's own social status/role, e) one's own personal limits/characters, f) manner/rules, g) morals/ethics, h) common sense, and i) natural laws/reasons. These interactional factors were seen to guide both volitional (e.g., goal-oriented, task-oriented, strategic, etc.) and non-volitional behavior (e.g., obligatory language use, ritualistic behaviors, rule-governed behaviors in specific events, etc.). Also, the data suggested that the concept becomes an issue if the lack of wakimae in a behavior is expected to cause socially or interpersonally negative consequences, which might endanger a) the success of the social event/gro... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived reality of media messages is an important variable in media effects research. However, despite numerous efforts at conceptualizing it as a multidimensional construct, empirical investigations of the multidimensional nature of perceived reality are scant and many media effects studies continue to measure and apply it as a unidimensional construct. The goal of this paper is to remedy this situation by building up on the sixdimensional structure of perceived reality proposed earlier (Author, 2010) by (a) hypothesizing the relationships among the dimensions of perceived reality and (b) testing the dimensional structure of perceived reality and these relationships through confirmatory factor analysis. Perceptions of reality of two videos were assessed in two studies in two cultures - the United States and Japan. Results offer support for the proposed dimensional structure of perceived reality and for the cross-cultural universality of these perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores why Korean television dramas strongly appeal to Japanese audiences through audience study. The purpose of this study is to articulate how cultural factors influence audience perceptions, and how social demographic factors dictate audience reception of certain media content. Ultimately, this research will empirically determine the validity of cultural proximity theory in Asia. Through 12 in-depth interviews in Japan, I have determined that Korean dramas’ appeal to Japanese middle-aged women is due to a fascination with the theme of pure love, rather than shared cultural values among Asians. However, the similarity of the Korean actors’ appearance, and the familiarity of traditional gender roles make Japanese audiences easily identify with the heroines in Korean dramas. In addition, nostalgia, cultural odour and the media industry also affected the Korean Wave in Japan. Thus, cultural proximity theory in Japan was validated in a way through this research; however, this research shows that cultural proximity theory was applied, based on gender, age, and cultural experiences. In order to elaborate cultural proximity theory, a variety of empirical studies should be done in different cultural settings with a wide range of subjects. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to establish a working measurement to detect anime charactersÂ’ racial categories. The measurement is then applied to an exploratory content analysis of anime charactersÂ’ head portraits and its reliability is checked. Finally, a histogram presents the change of presence of these racial categories over time. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of globalization the theatrical film business has become more competitive, as theatrical films make more inroads into foreign markets. This situation mirrors the globalization of theatrical films, which represents the dynamic characteristics of theatrical films demonstrated by their global cross-border flow and the issues and changes that the theatrical film industry has experienced. This study considers the case of the Japanese theatrical film market with special attention to the past 15 years, from 1990 through 2004. Ever since theatrical films were introduced to Japan in November 1896, the Japanese market has experienced diverse issues and gone through various changes, often in tandem with the political and social climate of Japan. Therefore, this study first offers an overview not only of an aspect of changes in the release numbers that indicate how Japanese and foreign films has shared the market, but also of other aspects, such as whether foreign films have become more diverse in participating countries and regions of production. For this examination, the number as well as origin of foreign films that were imported to and released in Japan (1946 through 1954 and 1955 through 1989 respectively) are analyzed. Based on the findings concerning these aspects, this study narrows a focus to the Japanese market over the past 15 years, from 1990 through 2004, and examines changes in the release number of foreign films and their origins. This study was based on primary data collected during a field research in Japan. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines imagined interactions (IIs) among young adults in the USA, Thailand, and Japan. A comparison of means across cultures on II characteristics reveals that the Japanese participants have the widest variety of imagined interaction partners, while the American participants are the most self-dominant in their imagined interactions and demonstrate the most II frequency. The Thai participants report the most positively valenced imagined interactions, and the least II self-dominance and partner variety. As for II functions, Japanese and Thai participants keep conflict alive via their imagined interactions more than the Americans. The Japanese participants utilize all four II functions more than the Thais and Americans, while the Thai participants use imagined interaction rehearsal the least. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young adults in Japan (N = 124) and in the United States (N = 136) completed surveys including Ritchie & Fitzpatrick’s (1990) revised family communication patterns instrument as well as the Rahim’s (1983) conflict styles scale modified for the family setting. A cross-cultural comparison revealed that diverging distributions of family types in the two different countries. The consensual family type was most common in the United States, while laissez-faire family type was most common in Japan. We found significant between group differences among all four family types on the likelihood to use five conflict strategies. The consensual family was associated with the young adults’ selection of the integrative strategy in dealing with conflict with parents. Young adults in the protective family indicated use of the avoidance strategy than those in other family types, while the pluralistic family was most strongly associated with the competitive strategy. Possible explanations based on the two dimensions of family communication patterns as well as cultural variabilities are provided. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how Western media and popular culture have contributed to young Japanese migration to the West. Particularly, the article investigates the process whereby Western media and popular culture have constructed the image of the West in Japan over a long period, and this image has induced young Japanese to actually carry out their migration projects to their imagined West.

