Media language
As mentioned in the introduction, Japanese audiences are exposed to several hours of media language every day. Media language therefore forms a large part of daily language use in Japan. This fact alone warrants closer linguistic attention, and there is indeed a large body of Japanese linguistic research on media language. However, there are great differences in the way language research is conducted in Japan compared to Europe and the United States. In Japan, research into media language is heavily dominated by the public broadcaster NHK's Committee for Broadcasting Language (Hoso Yogo Iinkai), with almost no linguistic research on media language by researchers outside the NHK. (15) The dominant role of the NHK language research committee is not surprising, given that many famous Japanese linguists, such as Haruhiko Kindaiichi and Takeshi Shibata, have worked for the NHK language committee over the years. Also, NHK conducts many major studies in cooperation with established language institutions such as the National Language Research Institute (Kokuritsu Kokugo Kenkyujo). Research conducted by NHK is generally of a high standard; however, it is limited in its scope in that it is mainly intended to protect language standards in broadcasting and to improve the comprehensibility of news and information in NHK programs. As a result, there is very little research on language use and the content of programs on private television. In addition, NHK language surveys rely heavily on quantitative methods and focus on micro-levels of language use (accent, foreign loanwords, the composition of headlines, etc.). Qualitative methods with a broader interest in media texts and their communicative functions, such as discourse analysis or the analysis of communication strategies characteristic of particular television programs, are only slowly finding their way into mainstream Japanese social and linguistic research. In the 1990s, qualitative research methods of the "media literacy" approach were mainly promoted by community groups such as Shimin no terebi no kai ("Forum for Citizen's Television, FCT"). The Forum for Citizen's Television translated the Ontario Ministry of Education's Media Literacy Resource Guide into Japanese (1992) and later conducted a media literacy study of television coverage of the Great Hanshin Earthquake (1995). Two recent Japanese publications promote further media literacy research in Japan (Suzuki 2000) and discuss the state of media literacy in other countries (Sugaya 2000). In Europe and the United States, on the other hand, quantitative empirical research of media output (such as content analysis) is increasingly supplemented by qualitative media studies conducted in linguistic pragmatics, discourse and conversation analysis as well as in media literacy and cultural studies. A number of empirical studies (e.g. Iyengar 1991, and in more detail Brosius 1995) show there is a strong link between the way information is presented and how viewers process this information. According to Brosius (1995, p. 129), the main impact of television news does not lie in learning specific pieces of information. Rather, television news leaves "unspecific impressions" on the viewer, which may relate, for example, to the public image of political actors, to the perceived relevance of problems, and to the viewer's assumptions about where public opinion lies on particular issues. Linguistic media research explores the various ways information is framed in the media to achieve strategic communicative goals. For example, in the news sector these goals may include that news programs are "easy to understand" and that they appear to be "reliable," "up to date," "informative," "objective," "critical" or "entertaining." Similarly, participants in media dialogues, such as in political interviews, employ media-specific communication strategies to achieve a favorable impression on the audience. In Japan, commercial late-night news shows such as "Newsstation" (TV Asahi), "News 23" (Tokyo Broadcasting System) or "News Japan" (Fuji TV) regularly attract large audiences and successfully compete with the more traditional news programs on NHK. A major part of their success is due to the way these programs present information, rather than the actual content of that information. However, to date there is no Japanese analysis of communication strategies in these programs. The only currently available study of presentation strategies employed in popular Japanese late-night news programs broadcast during the 1990s on Japan's five major stations (NHK, TV Asahi, TBS, Fuji TV and Nihon TV) is Gatzen (2001). In the broader picture of media research, qualitative studies, including the linguistic analysis of individual television programs, complement quantitative methods often used in political and social sciences, such as surveys and content analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative methods need to be combined in assessing the impact of media communication on politics and society (Krauss 1998). There is clearly need for more qualitative research into media language in Japan. Apart from news shows, there are many other programs that would be interesting for further analysis, both with regard to the media and to a wider understanding of language use in Japan. For example, discussion programs such as "Asa made nama terebi" ("Life TV Until Dawn," TV Asahi) show discursive patterns that are clearly different from the idealized descriptions that are often found in linguistic literature on Japanese communication. A careful analysis of this and other programs would look into the strategic application or violation of "ideal" Japanese communication patterns with regard to politeness, turn-taking, directness in expressing opinions or dissent, etc. Media and gender
