Browsing by Subject "Japan"

Tämän pro-gradu tutkielman tarkastelun keskiössä on ”2.5D teatterina” tunnettu japanilaisen populaarikulttuurin ilmiö. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on esitellä ilmiön historiaa ja pääpiirteitä sekä avata lukijalle sen asemaa japanilaisen populaarikulttuurin piirissä nykypäivänä. Aiheen esittelyn lisäksi tässä pro-gradussa toteutettu tutkimus keskittyy pohtimaan millaisia yhtäläisyyksiä ja eroavaisuuksia ilmiöllä on kahden muun japanilaisen populaarikulttuuri-ilmiön, mangan ja animen, ilmaisukeinojen kanssa. Tutkielma käsittelee kysymystä siitä miksi yleisö haluaa kokea samat tarinat yhä uudelleen ja uudelleen erilaisten adaptaatioiden muodossa, sekä pyrkii selvittämän miten kyseiset narratiivit tunnetiloineen ilmaistaan kolmessa hyvin erilaisen taiteenlajin muodossa. Näitä kysymyksiä lähestytään tutkielmassa ristianalysoimalla kaksi alkuperäisessä Kuroshitsuji-mangassa nähtyä keskeistä kohtausta kolmessa eri medialajissa printistä animaatioon ja teatteritaiteeseen. Pro-gradussa käytetty aineisto koostuu vuosien 2015–2016 aikana kenttätyöskentelyn avulla kerrytetystä materiaalista sisältäen muun muassa osallistuvaa havainnointia sekä haastatteluja 2.5D teatterin alan ammattilasten kanssa. Analyysiaineistoon puolestaan sisältyy manga-pokkareita, anime-jaksoja sekä filmatisoitu teatteriesitys. Kenttätyöskentely on toteutettu japaniksi ja kaikki analyysiaineisto on myös koostettu alkuperäiskielisestä materiaalista. Tutkielmaa tukevana lähdeaineistona käytetään japanilaiseen populaarikulttuuriin liittyvää kirjallisuutta. Tutkimuksen teoriaosuudessa käsitellään mangan, animen ja teatterin yksilöllisiä ilmaisullisia konventioita joiden avulla kukin taiteenlaji toteuttaa oman versionsa samasta perustavanlaatuisesta tekstistä. Näiden keinojen avulla gradussa toteutetaan poikkimediaalinen analyysi jonka tarkoituksena on demonstroida eri taiteenlajien ilmaisullisia eroavaisuuksia. Media-analyysin pohjalta saatujen tulosten pohjalta käy ilmi, että printissä, animaatiossa ja esittävän taiteen muodossa ilmaistuna samaan narratiiviin pohjautuva teos toteutetaan pitkälti kunkin taiteenlajin omin keinoin alkuperäistekstiä vaihtelevassa määrin kunnioittavasti muovaten. Mangassa keskeisenä ilmaisun keinona toimii taiteilijan piirrosjälki ja kyky hyödyntää taiteenlajille ominaisia visuaalisen kerronnan tyylejä kuten erilaisia ikoneja, paneeleja sekä kuvakulmia. Animaatiossa puolestaan ilmaisun keskiöön sijoittuu teknisten keinojen lisäksi myös ääni- ja musiikkisuunnittelu. Teatterissa sen sijaan pääasiallinen narratiivinen ja emotionaalinen ilmaisu painottuu teknisten ratkaisujen ohella näyttelijäsuorituksiin, sekä yleisön ja esiintyjän välillä vallitsevaan yhtäläisyyden ja läsnäolon tunteeseen. Yhteistä kaikille formaateille on tavoite pyrkiä vuorovaikutukseen lukijan, katsojan tai yleisön kanssa muodostamalla kognitiivisesti palkitseva yllätyksellisyyttä ja tuttuuden tunnetta yhdistävä kokemus.

