In present-day Japan, social interaction among people with diverse backgrounds is increasing, driven by societal transformations such as population aging, immigration, and a broader spectrum of gender identities. To address rising social intolerance and division stemming from these changes, it is crucial to revisit the issue of marginalization. Linguistic Tactics and Strategies of Marginalization in Japanese offers invaluable insights into current issues in Japanese society based on the critical analysis of marginalization.
The volume consists of eleven chapters, which are segmented into two parts. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction, and part 1, covering chapters 2–6, presents five separate studies of marginalization using natural language data. In contrast, part 2 presents four studies analyzing mediatized language data in chapters 7–10, and concludes with the closing remarks of chapter 11. Although the research chapters are written by different authors, each study focuses on marginalization as the central topic and follows a consistent structure in line with the convention of IMRaD (Introduction/Method/Results/Discussion). This consistency enhances the accessibility of the book in a way that readers can read each chapter separately. This book’s contents will spark the interest not only of scholars in sociology, sociolinguistics, and research methodology, but also of non-Japanese readers who wish to gain a deeper understanding of subtle nuances in Japanese usage, cultural knowledge, social norms, and ongoing debates in Japanese society.
Chapter 1 introduces marginalization as a strategy used by the powerful to exclude, regulate, and control others and a tactic of the less powerful or self-marginalization, where individuals choose to step outside the center to resist, reframe, or carve out alternative spaces. In relation to the marginalization strategy and tactic, the introduction of the concept ba (placehood) successfully contextualizes the following studies as the interactional spaces of marginalization and linguistic discourse.
Part 1 presents marginalization studies based on the naturalistic discourse of Japanese youth in chapters 2 and 3, while chapters 4–6 focus on career perspectives. In chapter 2, Judit Kroo analyzes micropolitics among Japanese university students based on the use of mitai na (be like) constructions. Two naturalistic discourse datasets were gathered from four female university students through ethnography, reflecting young Japanese people’s views on desirable femininity and normative dating practices. The analysis of this data is detailed, describing the mitai na constructions as a tactic of less powerful individuals. Similarly, in chapter 3, Andrew Barke and Momoyo Shimazu explore how job-hunting changes university students’ perceptions of a model gurōbaru jinzai (global personnel). This model is considered increasingly important among university students who are involved in job-hunting because Japanese companies seek personnel who can respond to the trend of the globalized market and internationalization. To investigate how the perception and understanding of this crucial concept among university students changes during this period, three surveys were conducted before, during, and after their job-hunting, as well as follow-up group discussions for each survey. This longitudinal study depicts Japanese university students’ identity struggles and the reconstructions of their identity.
Shifting the focus from young Japanese individuals to career perspectives, chapter 4 sees Kyoko Satoh analyzing a narrative interview of a Japanese actress in her sixties reflecting on her career. A bibliographic narration in the interview describes her hardships and struggles as a woman pursuing her career while also balancing the responsibilities of motherhood. This analysis provides deep insights into femininity and masculinity with dominant gendered discourse in Japanese society. In chapter 5, Yuzuko Nagashima and Luke Lawrence investigate the marginalization of workers from a different career perspective, echoing the voices from English Language Teachers (ELTs). Three ELTs, all female, non-Japanese, and non-native English speakers, participated in a three-stage study: the first stage involved written narratives eliciting difficulties or marginalizing incidents they had faced; the second involved a semi-structured interview based on the first stage data; and the third involved a group interview. The triangulated data reveal marginalization issues faced by ELTs in Japan, including gendered stereotypes, expectations regarding standard English accents, the privileging of native-speaker perspectives and nationalities, as well as the challenges of being non-Japanese. Concluding part 1, chapter 6 presents Keiko Tsuchiya’s analysis of a Japanese parliamentary debate involving three female politicians. Given the situation where male politicians still dominate Japanese politics, this chapter includes quantitative data, such as speaking time, word count, and the number of turns in a recording of a parliamentary debate. The qualitative analysis of marginalization strategies also indicates that female politicians need to regulate their speeches, highlighting gender gaps in Japanese politics.
In contrast to the natural language analysis in part 1, part 2 focuses on the analysis of mediatized language. While some argue that the mediatized language in chapter 7—such as that of a TV drama—is fictional, chapters 8–10 support the claim of the media’s societal impact, providing convincing evidence from social media platforms. In chapter 7, Junko Saito begins by analyzing the categorizations of a Canadian, male, gay character in a Japanese TV drama. The analysis based on membership categorization of the gay character illustrates that the perceptions of Japanese characters toward the gay character shifted from negative to positive; the mediatized message implicitly supports non-heteronormativity.
Unlike the fictional story from mass media, in chapter 8, Gavin Furukawa also demonstrates the media’s impact through an analysis of social media activities of queer Japanese YouTubers. Four video extracts from two YouTube channels were analyzed based on categories. For example, in a video where a YouTuber asked people on the street whether they wanted a free hug and wanted to support the LGBT community, people were categorized into passersby, people with similar concerns, and people who expressed support (allies). For marginalized people, the presence of their followers, not only on social media platforms such as YouTube but also on the real street, creates ibasho (social spaces). Chapter 9 extends the analysis of ibasho to a digital space, Yahoo! Chiebukuro (a forum-style social media platform). Giancarla Unser-Schutz examined ninety-one posts that contain the term fujoshi (female fans of boys’ love comics) to investigate their use of self-denigrating humor. In general, this type of humor is perceived as negative; however, on the social media platform where anonymity is protected, self-denigration allows fujoshi to present a positive image, controlling their self-presentation while demonstrating awareness of potential criticism. Finally, in chapter 10, Rika Yamashita further supports this by analyzing X (formerly Twitter) posts that contain the hashtag or the term hāfu aruaru (experiences commonly faced by racially or ethnically mixed individuals). Given that Japan is largely racially homogeneous and many biracial individuals feel marginalized in society, hāfu aruaru posts were analyzed based on their experience of microaggressions invoking pain or anger. Interestingly, X posts that narrate experiences of microaggression omit specific ethnic identifiers, implying that such social media posts frame the painful experiences of biracial individuals as a collective experience, enabling them to self-identify as hāfu and build a community to resist marginalization.
Overall, this volume provides deep insights into widespread issues in Japanese society from the perspectives of marginalization. Chapter 11’s ending remarks recommend examining the lived realities, social systems, and spatial dimensions of the social worlds explored in each chapter in greater depth. Therefore, further critical analysis is essential for disentangling the complex nature of these issues. In this regard, this volume offers invaluable resources and implications for critically engaging with the complexities of Japanese society.