i TEAM JAPAN: THEMES OF ‘JAPANESENESS’ IN MASS MEDIA SPORTS NARRATIVES A Dissertation submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Michael Plugh July 2015 Examining Committee Members: Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Advisory Chair, Media and Communication Doctoral Program Nancy Morris, Media and Communication Doctoral Program John Campbell, Media and Communication Doctoral Program Lance Strate, External Member, Fordham University ii © Copyright 2015 by MichaelPlugh All Rights Reserved iii Abstract This dissertation concerns the reproduction and negotiation of Japanese national identity at the intersection between sports, media, and globalization. The research includes the analysis of newspaper coverage of the most significant sporting events in recent Japanese history, including the 2014 Koshien National High School Baseball Championships, the awarding of the People’s Honor Award, the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, wrestler Hakuho’s record breaking victories in the sumo ring, and the bidding process for the 2020 Olympic Games. 2054 Japanese language articles were examined by thematic analysis in order to identify the extent to which established themes of “Japaneseness” were reproduced or renegotiated in the coverage. The research contributes to a broader understanding of national identity negotiation by illustrating the manner in which established symbolic boundaries are reproduced in service of the nation, particularly via mass media. Furthermore, the manner in which change is negotiated through processes of assimilation and rejection was considered through the lens of hybridity theory. iv To my wife, Ari, and my children, Hiroto and Mia. Your love sustained me throughout this process. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank the members of my committee for guiding me through the dissertation process. Your support and advice has been invaluable to me. To Nancy Morris, thank you for pushing me to be precise in my scholarship and for encouraging me to go deeper at every step. To John Campbell, your attention to detail and probing remarks forced me to engage the dissertation process by always going one step further. And, to Fabienne Darling-Wolf, you have been a guiding light in a confusing and uncertain environment. You have always allowed me to be my own scholar, all the while pushing me in productive directions. Itsumo arigatou gozaimasu. I would also like to thank my Temple cohort. It’s hard to imagine a more personable and generous group than you. May you all succeed in your hopes and dreams. To my M&C friend, Carrie Isard, who advised and supported me throughout the final years of my doctoral work, you are a beautiful person. And, to our Graduate Office Director, Nicole McKenna, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me navigate the system with great kindness and care. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my mentor, colleague, and friend, Lance Strate. I’m proud to call you each of those things and can never thank you enough for your wisdom and generosity. I would like to recognize the support offered to me by Fordham University, the Department of Communication and Media Studies, and all of my colleagues on the faculty. Special thanks are due to our chair, Jacqueline Reich, who has supported me throughout my journey. Last, but not least, to my family, I love you all very much. I wouldn’t be here without you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................iii DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………...1 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK...................................................................................8 Nation States………………………………………………………………………8 Imagined Communities and Invented Traditions………………………………...12 Nationalism and National Identity……………………………………………….15 Media and Nation………………………………………………………………...21 The Role of Sports Media………………………………………………………..26 Japanese National Identity……………………………………………………….32 Bushido, Nihonjinron, Hybridity………………………………………………...43 3. METHODS……………………………………………………………………………64 Research Questions………………………………………………………………71 Data Set…………………………………………………………………………..71 4. “BOYS BE AMBITIOUS”: THE KOSHIEN TRADITION………………………….77 “The Laurels of Victory Shine on You”…………………………………………85 Themes…………………………………………………………………………...87 Nippon Ichi……………………………………….……………………...88 vii Tradition………………………………………………………………….90 Spirit……………………………………………………………………...94 Effort…………………………………………………………………..…97 Teamwork………………………………………………………………100 Emotion…………………………………………………………………103 Growth………………………………………………………………….105 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...107 5. THE PEOPLE’S HONOR AWARD………………………………………………...110 Yoshida Saori…………………………………………………………………...116 Nagashima Shigeo……………………………………………………………...117 Matsui Hideki…………………………………………………………………..117 Taiho……………………………………………………………………………119 Themes………………………………………………………………………….120 Memories that Connect…………………………………………………121 Just Like Us – Hopes and Dreams for the People………………………126 Legitimizing the State…………………………………………………..129 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...133 6. NADESHIKO JAPAN……………………………………………………………….135 Themes………………………………………………………………………….143 We All Share Victory…………………………………………………...143 Healing the Nation, Post 3/11…………………………………………..147 We’ve Come a Long Way………………………………………………149 viii Our Effort, Their Power………………………………………………...153 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...155 7. THE GREAT YOKOZUNA OF HEISEI……………………………………………157 Themes………………………………………………………………………….164 Yokozuna Continuity…………………………………………………...165 The Soul of Japan and the Gods of Sumo………………………………167 The Same but Different…………………………………………………169 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...173 8. TOKYO 2020………………………………………………………………………...176 Themes………………………………………………………………………….186 The Games are Political………………………………………………...186 The Games are Economic………………………………………………192 Voices of the People……………………………………………………195 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...200 9. CONCLUDING REMARKS………………………………………………………...202 REFERENCES...............................................................................................................220 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In 2012, while sitting on my sofa in Japan, I found myself watching a Japanese magazine program about a group of three men who had travelled to Europe to participate in the annual egg tossing championships. The three competitors had made a strong accounting of themselves, tossing eggs high into the air and catching them at a distance without breaking them in the process. The sparse, but enthusiastic, crowd cheered the teams as they competed for their home countries and the program built a sense of drama around the event that made it compelling television. In the end, the Japanese team managed to win one of the event’s many contests. Upon receiving the winning egg cleanly, one of the Japanese members sprinted giddily along the sidelines, playing to the crowd, before eventually dropping to his knees and sliding along the grass in a crescendo of euphoria. At the peak of his excitement, the man shouted at the top of his lungs, in English, “I’m a soldier of Japan!” The competitors in the annual egg tossing championships are neither rich nor famous. There are no major endorsements and, for the most part, there is no mass media coverage. The games they play do not appear in the Olympic Games, nor are they as high profile as the FIFA World Cup. Still, participants travel far and wide to compete in an event that, from the outside looking in, appears somewhat absurd. They train and practice and organize. They wear the marks of their respective countries on their uniforms and, with great enthusiasm, they demonstrate pride in bringing glory to their homelands. To 2 watch the display of skill, and the expressions of joy and national pride, is to be reminded that nationality matters. It certainly mattered a great deal to the egg tossers, and despite the absurdity of it all, a twinge of national pride may be inescapable to audiences at home vicariously sharing in the moment of glory. This small, peculiar example offers a clue to the importance of sport in the complex set of practices that constitute nationalism, and national identity, particularly as they intersect with mass media. In the era of mass media, organized sports have not only served the public in a participatory capacity, but also as a form of narrative performance. At a local level, participation in sport has united communities, strengthened important bonds, and reinforced important values. At a national level, the performance of athletic events has offered a sense of connectedness that makes one out of many. Anderson (1991) attributed the rise of national consciousness, in part, to the effects of print-capitalism and the intensification of mass communication during the Reformation. The nation, as an imagined community, emerges out of a new consciousness that owes much to shared narratives and shifting scales of perception. Appadurai (1990, 1996, 2001) argues that the global emerges out of a similar shift in consciousness, as individuals imagine themselves increasingly interconnected, often independent of geography. Mass media play an important role in the articulation of such discourses. The narratives offered through mass media are grounds for the deliberation of culture