The aim of this thesis is to research Japan-U.S. Security Treaty protests in 1960 in global context. The Anpo-protests were selected as research topic because not much research was found of the protests. Anpo-protests begun in 1959 and ended in late 1960. The main motive was to oppose revision of U.S.-Japan Security Treaty but eventually protests led to resignation of the prime minister Kishi Nobusuke. The protests were the largest in Japanese history and left their legacy to Japanese political history and civil society. Scholars have researched Anpo-protests to some extent. However, the Anpo-protests have not been analysed in Worldwide context of Cold war which is why transnational history got selected as primary theoretical framework for this thesis. This thesis uses the Japan Times as the primary source. The Japan Times is Japan’s oldest English language newspaper firstly published in 1897. As for main method theory-guided content analysis was used. Analysis was carried out with coding in which Atlas.ti software was used. Theory of historical study of images got selected as second theoretical framework after transnational history because this thesis aims to construct comprehensive image of the Anpo-protests from the lens of the Japan Times. The research question asks how the Anpo-protests are portrayed in the Japan Times. The goal of the research question is to find out whether the Anpo-protests were portrayed as transnational in the Japan Times. This thesis is interested if the Anpo-protests had transnational influences. The results of the analysis indicate that the Japan Times is mainly interested certain issues, such as who are protesting, why they are protesting and how the protests are carried out. The codes that appear most frequently are communism, students and protests techniques. During the analysis over 1200 codes were reduced into 16 categories which were evolved further into themes. The themes are social unity of Japanese people, legitimacy and transnationalism. Social unity represents how people who were breaking the cohesion of society are judged on the newspaper. Legitimacy deals with the issue of what is legal and what is not. Transnationalism pays interests on transnational influences of the Anpo-protests such as peace activism, communism and democratic ideals. All themes express change in Japanese society. Results explain how the conception of peace, democracy, authority, violence and social unity changed due the Anpo-protests. The results indicate that Anpo-protests were portrayed transnationally to some extent on the Japan Times. Thus, Anpo-protests may have had some transnational connections. Broader analysis would offer more reliable results and thus this thesis serves only as a brief outlook to the Anpo-protests. However, this thesis offers valuable information of the Japan Times itself and of the major change in Japanese society that has often left without notice. Anpo-protests itself served as transnational influence on other protests which evolved later in the 1960s.

This thesis examines how otaku subculture has been considered in narratives of contemporary art. I will analyze how the relationship of otaku culture and art is presented in art historical bibliography and selected curatorial texts, with special attention on the usage and discourse on character (kyarakutaa) motifs. The materials consist of literature and articles on Japanese art history, art criticism and culture industry, as well as curatorial texts from two 2022 exhibitions About Character Painting and Nijigen-ha. The theoretical framework is based on the concept of cultural fields (Bourdieu 1993), and utilizes Baumann’s (2001, 2007) outline on conditions for artistic legitimization. Additionally, in the light of subculture studies, otaku culture and aesthetic theory concerning its semiotic nature will be reviewed. Many conditions have affected the way otaku character motifs have become a recurring topic within the history of fine arts. These include broader phenomena, such as the effects of culture policy and national branding linked to economic growth. Otaku motifs in art have also been connected to the rise of social media and alternative artistic practices that elude legitimized art institutions, such as museums and art universities. The differences in the operations and objectives within different cultural fields, i.e. the field of fine art and subcultural fields, manifest especially in how subcultural phenomena is treated within the field of fine art. In order to research otaku art beyond the perspectives that center national culture policy and art historical narratives built in the landscape of the 2000s, this work’s critical attention is expanded to include alternative institutions. By recognizing points of conflict between the systems pertaining to fine art and otaku subculture, I problematize the way low-hierarchical and amateur production modes have been capitalized to evoke appearances of authenticity and novelty in fine arts. Motifs associated with otaku culture came to the spotlight in art around the turn of the 21st century. Within over 20 years, artists’ affiliation with otaku culture and the overall nature of subcultural production have undergone changes that have not been sufficiently researched in academia. In the selected art historical examples and curatorial texts, we can observe narratives pointing to an artistic movement where visual conventions of otaku culture do not necessarily follow narratives of art that pose the use of character motifs as pastiches of otaku culture and media franchises. Instead, they are presented as modes of expression emerging from the environment of internet platforms, originating their formal mannerisms from contexts of subcultural production and amateur illustration. Many artists work within both otaku spaces and the field of fine art. Especially the two curatorial texts in focus emphasize young artists’ digital nativism, social media, as well as character imagery’s permeation into the everyday. Considering some current critical approaches of “otaku” art and character motifs, I suggest that this examination of more recent phenomena, such as these exhibitions, could open possibilities for new art historical knowledge.