This article examines the coverage of U.S. newspaper of two World Cup events, hosted respectively by France and South Korea and Japan, to assess amount, topic, slant, deviance, and prominence of coverage. Countries host international events to improve their images. It was said that such public relations strategy do not always work. The study revealed that France received better coverage than South Korea and Japan, and Japan received better coverage than South Korea.

This study examined relational closeness toward three types of friends (best, close and casual) and lovers at the cultural and individual level in Japan and the United States. The primary focus was to investigate the link between culture and self-construals. For the individual level culture, three sub-concepts of independent-interdependent self-construals (Triandis, et al., 1988) were employed. A questionnaire containing the self-construal scale and the Relational Closeness Inventory (Berscheid, et al, 1989) was administered to Japanese (82) and U.S. American (157) students. Two hypotheses were tested. Contrary to the predictions, Japanese and U.S. Americans did not differ in ranking their relational partners in terms of the degree of closeness, and U.S. Americans showed significantly closer feelings toward their friends and lovers than Japanese. At the individual level, one hypothesis was only partially supported whereas the other was not. These findings raised a question on the association of culture and self-construals [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study which examined how domestic and international newspapers covered 158 stories about the pregnancy of Japanese Princess Masako for the period covered 1999 to 2001. Results revealed that the higher masculinity score (MAS) countries gave virtually the same amount of coverage as the lower masculinity countries. Regarding content, the highest MAS country, Japan, showed a clear focus on pregnancy as a topic. Further, the higher MAS Western countries tended to portray Masako more traditionally than the lower MAS countries. Thus MAS levels do not appear to affect volume of coverage, but may, along with other factors, affect the substance of coverage.

The article examines television game shows in China and Japan aimed at learning how universal, regional and national cultures affect content. It has shown that there is a persistence of culture as reflected in these shows. Japan's audiences welcomed the same general attributes of shows in 2001 as a decade earlier. Thus, one might conclude that China's tastes too would have been the same in the past, if they could have been measured.

The article explores the dynamics of organization-public relationships from a dialectical perspective. The three principles in human relationships for Chinese people are affection, reason and law. However, in the U.S., the order is reverse: law, reason and affection. The role of history was also evident in organization-public relationships. Japanese people were reluctant to expand their business into China because of the Japanese military's invasion in China during World War II. Historical events extended to the existence of love-hate conflict in relationships. Another example of internal dialectics is the gap between the expectations of a company and of its employees.

The article analyzes historical events and materials that impacted the ways in which Japanese referred to and introduced other races into their identity and nation building. For Japanese, becoming white has allowed them to actualize a number of benefits, including industrialization, modernization, global recognition, and inducing superiority feeling. Moreover, it also helps to distinguish themselves from the other non-white races.

