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Signage communicating behavioural expectations is a common sight in contemporary cities. This is particularly evident in spaces of urban mass transit, as public transport providers frequently utilise media technologies such as posters and notices to tackle passenger behaviours they consider dangerous, deviant, or otherwise undesirable. Despite the prevalence of such semiotic interventions in passenger conduct in public transport environments globally (Bissell, 2018; Butcher, 2011; Moore, 2010), they have rarely become the focus of social scientific study. This thesis addresses this shortcoming through an in-depth examination of 'manner poster' initiatives by railway providers in Tokyo, which stand out globally due to their near-ubiquitous presence in trains and stations in the city, their often cute and/or comic design, and the broad range of micro-behaviours targeted by them. Drawing on expert interviews with individuals involved in manner posters' creation, analysis of industry documents, visual analysis of posters, and transit ethnography, the thesis presents an comprehensive empirical examination of manner posters as a genre of communication and governmental technology. It zooms in on three aspects of the media phenomenon: 1) manner posters' textual structure and history, 2) the corporate considerations and concerns driving poster design and deployment, and 3) the visual strategies poster designers employ to problematise passenger conduct. Contrary to prior research which framed interventions in passenger behaviour as a form of social control, the thesis highlights that manner poster initiatives are not driven by regulatory will, but rather guided by corporate considerations of customer service, sensibilities, and satisfaction. It presents a interdisciplinary study which is situated at the intersection (and advances our understanding) of four areas of scholarship: 1) routine incivilities and their regulation, 2) the production and regulation of urban mobilities, 3) signage in urban spaces, and 4) urban railways in Japan.

My PhD research is the first longitudinal, empirically grounded study of cosplay, a nuanced and complex subculture, whose members emulate characters from geek media using striking costumes. Through immersive ethnography, I became a full member of this subculture, charting this process to make a methodological contribution. My participation in cosplay and interactions with hundreds of cosplayers revealed that acceptance is core to cosplay's subcultural identity, being used to manage cosplay's boundaries in response to a sudden membership increase. My thesis demonstrates how subcultures adjust to rapid change, upholding subcultural values through codification, policing and isolation. Furthermore, cosplay is shown to provide members with perceived escape from intolerances surrounding sex; gender; ethnicity; mental health and social disorders. These areas were explored employing the framework of 'escape attempts, which argues that individuals use techniques to escape to 'free areas' that are distinct from everyday life. The study tested escape attempts empirically and applied it to theory for the first time. Findings revealed that cosplayers take values from everyday life to form their norms, influencing the success of escape, concluding that everyday life and escape are more intertwined than previously thought.