This thesis focuses on sauna-going activities, also called sakatsu, to look at how contemporary Japanese sauna enthusiasts distinguish themselves from nonenthusiasts and each other. The current Japanese sauna boom is much more massive in scale compared to the earlier developments regarding saunas in Japan. Nevertheless, the boom has been left largely understudied in academic research. This is especially true when considering its social nature. Therefore, there is an enormous research gap to be filled. A case study of 67 semi-structured interviews was done between June 2022 and March 2023 to generate new data on the subject. The interviews were performed both online and locally in several locations across Japan. In this study, Bourdieu’s ideas of distinction and cultural capital are utilised as a theoretical basis. Prior research has been supplemented with contemporary commentaries and critiques, particularly Consalvo’s theorisations of gaming capital, to recontextualise the concept of cultural capital and apply it to the field of sauna-going. The author develops sauna-going capital as a theoretical approach to examine the social dimension of Japanese sauna enthusiasts. Through grounded theory, the study inductively unveils the five core categories of health and wellbeing, conduct, locality, connectedness and masculinity to show how saunas are discussed in different ways within each of these themes. The findings suggest that sauna enthusiasts have some commonly shared values based on which distinctions to nonenthusiasts are made. However, sauna enthusiasts are also very diverse as a group, which is seen in the contrasting opinions and assumptions concerning how sauna spaces should be utilised for enjoyment. This shows that there is not only one but multiple, diverging ways of accumulating sauna-going capital. Some of these ways are partly delineated according to the demographic lines of age and gender.

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for most cervical cancer cases. In Japan, the HPV vaccination coverage has dramatically fallen since the government suspended proactive recommendations for the vaccines in 2013, following sensational media reports on alleged adverse reactions. The suspension has not been lifted till today. The government has been criticized by medical establishment for lacking evidence-based policymaking. Grounded on the constructivist approach to scientific knowledge, the study examines how scientific knowledge has been enacted, interpreted, translated into policies by the government and the pro-vaccine institutions throughout the HPV vaccine crisis in Japan. Method: The study analyses the minutes of the governmental expert committee, as well as the proceedings, statements, and publications of three pro-vaccine and pro-resumption institutions. The analysis is conducted using the qualitative content analysis method. Results: The study shows that the government suspended recommendations based on an etiological uncertainty instead of epidemiological calculations and has prolonged the suspension based on the framing of HPV vaccination as an individual’s protection by choice in contrast to seeing it as a public health issue to be promoted in a national effort. It also shows that there is ample heterogeneity among the pro-vaccine and pro-resumption institutions in terms of grounds of arguments and scientific evidence they use to call for an early resumption of governmental recommendations for the HPV vaccines. Conclusions: The study shows a way to understand the Japanese government’s HPV vaccination policy over the past eight years, beyond criticizing it as lacking evidence that supports their policy. This analysis highlights the complexity of scientific knowledge, thus how contingently scientific knowledge come to be enacted as a basis for policy decisions, depending on the values and purposes the decision makers believes in.

The legacies of WWI often have central position in shaping national memory and in many occasions create national myth that shapes historical understanding in certain ways. The issues often trigger heated debate on how to interpret history in national and transnational context. Such is true for Finland. The history of the historiography of Finnish participation in WWII is a process of national interpretations being challenged from outside, notably researchers from Anglophone regions. The debate surrounding such challenges made from external perspectives are still topic of debate in the current context and calls for deconstructing the national myth to incorporate national history into European context are made. While the details of the Anglophone challenges are found in previous literature, how other researchers outside of Finland explained Finnish history of WWII are not well documented. To expand the landscape of the Finnish history research in other regions, this research will focus on the history writing of Japanese historians on Finnish WWII history. The literature that will be analysed are those published in Japan between 1951 and 2017, which includes works aimed at academic and public audience. Analysis will be made using conceptual history approach to understand the text “as they were written” through comparing them with the context within which it was written. The context includes both historiography of the Finnish WWII in available literature in English by Finnish and Anglophone authors, as well as Japanese sociopolitical and historiographical context of seiyōshi (Western History). Through the analysis, several findings were identified. Key findings include the shift in the nomenclature of the wars from wartime names, Soviet Finnish War, to translation of Finnish names, shift in the “problem space” of the Finnish history in Japanese literature, both of which originates to the clarification of the niche by the contributions from early historians. Another feature was relatively quick presentation and acceptance of Anglophone interpretations regarding the origins of the wars, though with variations between historians. This is most likely due to external perspective they share with those from Anglophone regions. The central finding of this research was the very strong emphasis on the small state in virtually all Japanese literature. While the notions appear in Finnish and Anglophone literature, the genre trope of the Western History research resonates strongly in the literature, especially the notions to “learn from the Occident”.