This article presents a study on the judicial control of the Korean press by the Japanese empire during the cultural rule period of the 1920s. Legal provisions, court cases and statistics were inspected based on the nature of cultural rule to examine the state of the press control by Japan in the 1920s. Clauses related to expression, publication, assembly and association were widely explored and a comparative study with the Japanese was conducted to show the intent of law enactment by Japan.

The purpose of this study was to examine politeness rules based on gender in Japan and the United States. Seventy-three politeness rules in Japan and the United States were adapted from Ogawa and Gudykunst's (1999) study. The multivariate interaction effect between national culture and gender was significant. Given that the multivariate interaction effect was significant, gender differences in politeness rules were examined within national cultures. Five rules were significantly different by gender in Japan, and six rules were significantly different by gender in the United States. All means were higher for females than for males, and most of the rules appear to be associated with other-oriented attitudes. The results suggest that a rule-oriented approach seems to be a viable method for studying gender and politeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of effective communication in the United States and Japan using thematic analysis. Seven themes were isolated in the United States: (1) understanding, (2) compatibility, (3) displaying positive behavior, (4) smoothness of communication, (5) positive outcomes, (6) positive nonverbal communication, and (7) adapting messages. Nine themes were isolated in Japan: (1) compatibility, (2) appropriateness, (3) relations between communicators, (4) positive outcomes, (5) smoothness of communication, (6) displaying positive behavior, (7) understanding, (8) positive nonverbal communication, and (9) clarity. None of the themes in either culture are relationship or gender specific. The labels for several themes are similar across cultures, but the content of the themes tend to be different. Perceptions of effective communication appear to be outcome-based and individual-focused in the United States, and process-based and relationship-focused in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of the present study are (1) to explore the mediating effects of perceived procedural justice or fairness judgment on the relationships between interpersonal communication styles and uncertainty of work life of Japanese white-collar workers; and (2) to reveal what kind of interpersonal communication styles are effective for developing workers' perception of procedural justice. One hundred sixty three Japanese white-collar workers in the Tokyo area participated in the research. As a result of structural equation analysis, procedural justice mediated the effects of interpersonal communication styles on uncertainty reduction of work life. As a result of hierarchical regression analysis, it was found that rational communication styles such as reasoning, promise, commitment, question, and self-disclosure can promote workers' perceived procedural justice while authoritative communication styles such as a high-handed manner, demand/order, warning, and threat can promote their perceived procedural injustice. Based on the results, several academic contributions and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the field of public relations is growing rapidly in Asia, more females enter the field, believing this new field is less conservative and more open to women. Despite their expectations, female PR professionals in Asia often face a more difficult work environment compared with their male counterparts. This study examines how Asian female PR professionals in Japan, Korea and Singapore perceive their job responsibilities, roles and difficulties at work and their methods of coping. Online questionnaires were sent to female professionals in public relations agencies and in-house public relations departments in these three countries. Findings indicate they tend to deny such difficulties and gender inequalities while acknowledging them and trying to cope with the difficulties. The researchers conclude that their inner-conflict resolutions reflect Festinger?s theory of cognitive dissonance and Wrigley?s theory of negotiated resignation and are strongly related to social norms of collectivism and masculinity reinforced in Asian culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article contributes to the study of globalisation processes in mass communication institutions. In order to describe the micro processes of global news production in national news broadcasting, I investigate the strategies used by national producers to assign meaning to international events. Through an analysis of news production at four analytical levels, namely the global the national the organisational and the professional, I exemplify how processes of globalisation may lead to both homogenisation and diversification/’domestication’of news content. The study is based on newsroom observation and interviews with 40 media experts and news producers at the major Japanese broadcast stations. The interviews include managers, editors, foreign correspondents, news desk personnel, scriptwriters, producers and anchorpersons concerning their considerations from the planning until the finished product. Comparative content analysis exemplifies the outcome of news communication strategies as they differ in Japan and Denmark. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study will examine the portrayal of womanhood in Japanese anime and manga (comics) texts to better understand the Japanese female's concept of womanhood. With the increasing amount of anime imported into the U.S., American viewers are exposed to images and narratives that are ridden with Japanese cultural values that may sometimes conflict with the western gender politic. Within the Japanese societal framework, the public sphere has been dominated by the male's voice, including that of popular culture. However, since the emergence of the shojo (girls) manga industry during the 1960s-1970s, the female manga artists and readers seemed to have created a sphere where they could possibly resist, subvert, and reappropriate the existing patriarchal ideology that constricted them within limited social participatory roles. Depiction of womanhood in manga and anime is important not only because of the breadth of its readership and viewership in Japan, but also because they may function as an Althusserian ideological state apparatus. Manga and anime as media can function as a vehicle in maintaining the Japanese's own sense of womanhood, which may then become important tools into the insight into Japanese gender culture. I have selected the Japanese Fruits Basket television animation series because of its significance as a U.S. imported series that will be aired on Toonami in the near future. Through examining the female portrayals in anime texts, American viewers may develop a better understanding of the emerging cultural borderland of Japanese anime to the U.S. media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sojourner Self-Efficacy in Communication Scale (Milstein & Peterson, 2001) was used to analyze data collected