Propaganda exists in many shapes and sizes: pamphlets, stories in newspapers and magazines, film, leaflets or speeches on the radio. Around the world, this type of psychological warfare has been...Show morePropaganda exists in many shapes and sizes: pamphlets, stories in newspapers and magazines, film, leaflets or speeches on the radio. Around the world, this type of psychological warfare has been used to convince the enemy that their cause is lost and the home front that they are on the winning side.The same was the case in Southeast Asia during the Asia-Pacific War, where Japan propagated a Great East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. For this thesis I will examine Japanese propaganda in Indonesia and - more specifically - if this propaganda has developed or contributed to Indonesian national consciousness.Show less
This thesis employs literature on both foreign aid and media analysis to assist in an analysis of the representation of Japanese foreign aid in British media. Eventually, this thesis aims to...Show moreThis thesis employs literature on both foreign aid and media analysis to assist in an analysis of the representation of Japanese foreign aid in British media. Eventually, this thesis aims to conclude whether or not an anti-Japanese bias is seen in British media.Show less
This paper will deal with two Japanese television shows, and will go on to argue that foreigner casts contribute to the ongoing construction of Japanese national identity. Thus, foreigner casts do...Show moreThis paper will deal with two Japanese television shows, and will go on to argue that foreigner casts contribute to the ongoing construction of Japanese national identity. Thus, foreigner casts do not only reinforce a particular type of nationalism to the audiences, but instead are assigned specific tasks and roles, in which they fulfill in order to contribute to the construction of Japanese national identity. This paper is mainly divided in six parts.Show less
This thesis primary examines how historical memory in East Asia manifests itself into popular culture, specifically comic books. In both China and Japan there are many examples of media pertaining...Show moreThis thesis primary examines how historical memory in East Asia manifests itself into popular culture, specifically comic books. In both China and Japan there are many examples of media pertaining to national tragedy. These narratives often seek to educate their readership, in addition to entertaining readers. Historical comics are often overtly written with the aim of explaining or educating about national tragedies such as the Atomic Bombings in Japan and the Nanjing Massacre in China. This thesis seeks to position comic histories as a legitimate form of alternative historical narrative. Furthermore, it seeks to show that alternative narratives about national tragedy often align with or compliment canonical narratives within a nation-state.Show less
This thesis examines how English elite print media represent Doi Takako and Renho Murata; both women who have participated or participate at prominent positions in Japanese politics. The purpose is...Show moreThis thesis examines how English elite print media represent Doi Takako and Renho Murata; both women who have participated or participate at prominent positions in Japanese politics. The purpose is to shed light onto the notion that media may contribute to a social construction of gender for these Japanese political women, by analysing how their femininity within a leading position is discussed and portrayed by media discourse. This is done by answering the question whether representations of Doi Takako and Renho Murata by English elite print media be regarded as an anti-Japanese political discourse on gender.Show less
Japan and South-Korea reached an agreement in December 2015 to settle the issue on the comfort women "finally and irreversibly". The comfort women's issue has dominated relations between Japan and...Show moreJapan and South-Korea reached an agreement in December 2015 to settle the issue on the comfort women "finally and irreversibly". The comfort women's issue has dominated relations between Japan and South-Korea ever since it rose to prominence during the early 1990's. This thesis looks at the motivation of the current LDP government of Japan behind the agreement. The agreement is places into a historical context of Japanese post WWII history and politics. The main motivation appears to be the quest within Japan, and to some extend outside of Japan, for "normalization". In order to become a normal country the mainstream line of the LDP has adopted a policy called "apology diplomacy" which allowed them to keep the comfort women's issue from entering the political present, thus keeping the issue from truly being resolved.Show less
This thesis offers an insight into the hardships of Japan’s largest minority group, the Burakumin. Whilst the generally accepted explanation for their social ostracism is that they are descendants...Show moreThis thesis offers an insight into the hardships of Japan’s largest minority group, the Burakumin. Whilst the generally accepted explanation for their social ostracism is that they are descendants of Japan’s former feudal outcaste community, this narrative, when held up to the light, contains sporadic, ambiguous and unempirical building blocks. All the same, it remains the master narrative in most of the discussion, even in those who are inherently victimized by it and those who wish to end this discrimination, such as Buraku activist groups. What this thesis will attempt to research then, is in how far this Buraku master narrative influences Buraku self-identity and the possible solutions to the Buraku issue.Show less
