Marcella Maria Mariotti

“Japanese Language Learning through Authentic Materials: Insights from an Italian University Case Study”

This essay deals with what we could call ‘the adequacy of a writing system to the society it serves’. It is intended to be a sociolinguistic approach to writing, which is, however, seldom tackled by modern linguists. In other words, the question can be reformulated as: ‘How does the mixed logophonographic kanji-kana majiri writing system presently used in Japan work in modern Japanese society? And, above all, does it fulfil its task or is it too cumbersome, causing difficulty in learning and manipulation? Or, on the contrary, is it too poor, causing inadequacy and ambiguity?’ Summary 1. An Outline of the Problem. – 2. Japanese Writing System in Modern Society. – 3. A Different Approach to Japanese Writing System. – 4. Concluding Remarks. – Appendix. 1 An Outline of the Problem I will discuss the case of the modern Japanese writing system by starting with two fundamental points, one a statement and one a question: 1. The writing system of present-day Japan is ancient (statement); 2. Considering the first point, how does this ancient writing system work in modern Japanese society? (question). As to the first point, there are good reasons to support the view that the present-day Japanese writing system is ancient. If we look at the Latin alphabet, we can acknowledge that it is without a doubt ancient, even more ancient than the system used by the Japanese. We may argue over the meaning of ‘ancient’ in reference to a writing system. Actually, it has a double meaning: 1. The characters have a long history. 2. The ‘system’ – how it works or how it is related to the spoken language – has developed in ancient times, and has remained ossified at an old stage. Of course, here I am referring to the second case. As regards the English writing system, for example, nobody can deny that it is typical of the second case since it represents language at an older stage, and has remained fixed at that stage. The question, then, is the reciprocal relation between a writing system and language. The present-day Japanese writing system, which was also developed in ancient times, has remained fundamentally unchanged up to now, and has influenced the spoken language.

JALEA: an authentic and personal path to JApaneseLEArning

This paper aims to present JALEA, an innovative web tool for the acquisition of the Japanese language dedicated to higher education learners. In particular it highlights the innovative learner-centered approach based on the self-guided discovery of grammar structures and words’ meanings through the combined use of realia (multimedia contents referring to real-life situations in Japan), hyperlinks and interactive features such as pop-up dictionary, character-writing explanations, slow-motion option in video examples, etc. Moreover, it illustrates the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) characteristics of this web tool, permitting on the one hand the smooth working of the application on several platforms (pc, tablet and smartphone); on the other, its sustainability and maintainability thanks to the implementation of a layer accessible to maintainers (backend) with several automatization features that facilitate the addition of more contents, also by personnel with low ICT knowledge or skills.

Contemporary Japan. The Challenge of a World Economic Power during a Period of Transition

This essay deals with what we could call ‘the adequacy of a writing system to the society it serves’. It is intended to be a sociolinguistic approach to writing, which is, however, seldom tackled by modern linguists. In other words, the question can be reformulated as: ‘How does the mixed logophonographic kanji-kana majiri writing system presently used in Japan work in modern Japanese society? And, above all, does it fulfil its task or is it too cumbersome, causing difficulty in learning and manipulation? Or, on the contrary, is it too poor, causing inadequacy and ambiguity?’ Summary 1. An Outline of the Problem. – 2. Japanese Writing System in Modern Society. – 3. A Different Approach to Japanese Writing System. – 4. Concluding Remarks. – Appendix. 1 An Outline of the Problem I will discuss the case of the modern Japanese writing system by starting with two fundamental points, one a statement and one a question: 1. The writing system of present-day Japan is ancient (statement); 2. Considering the first point, how does this ancient writing system work in modern Japanese society? (question). As to the first point, there are good reasons to support the view that the present-day Japanese writing system is ancient. If we look at the Latin alphabet, we can acknowledge that it is without a doubt ancient, even more ancient than the system used by the Japanese. We may argue over the meaning of ‘ancient’ in reference to a writing system. Actually, it has a double meaning: 1. The characters have a long history. 2. The ‘system’ – how it works or how it is related to the spoken language – has developed in ancient times, and has remained ossified at an old stage. Of course, here I am referring to the second case. As regards the English writing system, for example, nobody can deny that it is typical of the second case since it represents language at an older stage, and has remained fixed at that stage. The question, then, is the reciprocal relation between a writing system and language. The present-day Japanese writing system, which was also developed in ancient times, has remained fundamentally unchanged up to now, and has influenced the spoken language.