from an international sample (N=212) of Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program alumni to explore the relationship between a sojourn and the sojourner's self-efficacy in intercultural and everyday communication. Participants were asked to answer questions about their degree of self-efficacy both before their sojourn in Japan and now. Data analysis revealed that 195 of the sample reported an increase in self-efficacy. The results suggest a relationship exists between sojourning and an increase in self-efficacy in intercultural and everyday communication. In addition, data analysis showed the more respondents rated their overseas experience as challenging, the more they reported a self-efficacy increase. Correlations were also found between self-reported success of the sojourn and scores of perceived self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a worldwide trend of regulatory reform through liberalization, the goal of universal service might be threatened because the trend would undermine the cross-subsidy arrangements that have underpinned universal service. The choice among the different financing methods is a fundamental policy issue and is likely to be different in each country, given its own conditions and needs. Furthermore, the role of government and the regulator will vary with the particular method of funding that is chosen. In this context, this study tries to compare the implementation of universal service in the US and Japan focusing on the framework of Levy and Spiller (1996), which emphasizes the importance of institutional structure in policy-making processes. The study uncovers that the decentralized regulatory process and formalized regulation in the US are largely rooted in its institutional governance and have facilitated pro-competitive implementation in universal service. By contrast, in Japan strategic implementation has been possible through a more discretionary institutional system and the strong regulatory incentives for market-conforming intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technology does not exist in the vacuum of culture. The Internet is no exception. Many discussions of the Internet, however, center around technological essentialism, if not vulgar technological determinism, in that they assume inherent natures of the Internet and that they predict certain social changes based on such assumptions. For example, there are widespread claims that the Internet is "inherently anti-hierarchical" and that the anti-hierarchically organized communications technology promotes anti-hierarchical communication, and the anti-hierarchical communication leads to anti-hierarchical society. This "internal approach" assumes a one-way relationship between technology and society: technology causes social change, not vice versa. Against such common-place technological essentialism in understanding the Internet, this paper offers a context-specific analysis of the Internet in Korea and Japan through a comparative and media historical perspective. This research is basically an attempt to explore specific cultural, political and economic conditions for Internet technology to exercise a certain influence on society. Through case studies this paper argues that Korea's Internet culture and successful use of the Internet as an alternative medium is a result of the interaction of various factors including Korea's Confucian tradition, education system, governmental policies, economy, geography, and civil society that existed before the Internet was introduced. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper considers how Japanese youths engage with media and ICT amidst the current social and cultural changes in Japanese society in the face of globalization. The primary aim of this paper is to analyze the complex and diverse ways in which Japanese youths engage with media and ICT, understanding and bringing together audience activities under the concept of 'audience engagement'. Further, the analysis of the Japanese audience can serve as a modest step towards the de-Westernization of media studies. In the process, some Japanese emic concepts are employed, adapting them in ways that reject as myth the homogeneity of the Japanese, in order to highlight culturally specific ways of constructing self and other. Methodologically, the qualitative approach adopted is intended to complement the quantitative emphasis to audience research within Japanese academia. Specifically, the present study is conducted as an ethnography of audiences, among the so-called 'modern' Japanese families living in the media-rich Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Drawing from my ethnographic research on 'audience engagement' in Japan, the paper addresses the cultural specificities and commonalities between Japanese and Western childhood media, while offering insights from a non-Western perspective, a move which I hope will contribute towards a de-Westernizing of media studies. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An organization finding itself embroiled in an international crisis has to consider the many voices that can appear in the rhetorical arena in which it seeks to communicate. Their differing psychological and socio-cultural context can affect the appropriateness and effectiveness of crisis communication efforts in numerous ways. Frandsen and Johansen's (2016) Rhetorical Arena Theory is utilized to frame an analysis of Japan's Olympus Corporation's crisis communication efforts during its 2011 financial statement fraud crisis. Textual analysis reveals that Olympus lost the battle for definitional hegemony in a steadily expanding rhetorical arena where multiple voices managed to overwhelm Olympus's crisis communication efforts. Poor cultural alignment of Olympus's crisis communication efforts and overall crisis handling led to considerable reputational damage not only to the company itself but corporate Japan as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japanese films and literary work produced in the 1950s and 60s—soon after the country's defeat in World War II, followed by the U.S. Occupation—often address troubled Japanese masculinity, as well as feminization of the hitherto patriarchal "Japaneseness." Japanese war cinema in particular, both live-action and animated, has effectively projected the problematic in the concept of gender and sexuality of postwar Japan. In this respect, my paper examines gendered manifestations of "Japaneseness" in two war narratives, both of which were produced when national identity became unstable: Seven Samurai produced by Akira Kurosawa in 1954, when the country lost a battle, its master, and its subjectivity as a nation, and anime Princess Mononoke produced by Hayao Miyazaki in 1997, in the midst of a "cultural battle against the incursion of global (or U.S.) influence." These two works, set in a heavily male-centered Warring States Period, reflect Japan's struggle to regain its national identity under American control, which indicates the obsolescence of Japanese traditional values led by Western (technological) incursion. Seven Samurai and Mononoke, the latter significantly influenced by the former, signify Japan's struggle with a loss of "masculine" conventions and identity reconstruction. Yet "gender," as well as other binary concepts of modern/civilized and