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- Genre: Masters Thesis
Explaining Fukushima to children: a cross-cultural study of bodily functions as metaphor in Japanese
Description
This research proposes that a cross-cultural disconnect exists between Japanese and American English in the realm of bodily functions used as metaphor. Perhaps nowhere is this notion illustrated more clearly than by a cartoon that was inspired by recent tragic events in Japan. In the afternoon of Friday, March 11, 2011, the northeast coast of Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami that caused immeasurable loss of life and property and catastrophic damage to the nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture. In the immediate wake of these events, Japanese artist Hachiya Kazuhiko, determined to make the situation comprehensible to children, created a cartoon in which he anthropomorphized the damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactor and likened the dangers associated with it to illness and bodily functions. This cartoon garnered considerable notoriety, both in Japan and abroad. The reactions of English speakers appeared to differ from those of Japanese speakers, suggesting the existence of a possible cross-cultural disconnect. This research into the reactions to the cartoon and other relevant literature (both in English and Japanese), viewed against federal regulations regarding the broadcast of "obscenity" in the United States, commentary on American society, and how the use of similar language in American cartoons is seen, clearly indicates that negative attitudes toward the use of bodily functions as metaphor exist in the United States, while the same usage is seen differently in Japan.
ContributorsHacker, Michael (Author) / Adams, Karen (Thesis advisor) / Gelderen, Elly van (Thesis advisor) / Prior, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACT Cyberbullying has emerged as one of educators' and researchers' chief concerns as the use of computer mediated communication (CMC) has become ubiquitous among young people. Many undesirable outcomes have been identified as being linked to both traditional and cyberbullying, including depression,truancy, and suicide. America and Japan have both been identified as nations whose youth engage frequently in the use of CMC, and may be at a potentially higher risk to be involved in cyberbullying. Time spent using CMC has been linked to involvement in cyberbullying, and gender and age have, in turn, been linked to CMC use - these may play significant roles in determining who is at risk. In order to assess the effects of nationality, gender, and age on cyberbullying involvement among Japanese and American middle school students, a survey exploring these factors was developed and carried out with 590 American and Japanese middles school students (Japan: n = 433 and America: n = 157). MANOVA results indicated that that Americans tend to both use CMC more and be more involved in cyberbullying. In addition, Japanese involvement increased with age, while American involvement did not. There were minimal differences between Americans and Japanese with regards to traditional bullying.
ContributorsLerner, David (Author) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Thesis advisor) / Caterino, Linda (Thesis advisor) / Ladd, Becky (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This thesis explores the relationship between the Japanese urban myth of Kuchisake-onna and expectations of motherhood in postwar Japan. The following study was performed with the goal of establishing Kuchisake-onna’s spontaneous emergence in 1970s Japan as a response to the Ūman Ribu (a contracted transliteration of “Women’s Liberation”) Movement, a new wave of feminism. Historically, a Japanese nuclear family unit (ie) was considered to be fundamental to the structure and stability of the nation. As women increasingly sought to shift from their roles as mothers within the domestic sphere in order to pursue employment outside as sararī ūman (“salary woman”), the ie was threatened. At the same time, unrealistic expectations and the pressure of motherhood resulted in numerous cases of filicide in Japan in the 1970s. This research study engages textual history, feminist theory, news/magazine articles, and an analysis of the film Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007). I conclude that Kuchisake-onna’s representation within Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman serves to address a perceived need for liberation from the overly rigid expectations that mothers in 1970s Japan faced to excel within their roles as the custodians of the domestic sphere. However, it also allows for a reading whereby the Kuchisake-onna’s emergence cannot be attributed to a single notion of the ‘good’ or ‘bad’ mother. Rather, it is the failure of the ie system which creates insurmountable pressures for these women to fulfill the role of the perfect mother which allows for the manifestation of Kuchisake-onna.
ContributorsShartle, Ryden John Thomas (Author) / Tuck, Robert J (Thesis advisor) / Hedberg, William (Committee member) / Kroo, Judit (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
In 1915, a bear slew and consumed seven residents of a farming hamlet in Hokkaido, Japan. The circumstances surrounding these killings are laden with semiotic gravitas. A comprehensive analysis of the millennia of historical forces that preceded and begat Japan's modern shift is impractical. Rather it is through the identification of the ideal précis of change, and a Thick Analysis thereof, that I arrive at an understanding of how, and precisely when, Japan crossed modernity's rampart. The attacks perpetrated by, and the hunt and dispatch of, the bear include aspects of separation from the past vis a vis their relationship to religion, the Ainu, and the artifacts of daily life. The bear's presence and anthropophagous propensity relate to the primal human urge to practice arctolatry, and Japanese patterns of relationship between men, land, and animals. So too is the gory nature of the incident analytically valuable insofar as macabre events resonate in the breasts of men. Finally, the presence of a monster indicates, as per Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, an epochal liminality. Thus through a disarticulation of this incident, I arrive at a cogent understanding of what sundered Japan from her past.
ContributorsLaichtman, David Aaron (Author) / Fixico, Donald (Thesis advisor) / Hedberg, William C. (Committee member) / Duan, Lei (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020