This thesis focuses on the localization of Japanese rhythm games in the United States and Europe. While the Western Guitar Hero and Rock Band rhythm game series enjoyed huge popularity among people around 2005–2010, the few Japanese rhythm games that were localized in the West during this period were, in general, not able to break through to mass appeal. This study’s aim is to shed light on the reasons why only few Japanese rhythm games have managed to get popular in the West. Concentrating on music used in these rhythm games localized from Japan, the study analyzes seven rhythm games’ localization strategy in regards to their decisions to either change the songs used in a game or to keep the original soundtrack unchanged. The study divides the used localization strategies into three categories: 1) fully localized, 2) partially localized, 3) not localized. The successfulness of the used localization strategy is then evaluated in relation to whether the rhythm game has received sequel localizations in the West. The second part of the study consists of analyses of three surveys aimed at the following three demographics: 1) Japanese Taiko no Tatsujin players, 2) Finnish digital game players, 3) Finnish anime/manga fans. The objectives of the three surveys were to get an understanding of people’s reasons to play rhythm games and what kind of music respondents wanted to be used in rhythm games. The study finds that the most successful localizations of Japanese rhythm games used lesser amount of localization for the rhythm game’s song list. The results from the two Finnish surveys also support this view. The three surveys also indicate that the music used in a rhythm game plays a key factor with original music composed specifically for the game gathering strong support across all three surveys. The thesis concludes with arguing that while the used music might not be the sole reason that decides the fate of a localized rhythm game, its importance should not be disregarded.

Overwork has been a major part of Japanese work culture ever since the second world war. Currently the diminishing working population and growing economic pressure have led to a situation where workers are required to commit their days and lives to work for companies to bloom. If overwork is temporary and controlled, it may be justified. However, there are cases in Japan where excessive overwork has become a norm inside the company. This may cause not only serious health problems and reduced working capacity but even death. This master’s thesis examines how two cases of overwork suicides (karōjisatsu) were dealt in two Japanese newspapers, Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun. The newspaper articles were based on two court decisions in which employees of Dentsu Inc. (Dentsu) killed themselves due to over work. In 1991 Ichiro Oshima hanged himself at his home, and in 2015 Matsuri Takahashi killed herself by jumping out of dormitory window. There were several similarities between the cases: both employees were only 24-year-old and they had been working for Dentsu only for approximately a year. Both of them had worked hundreds of hours over time. In Oshima’s case, the Supreme Court of Japan found in 2000 that he had died due to mental problems which were caused by the excessive overwork. The court deemed Dentsu to be responsible for his death as the company knew about his situation but chose not to do anything about it. In Takahashi’s case the Summary Court of Tokyo found that her death was caused by unreasonable overwork and found that this was caused by Dentsu’s actions. This paper starts with an introduction to the phenomenon, terminology, and presents some features of Japanese work culture. The next section explains the methodology of the research, which is qualitative analysis of the documents with features from case study. This is followed by presenting the gathered materials. The materials consist of 16 Japanese articles which were published on the date or the following day of the court decisions. In the analysis the goal is to find out what themes the newspapers reported from the cases, were they critical towards it, and whether they had any original comments or arguments regarding how these kinds of incidents could be prevented. Interest is also in whether the values of Japanese citizens can be read from the articles. Based on the analysis of the articles there were not many suggestions regarding what kind of changes could be made to the existing situation. The articles were mainly descriptive although some of them did have critical aspects about society’s role in the issue. Asahi Shimbun had more empathy on the victim’s side while Yomiuri Shimbun was more neutral. The articles brought up some problematic themes such as that working time is not controlled by the management, but it is left to the employees themselves. There were also statements from the bereaved parents of the victims and also some comments from experts and other Dentsu’s employees. Overall, based on these articles it is not possible to draw a clear picture regarding how the ordinary citizens in Japan feel about this issue. There is a need for further research because karōjisatsu is a serious problem which needs to be solved. At the moment there is plenty of research from medical and psychological perspective but not much research from the sociological, cultural and legal perspective. Comparative study between different countries could be fruitful.