evil/good, operates differently between these narratives. Based on the notion that the scenario of war is a venue that allows a nation to reflect and reconstruct (or deconstruct) its subjectivity in identity crises, this paper investigates narrative implications in these films, in an attempt to explicate mechanisms that intertwine war narratives and the function of femininity and masculinity in them. The paper also compares depictions of different characters—social minorities, such as women and untouchables—or a lack of them to better understand how the powerless may contribute to or disturb national identity formation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper details the symbolic interaction between news gatherers (media reporters) and their information sources (members of the political elite) in Japan. It discusses and explains the type and frequencies of their contacts, the circumstances and locations of their interaction, and routines that characterize their meetings. This includes both formal and non-formal newsgathering methods, rules and customs, and the outcome of their interactions. Furthermore, the paper discusses peculiar socio-cultural traits of Japanese society and the extent to which these characteristics affect reporters' newsgathering methods, their dependency on political sources, and decision-making within and between newsrooms. The paper focuses particularly on aspects of group behavior that affect the contacts reporters have with high-echelon political leaders--including the prime minister, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, and leaders of political parties and party factions-- who, in turn, shape the content of mainstream political journalism. It discusses the structure and focus of political news, and the language and methods information sources use to disseminate information and put their desired spin on events that take place in the polity. Moreover, this paper illustrates how the nuances and tone of language used by Diet members and officials shape the country's political culture, as well as the ways non-Japanese perceive Japan's views of world events. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper adds to the discussion of a question that has received a great deal of attention from scholars of cultural globalization - why is the music of the Black Atlantic so popular in Japan? The answers offered have largely focused on Japanese engagement with reggae, hip hop, and techno as a working-out of political and social issues, such as certain conceptions of race. This paper seeks to supplement such readings by situating the characteristic sounds of hip hop within the complexity of the Japanese soundscape. Hip hop's distinctive musical features will be compared to those of dominant Japanese commercial genres including Pop and Visual Kei, longstanding underground traditions including Noise and punk, and older forms such as enka, minyou, and taiko. By bracketing cultural discourses to as great a degree as possible and focusing on the materiality of sound, a new set of motives behind musical globalization will be brought to the forefront. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explain what foreign news means to Japanese, based on Gebser's (1985) structural consciousness. First, I review the literature of foreign news, and second, trace the historical and cultural contexts of foreign news in newspaper and television in Japan. Then, I reveal foreign news in Japan a manifested form of dimensional consciousness and demonstrate how it is revealed in the magic, mythical, and perspectival consciousnesses. While previous studies have attempted to understand foreign news in either behavioristic or political-economic orientations, this study unfolds what constitutes foreign news and how it comes to appear in human consciousness. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I explore the functions of the imagined cultural space constructed in the film Lost in Translation directed by Sofia Coppola. Using the notion of imagined space (Allen, 1999), I examine the imaginative construction of the cultural space of 'Japan' as an "alternative playground" (hooks, 1992, p. 23) in which the main characters' 'lostness' is metaphorically represented, and their nostalgia for what they have lost are evoked and fulfilled through the Orientalist and imperialist gaze. Through such representations, the discursive and performative practices of white hegemonic marking and making of space are nurtured, reinforced, and concealed. The imagined cultural space of 'Japan' is an alternative playground in which the characters enters into the experience of temporal self-transformation and spiritual renewal. The construction of imagined cultural space in this film is an assertion and reproduction of power in which the spatiality of Japan is imaginatively colonized and used to serve white subjectivity. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early summer of 2002, Japan came down with a serious case of sokka feeva (soccer fever). Originating in this country's first ever co-hosting of the soccer world cup with neighboring Korea, the virus promptly spread through the entire nation. Soon, every aspect of Japanese popular culture, and even of the Japanese physical environment, was somehow inundated with soccer references ranging from huge posters and billboards to magazine covers to world cup comic books or hello kitty dolls. In the muggy days of June, residents of Japan' and the thousands of tourists who poured over the nation's capital to attend the games hosted in the area, wore blue soccer jerseys to the office, ate soccer cup noodles and drank soccer drinks, sang soccer songs at karaoke, used soccer graphics as their cellular phone screen savers and watched the games from home, bars, clubs, work or even the mall. All this in a country where barely ten years ago, the sport of soccer was virtually unheard of (Moffett, 2002). This paper examines the visual narratives constructed in Tokyo around this historical occasion on various Japanese popular cultural sites including advertising, public relations campaigns, magazine and other print media photographs, and television coverage. I was fortunate enough to watch these narratives unfold as I resided in Tokyo at the time the world cup took place. I am particularly interested here in addressing how Japan visually located itself in relationship to the rest of the world for both a Western audience of tourists and the domestic Japanese audience. I will also examine how Japan managed to turn this "foreign" sporting event into a specifically Japanese, or at least Asian, cultural phenomenon, domesticating Western cultural influence in the process. I believe that Japanese officials' and media producers' handling of the event is significant because it is illustrative of the larger process through which Japan has forcefully claimed its place as a major playe... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers insight to a study exploring predictors of judgments and decisions regarding communicative artificial intelligence using a case study of Japan. It informs that Japan displays high tendency to use robots in supporting older people's well-being and quality of life. It also informs on understanding of artificial intelligence and discover the path to effective utilization of relevant innovations.