Media communication both reflects and influences social values and impacts the formation or reinforcement of gender stereotypes in society. A large part of gender-specific media research in Japan focuses on women in the media, with somewhat less research available on other gender-related topics such as male stereotyping (for example, with regard to the role of fathers) or gay issues (for a perspective on gay issues in Japanese media see, for example, McLelland 1999). In 1994, a book on the history of women in the mass media published by the Society of Japanese Women in Radio and Television (Nihon Josei Hososha Kondankai) celebrated women's contributions to Japan's media industry. Compared to a decade ago, the number of women working in the media seems to be on the increase, with more women in prominent and not gender-specific roles, such as news readers or main presenters of current affairs and documentary programs. Furthermore, the traditional pattern of "older and experienced male anchorperson and young and attractive female co-presenter" was reversed in several news shows on commercial television during the 1990s. For example, "News Japan" (Fuji TV) and "Kyo no dekigoto" ("Today's Events"; Nihon TV) are both news programs with women as main presenters. Similarly, some current affairs programs on NHK, such as "Kurozu appu gendai" ("Today's Close-Up"), are presented by well-known female journalists. However, the overall picture is still one of a great gender imbalance both in print and broadcast media. For example, in 1993, NHK employed a total of 963 women (7.1 percent of all staff) compared to 12,632 men. The ratio of women in the newspaper industry is even lower at 6.8 percent of staff (Muramatsu 1998, p. 21). When it comes to the number of women in higher offices, the situation is even more unbalanced. In 1995, women accounted for 0.4 percent of employees in higher positions in Japan's broadcasting sector (compared with 24.1 percent in France and 13.9 percent in Britain). Japanese women also held a similarly miniscule share of 0.2 percent of top jobs in print media (Muramatsu 1998, p. 25). Another area of gender-related research is the analysis of media content with regard to gender stereotyping. The depiction of women in fictional drama series on Japanese television has undergone dramatic changes since the 1970s (Chioya 1998, Goessmann 1998). In the mid-1970s, two stereotypical role models prevailed, namely the strong and successful mother figure and the tragic heroine who lives in exile from her family. In the 1980s, family drama series began to show more varied role models, with more female characters taking their lives into their own hands. However, this does not mean that the idea of a woman's true place being in the home and with her family has vanished entirely from television fiction. For example, it is still a common feature of many television dramas that the woman, not the man, will give up her career to serve her family (Goessmann 1998, p. 71). The women's magazine market also changed significantly from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s. The once popular traditional genre of "housewife magazines" lost readers over this period and had almost disappeared by 1995, whereas "lifestyle magazines" increased their already large market share by a further 4.5 percent from 1982 to 1995 (Morohashi 1998, p. 194-196). The other two most successful genres in the 1990s were women's weekly magazines featuring gossip, scandals and human interest stories; and fashion magazines, including young fashion, fashion for office ladies (known as OL) and fashion for women in their 30s. Morohashi (p. 204) also notes that in many fashion magazines, genuine "journalistic" articles account for less than one-third of a magazine's content. For example, the June 1995 issue of the fashion magazine "non-no" contained only 27.4 percent articles, compared with 43.9 percent advertisements and 28.7 percent advertisement articles. As a result, these magazines have been dubbed "catalogue magazines." This is certainly not a specifically Japanese phenomenon, and a closer look at many English-language magazines such as Vogue, Cosmopolitan or Harper's Bazaar will reveal very similar patterns. The majority of Japanese women's magazines tend to focus on stereotypical women's topics such as fashion, makeup, cooking, gossip, human interest, sex, romance and family life. Interestingly, even "career woman magazines" -- which promote greater participation by women in the labor market -- fail to address the issue of men's and children's participation in household chores (Morohashi 1998, p. 209). Japanese men's magazines traditionally focus on politics, leisure and sex with little interest in family and domestic issues. However, in the 1980s, some magazines aimed at a younger male audience, such as Popeye and Hot Dog Press, began to copy the "catalogue magazine" format and included more topics traditionally associated with women's magazines, such as lifestyle, fashion and advice on romantic relationships. Gender relations in Japan continue to change, and the media both reflect these developments and provide new role models. Many of the topics raised above are also relevant for the mass media in other industrialized countries, which makes media and gender a particularly exciting area for intercultural research.
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