Rethinking Nature in Contemporary Japan: Science, Economics, Politics

In the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 3/11, one disputed issue has been the acceptance of precedent nuclear energy policies among the wider population, despite Japan being a country of high seismic risk and a nation that experienced atomic bombing on its population during World War II. This paper investigates how the transmedia constellation of the mangaesque intersecting manga, anime, pop-art, governmental educational characters and youth subcultures has been strategic in domesticating contested meanings of nuclear related issues, as well as being deeply informed itself in its ground-breaking stages (Astroboy-Tezuka Osamu, Barefoot Gen-Nakazawa Keiji, Little Boy-Murakami Takashi) by these issues, contributing ultimately to their naturalisation and hegemonic reproduction from ‘below’. 1 (Post)nuclear Japan: nation, hegemony from ‘below’ and media mix 3/11 marks a date of no return for post-war Japan, not dissimilar to 9/11 for the USA. It is a numerical symbol that has united the nation through the shared experience of such a catastrophic and tragic event – to the extent that the term ‘3/11 Generation’ has been coined – but has also divided it due to the many critical voices regarding the founding assumptions of its politics, society, and culture.1 In particular, the devastating incident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant highlighted an apparent paradox. How was it possible to reach hegemonic consensus on nuclear energy policies in Japan in the post-war period, when it was the only country in the world to have suffered from atomic bombings on its cities? How was it possible to build 54 nuclear reactors in a densely populated and small archipelago 1 See Anais Ginori’s interview with Azuma Hiroki «La guerra contro la natura della ‘Generazione 11 marzo’» (3.11 Generation’s War against Nature), la Repubblica, 14 March 2011. For an overview of critical voices and initiatives regarding the Fukushima accident in Japan (translated into German and partially into English), see the website Textinitiative Fukushima (http://www.textinitiative-fukushima.de/pages/die-initiative.php). While for the official report on the incident that points to responsibilities in the Government and TEPCO (the operator of the Fukushima nuclear power plant), extending its accusation to ‘Japanese culture’, see The National Diet of Japan (2012), The Official Report of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission. This paper was originally presented at the symposium X Magis Gorizia Filmforum Festival with the title «Desiring the Atom: Hegemony and Media Convergence in Japanese Popular Cultures» (24 March 2012). It is an integrated translation into English of Introduzione (Introduction) and «Desideri nucleari: convergenze mediatiche nelle culture popolari giapponesi» (Nuclear Desires: Media Convergence in Japanese Popular Cultures), both originally published in Italian: Miyake 2012 («Introduzione», pp. 118-124; «Desideri nucleari», pp. 162-174). Rethinking nature in contemporary Japan: Science, economics, politics 72 Miyake. Mangaesque convergence in post-war Japan with such a high seismic risk? And lastly, how was it possible that even local residents living close to the nuclear power plants would perceive them as bright and friendly places?2 Until now, the investigation had mainly focused on how nuclear policies were institutionalised in different spheres, from the geo-political (USAJapan relations), political (energy policies), economical (industrial lobbies) to the social (civil society, press) and geographical (marginalisation of non-urban areas) spheres.3 However, as Antonio Gramsci reminds us, hegemony is not reducible to power imposed from ‘above’ in a unilateral way (Gramsci 1975). In order to be effective as a historical bloc of heterogenous social forces, hegemony requires a fluid and polyphonic process where both convergent and divergent discursive practices concur jointly to articulate each other.4 In other words, the effectiveness of a historically constituted hegemony sustaining a given nation-state and its collective identity is proportional to its capacity to mobilise an active consent that is as diffused as possible among the wider population, intersecting cumulatively different levels of experience, from rational to more emotional ones. Hence, the utmost relevance of hegemony from ‘below’ in the modern age, and particularly of popular cultures as a strategic site for the (re)production and negotiation of any established order. As convincingly put forward by Utsumi Hirofumi (2012) and Yoshimi Shun’ya (2012), discourses on the nuclear in post-war Japan have been extensively connected to national issues, popular self-images and dreams, making it possible to structure and domesticate most of the divergent perceptions. If in the immediate post-war period the prevailing image of Japan was that of the tragic victim of the Nuclear Age, symbolised by the atomic mushrooms of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, after the end of the USAled occupation in 1952, and at the dawn of its first economic ‘miracle’, a shift occurred towards a more optimistic representation of the nation as a champion of peace, science, and technology. Under the hegemony of the US Cold War «Atoms for Peace» programme, Japan renounced, at least officially, the detention, production, and employment of nuclear weapons, which led to the declaration of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles (1971), 2 The initial research questions for this study are inspired by a personal communication from a former resident of the Fukushima area, who defined pre-3/11 perceptions among locals about the nuclear power plant as akarui (bright, friendly, cheerful). According to the informant, this was due not only to the economic benefits and job opportunities, but in particular for the visitors centre, festivals, concerts and other events organized by the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plant operator TEPCO (see also Sumihara 2002). 3 For a first overview of investigations in English after 3/11, see The Asian-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus (http://www.japanfocus.org/). 4 For an interpretation of the so-called ‘nuclear villages’ (genshiryoku mura) as a historical bloc, as a system of converging interests including the Government, bureaucracy, energy and construction industry, mass media, university, etc., refer to Itō 2011.