This paper examines the endorsement of four types of cultural patterns across America, Japan, and Thailand, as well as how these cultural patterns predict the emotional valence (positive-negative) of intrapersonal communication. Within subjects tests revealed that the American sample endorsed horizontalism more than verticalism, while the Thais endorsed horizontal collectivism the most and vertical collectivism the least. The Japanese sample reported significantly more horizontal collectivism than any other cultural pattern, and significantly less vertical individualism. Across cultures, the Americans reported comparatively higher levels of horizontal individualism than did the Japanese and then the Thais. The Thais endorsed horizontal collectivism less than those in the USA and Japan. Finally, the Japanese comparatively endorsed vertical collectivism more than the Americans, followed by the Thais. For intrapersonal communication affect, horizontal collectivism predicted positive emotional affect in Thailand and Japan, while vertical collectivism was negatively related to affect in Thailand. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines cultural formation of Korean popular music in relation to socio-political/geopolitical history during the Japanese colonial era. With a particular emphasis on the discursive formation of colonial modernity and quotidian life of Koreans, I explore major magazines and newspaper of colonial Korea in 1930s such as Chokwang, Samchulli and Maeilshinbo which imbued the consciousness of Korean intellectuals with the ideology of colonial regimes of militarism, of modernity, and of becoming imperial subject. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of foreign residents has been increasing and in 2007 comprised approximately 1.7% of the population of Japan. As the non-Japanese population has increased, patients at health care facilities have also become more diverse. The present study focuses on the interactions between doctors and patients with limited Japanese proficiency (LJP), as experienced by medical interpreters. The in-depth interview data of medical interpreters provides insight into several important issues, and this paper considers factors that act as barriers to interpreter-mediated doctor-LJP patient communication. Two emerging themes are (a) language-related problems and (b) communication style problems. Language-related problems include unfamiliarity with medical terms, and difficulty arising from use of English as a compromise third language. Communication-style problems include, on the doctor's side, insensitive remarks and behaviors, and inadequate explanations. On the patients' side, problems in this category include inconsistent descriptions of their medical complaints, and a reluctance to seek clarifications. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which analyzes the misappropriation and exploitation of the language of Shinto by the Meiji government for secular and nationalistic purposes in Japan. Issues concerning the association between the State Shinto and the Yasukuni Shrine controversy are outlined. The effects of the legacy of the State Shinto on contemporary Japanese nationalism and militarism are examined.

