As the game industry grows larger, game localization becomes more important. This thesis focuses on the way game localizers deal with the translation of Japanese role language in two entries of the...Show moreAs the game industry grows larger, game localization becomes more important. This thesis focuses on the way game localizers deal with the translation of Japanese role language in two entries of the popular Final Fantasy franchise.Show less
The thesis analyzes US-Japan-China relations, and tries to seek the driving factors behind the relational dynamics. It contrasts constructivist IR theory with (structural) realist IR theory to...Show moreThe thesis analyzes US-Japan-China relations, and tries to seek the driving factors behind the relational dynamics. It contrasts constructivist IR theory with (structural) realist IR theory to explain these dynamics. It concludes the contrast gives a much more nuanced perspective on power dynamics and threat perception within trilateral and bilateral relations of said countries since Trump's inauguration.Show less
This thesis looks at Chikamatsu Monzaemon's domestic puppet play "The Love Suicide at Amijima" as a multi-level performance. It revisits the textual interpretations of Donald H. Shively and Donald...Show moreThis thesis looks at Chikamatsu Monzaemon's domestic puppet play "The Love Suicide at Amijima" as a multi-level performance. It revisits the textual interpretations of Donald H. Shively and Donald Keene, and the musical interpretation of Andrew Gerstle, while adding a study of visual elements for a full interpretation. It argues that textual elements alone do not lead to an adequate interpretation. Furthermore, it argues that Chikamatsu's stylized representation of reality, as opposed to a naturalistic one, does not impact the quality negatively, as is suggested by Shively.Show less
This thesis further explores the concept of prosodic minimums, as laid out by Itou et al., by accounting for anime title abbreviations within the established theory. Research performed led to the...Show moreThis thesis further explores the concept of prosodic minimums, as laid out by Itou et al., by accounting for anime title abbreviations within the established theory. Research performed led to the preliminary conclusion that the majority of anime title abbreviations adhered to the established prosodic minimums, although in a small set of instances they did not. To account for this, an interdisciplinary approach was taken by involving theories surrounding brand linguistics and sound-associative vocabulary (such as onomatopoeia), which led to speculative findings aptly suited for future research.Show less
The thesis analyses the process of Japanese trade liberalisation by examining a shift (on the surface) in the Japanese government’s attitude towards trade policies, and tries to explain why the Abe...Show moreThe thesis analyses the process of Japanese trade liberalisation by examining a shift (on the surface) in the Japanese government’s attitude towards trade policies, and tries to explain why the Abe government’s stance changed.Show less
The field of research on e-sports is relatively new, and research about e-sports in Japan is limited. Broadly speaking, e-sports refers to video games that are played competitively in tournaments...Show moreThe field of research on e-sports is relatively new, and research about e-sports in Japan is limited. Broadly speaking, e-sports refers to video games that are played competitively in tournaments and leagues. This study will first further elaborate on the term e-sports and explain e-sports by breaking it down into the player, organizational and spectatorship aspects. A review of the literature on Japanese e-sports, and looking at the state of e-sports in Japan reveals several aspects that will form the basis of this study. Firstly, e-sports is a global phenomenon but has had its own developmental trajectory in each country (Kato Hiroyasu, 2018b, p. 136). Japan is considered to be behind developmentally in terms of e-sports compared to countries like South Korea (Kanbe Masayuki, 2012). Further, the literature on Japanese e-sports is scarce. Scholars have argued that the literature on game related studies is Western-centric, and argue that studies are needed that use knowledge of Japanese studies to examine game culture in Japan (Picard & Pelletier-Gagnon, 2015, p. 1-2). Thirdly, Japanese scholars such as Kato Hiroyasu argue for the interpretation of e-sports as a sport rather than seeing games as play (in the sense of leisure of pastime). The scholar Taylor has also broken down the process of professionalization that players experience on their way to becoming pro gamers in e-sports. These two scholars involve themselves in the question of professionalization (transformation from someone who plays games to a pro gamer who makes their living off competing), and the question of recognition (of e.g. society seeing e-sports as a sport). Recognition is a process that can come in various forms and facilitates the process of professionalization. Recognition in the form of e-sports being (legally) recognized as a sport can offer pro gamers the benefit of being recognized as an athlete. Recognition in the form of pro gamers receiving valorization from society can improve their social status, and enable them to receive more social support (from e.g. friends or family) when they decide to professionalize. Finally, this study identifies several sources that contribute to the process of the recognition of e-sports in Japan: pro gamers, the Japan e-Sports Union (JeSU), and a discourse about e-sports as a potential Olympic event. This study sees an opportunity to contribute to the Area Studies and Game Studies literature by taking the recognition of e-sports in Japan as its focus. This opportunity lies in the fact that each country, and thus Japan as