In this work I examine how imōto-moe, a recent trend in Japanese animation and manga in which incestual connotations and relationships between brothers and sisters is shown, contributes to the sexualization of girls in the Japanese society. This is done by analysing four different series from 2010s, in which incest is a major theme. The analysis is done using visual analysis.The study concludes that although the series can show sexualization of drawn underage girls, reading the works as if they would posit either real or fictional little sisters as sexual targets. Instead, the analysis suggests that following the narrative, the works should be read as fictional underage girls expressing a pure feelings and sexuality, unspoiled by adult corruption.To understand moe, it is necessary to understand the history of Japanese animation. Much of the genres, themes and styles in manga and anime are due to Tezuka Osamu, the “god of manga” and “god of animation”. From the 1950s, Tezuka was influenced by Disney and other western animators at the time. His stories and themes had intellectual and philosophical depth that the western counterparts did not have. The works also touched themes that the western animation steered away from, including sexuality, which was not compartmentalized in a similar fashion in Japan as it was in the Western world. His works not only created new genres by themselves, but the constant combination by future generations created thethematic complexity that can be seen in manga and anime today.Tezuka also had a role in underage girl sexualization: his girl characters were an inspiration for the sexuality of little girls, both real and fictional, in the 70s. The western works of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland drew attention to the cuteness of little girls. In combination, sexualized versions of Tezuka’s characters were drawn, at first as a parody. In the 80s there was a boom of drawn girls in sexually compromised situations, or loliconart. Duringthe 80s, the focus shifted away from connotations to real girl imagery and drawn rape imagery towards less violent forms.In 1989, a dubious connection was drawn between otaku, fans of popular culture, including loliconimagery, and a serial killer of small children. The moral panic that followed slowed the spread of loliconin the 90s.Meanwhilein the 90s, an idea of moebegan to form: if fictional little girls are not corrupted by adult sexuality, the girls cause feelings of affection in the viewer. The viewers are affected by moe via isolated, but recognizable tropes, such as cat ears and tail, a speech habit, or twin tails. A part of this research is to examine how well imōto-fits under the loliconcriteria, and undermoe: the characters are sexualized: they are showing having sexual thoughts and expressing sexual activity. After the examination, I conclude that, at least in the works examined, imōto-moe fits under the latter category: the male partners are passive and follow the girl’s lead, the ages are very close, and many of the series emphasize the virtual aspect: to enjoy little sisters, they have to be two-dimensional, outside the laws of reality.

This study employs an exploratory look into the immigration policy in the contemporary Japan, in the light of an ongoing demographic transition. As the native Japanese population ages, the government officials have turned their attention towards foreign labor to fill the labor deficits in several working sectors. The scrutiny in the study focuses on examining the immigration policy environment and the government operations in increasing the international labor mobility in Japan. The exploratory approach in the study reflects the aspirations of the study to act as a groundwork for further research of the topic by creating hypotheses of the matters examined. Through the use of an analytical framework and a rational logic model based on policy analysis, the study analyzes the Japanese governments immigration policy plan from 2015 and the implemented policies until second quarter of 2019. The examined material is comprised of official publications from the Japanese Ministry of Justice. The results of the study show a set of distinguishable tendencies of the immigration policy in the second decade of the 21st century; a clear preference for highly skilled foreign labor over less skilled one, reluctance of major reforms in opening the labor market for foreign labor, lack of centralized support for multicultural coexistence, preferential treatment for Japanese descendants, and the election of time-limited measures to tackle labor deficits. The study concludes, that even after the realization of the demographic change and the labor deficits by the Japanese officials, the opening of the labor market for the foreign labor remains constricted. Of the immigration policies, the trainee programs show major potential in attracting the low and medium skilled labor, the type of labor most required, and the further revision of the program could promote it to be a cornerstone for increasing the international labor mobility in Japan.