The article presents a detailed discussion on the identity and task issues faced by permanent and temporary workers in Japan. It is stated that temporary employees understand their lower social status and quality in the hierarchy of their work environment. According to the author, investigation of symbolic realities in workplaces will enable a better understanding of what is really happening in the workplace socially.

The article presents a comparative study, which focuses on possible differences in ethics as applied to non-Western public relations (PR) practices, like those in South Korea and Japan. It also raises three questions, with one of them relating to the perceptions of college students, about ideal and practical ethics, in the U.S., South Korea, and Japan.

The article focuses on the imagination of Japan related to blacks and race in popular media. It mentions that English-language literature depicts the notion of ideological solidarity between nonwhites and Japan. It offers information on the abrupt exposure of Japan, to the idea of race, after the Meiji Restoration.

The article focuses on the study of communication in Japan and Thailand based on factors of respect and avoidance. The study was done for communication with young adults, middle-aged adults and older adults. It was found that with the increase in age, the level of communicative politeness increased in younger adults with less desire for communication.

The current study investigates the use of gratitude and apologies in the athletes' interviews in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Game. By applying the perspectives of politeness theory and attribution theory, the study examines the cultural distinction of individualism and collectivism regarding Olympic athlete interviews. A content analysis was conducted with 996 interviews from six countries. Result revealed that athletes from collectivistic countries (China, Korea and Japan) use more gratitude and apology expressions than athletes from individualistic countries (the United States, the Great Britain, and Australia). ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]