well, has had its own developmental trajectory of e-sports, and that the literature on e-sports is scarce and studies using a perspective rooted in Japanese studies are needed. In order to examine the recognition of e-sports in Japan this study will focus on pro gamers, and analyze how they contribute to the process of recognition. Thus, the main question in this study is: how do pro gamers contribute to the process of the recognition of e-sports in Japan? In order to answer the question of how these pro gamers contribute to the process of recognition this study will analyze how pro gamers in Japan represent themselves in the media and strive for recognition from society in order to be taken seriously as people who dedicate themselves to playing video games competitively. The analysis will reveal the strategies that pro players use to represent themselves in the media and personally emancipate themselves. The analysis will also reveal an interplay between elements of the (Japanese) cultural context players find themselves in and the strategies players use to push recognition of e-sports in Japanese society. This will show the nuance that using a Japanese studies perspective to study e-sports reveals, and try to address the problem of the Western centric literature on e-sports and games studies while contributing to the Area Studies literature.Show less
This thesis focuses on the relation between Prime Minister Abe’s nationalist policy and how this has an influence on the rapidly declining press freedom in Japan, seeking a more comprehensive view...Show moreThis thesis focuses on the relation between Prime Minister Abe’s nationalist policy and how this has an influence on the rapidly declining press freedom in Japan, seeking a more comprehensive view of the role prime minister Abe plays in declining press freedom and the relation between declining press freedom and the Japanese broadcasting system. This thesis poses the following research question: To what degree does prime minister Abe’s use of a nationalistic policy agenda influence the rapid decline of press freedom in Japan since 2012, and how does this relate to the Japanese broadcasting system? As opposed to the general academic consensus which puts the blame of declining press freedom almost solely with Prime Minister Abe and his nationalistic tendencies this thesis argues and shows by using gatekeeping theory and identifying the Japanese government as gatekeeper and the Japanese media industry as being gated, that while prime minister Abe is a factor, the underlying problem that allows the decline in press freedom are the several ingrained weaknesses in the Japanese broadcasting system that make it so that officials in power and the government can abuse this to in effect maintain a stronghold over the media regardless of ideology or political position. Such weaknesses include the broadcasting law, ownership of broadcast licensing and the use and abuse of Kisha clubs.Show less
This thesis seeks to deepen the understanding of Japan’s colonial gaze and the underlying colonial characteristics in the representations of Taiwanese colonized people through visual analysis of...Show moreThis thesis seeks to deepen the understanding of Japan’s colonial gaze and the underlying colonial characteristics in the representations of Taiwanese colonized people through visual analysis of contemporary photographic postcards. It argues that the Japanese colonial gaze in the photographic representations of Taiwanese women in the 1920's and 30's helped to establish a power relationship of colonizer and colonized through the use of different perspectives and at the same time justified this unequal relationship. This colonial gaze is explained to enclose a variety of gazes into one: The Western gaze, the masculine gaze and the ethnographic gaze.Show less
The aim of this thesis is to find out to what extend the influences of North Korea and China have been a cause for the 2015 Comfort Women Agreement between Japan and South Korea, and why.
Amid the ongoing controversy over Affirmative Action in the admissions policies of elite colleges in the US, the term “model minority,” and its implicit racial link with the Asian American...Show moreAmid the ongoing controversy over Affirmative Action in the admissions policies of elite colleges in the US, the term “model minority,” and its implicit racial link with the Asian American community, has once again resurfaced in American national discourse. As such there is an increasing need to understand the Model Minority Myth in a wider, historical perspective. Drawing on Claire-Jean Kim’s racial triangulation theory, this thesis examines how Japanese American newspapers in California during the 1930s engaged in discursive self-essentialization, and dissociation from other non-white minorities as a means of survival in American society, and by doing so inadvertently contributed to the further perpetuation of a white-dominated racial hierarchy in the United States and a further solidification of the reputation of Asian Americans as an alleged Model Minority. It then critically analyzes the work of two contemporary Asian American authors known for their embrace of the Model Minority Identity, Amy Chua and Yukong Zhao, and demonstrates how the tactics they deploy in their works reiterate discursive strategies used by their Japanese American predecessors during the Depression Era. Rather than viewing model minority discourse as a strictly American phenomenon or a product of white American agency, this thesis argues for a wider, transnational lens with which we view patterns of discrimination across borders and time, taking into account conflict and compliance, action and reaction. In this way the thesis aims to contribute to an improved understanding of systems of discrimination and oppression and, more importantly, how to dismantle them.Show less
