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Simpson, Sylvia (2015) Technologies for the self: Japanese women in the UK and their media. PhD thesis. SOAS University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/22830/ Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Technologies for the Self: Japanese Women in the UK and Their Media Sylvia Simpson Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD 2015 Department of Anthropology and Sociology SOAS, University of London Word Count: 95626 Declaration for SOAS PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: Sylvia Simpson Date: 23 October 2015 Abstract This thesis argues that the strategic use of popular media texts and their technologies are reflective of how the Japanese women I interviewed are able to explore new and diverse cultural practices, reaffirm those practices they are familiar with, and offer a forum from which to confidently construct and contest personal and social boundaries. Everything in life changes, but the fact that we are social beings embedded in social networks remains the same. Media practice changes too, as do the purposes to which it is put and how it meets the needs of the user. Media use remains constant in the lives of my interlocutors, despite the changing technologies and the changing circumstances of their lives and their families. Because of its quotidian nature, media practice supports the continuous formation of the Japanese self and it encourages particular expressions of agency. This thesis is also a direct response for the need for an agenda of research that increases our understanding of how media aids in the production of self and subjectivity. Table of Contents Acknowledgments iv Chapter One: 1 Introduction and the Theoretical Framework 1.1 The Starting Point 1 1.2 The Self and Technologies 5 1.3 Ikigai and Agency 8 1.4 Uchi/Soto and the Shifting Boundaries of Place, Family 11 and Gender 1.5 Seken as Society 17 1.6 The Diasporic Experience 21 1.7 Conclusion 26 Chapter Two: 28 The Methodology and Framework 2.1 Introduction 28 2.2 Using Narrative 32 2.3 The Issue of Practice and a Reflexive Aside 36 2.4 Reimagining The Field Site 40 2.5 The Interlocutors 43 2.6 How the Thesis is Organised 46 2.7 Conclusion 48 Chapter Three: 50 The Importance of Time, Place and Television 3.1 Introduction 50 3.2 London: Television and Change 52 3.3 Manchester: Practice Begins At Home 56 3.4 Edinburgh: Less Television is More 60 3.5 A Life Without Television 64 3.6 The Reiteration of Practice 66 3.7 Contextualising the Technology and the Practice 71 3.8 Conclusion 75 Chapter Four: 77 A Mediated Cosmopolitanism 4.1 Introduction 77 4.2 The Emergent Cosmopolitan 78 4.3 The Emergent Cosmopolitan II 84 4.4 Cosmopolitan Space, Place and Practice 88 4.5 Which Cosmopolitanism? 92 i 4.6 Television for the Japanese Self 97 4.7 Conclusion 101 Chapter Five: Popular Culture: Text and Context 103 5.1 Introduction 103 5.2 The Importance of Place 105 5.3 The Importance of The Smiths 110 5.4 Yumi, Her Son and Language 113 5.5 On the Radio 115 5.6 The Artist on the Move 118 5.7 Similarities and Differences 121 5.8 An Evaluation 123 5.9 Conclusion 125 Chapter Six: 127 The Internet and the Social Self 6.1 Introduction 127 6.2 Life BI – Before the Internet 128 6.3 Sociability and Communication 130 6.4 Expressions of Leisure 134 6.5 Keeping Up With Japan 139 6.6 Working Nine to Five and Beyond 143 6.7 The Internet as a Network of Networks 148 6.8 Conclusion 150 Chapter Seven: 152 Japanese Dramas in the UK: access and inclusion 7.1 Introduction 152 7.2 To Watch or Not to Watch 154 7.3 Eiko and the Mean and Sour Girl 158 7.4 Riding the Wave of Social Change and Nostalgia 161 7.5 Sakamoto Ryoma – The Meiji David Bowie 166 7.6 Soft Transgression (Soft Contestation?) 168 7.7 Implications of a Modern Media Practice 170 7.8 Conclusion 171 Chapter Eight: 174 The Tohoku Earthquake: The Ties that Bind and Unbind 8.1 Introduction 174 8.2 The I-Witness Account 175 8.3 Witnesses to Devastation 179 8.4 Responding Locally to a Global Disaster 183 8.5 Keeping Calm, Carrying On 187 8.6 Initiating New Media Practices 190 8.7 Conclusion 194 ii Chapter Nine: 197 The Fukushima Crisis and Changing Perspectives 9.1 Introduction 197 9.2 Family Concerns and Local Issues 200 9.3 Perspectives on Twitter and Foreign Journalists 204 9.4 The Dissolution of Trust 208 9.5 The Donation Issue 215 9.6 Conclusion 218 Chapter Ten: 219 Conclusion: Of Narratives, Networks and Practice 10.1 Introduction 219 10.2 Reflexivity Revisited 220 10.3 A Brief Summary 221 10.4 Unexpected Findings 224 10.5 Gendered Considerations 226 10.6 Limitations of the Study 229 10.7 Narration as Advantage 230 10.8 Looking Ahead 232 10.9 Conclusion 233 Bibliography 234 Media References 246 Appendix A Indroductory Letter 247 Appendix B Lymm 1st Questionnaire 249 Appendix C Lymm 2nd Questionnaire 252 Appendix D Edinburgh 1st Questionnaire 254 Appendix E Final Questionnaire (English) 258 Appendix E Final Questionnaire (Japanese) 261 Appendix F Consent Form 264 Notes: Japanese spellings use the Hepburn romanisation based on English phonology Japanese names are given in the Western manner with given name first and surname second except in the case of historical figures. Non-participants of this study are indicated by an initial only to denote their status, this is used primarily for the partners and children of the interviewees. Media references are cited in the Bibliography according to the MLA formatting regulations. iii Acknowledgements This thesis has been a long time in the making, and so there are many friends, colleagues and of course family who have given me their patience and support throughout this time. Thank you to all. I would first like to express my eternal gratitude to those women who offered to participate in this study in the first place, because this project would have not become a reality without you. I hope that I have done your life stories justice. In particular I would like to thank Mariko for all her help with, well, pretty much everything. She was, and continues to be, an inspiration for what we can accomplish if we put our minds to it. I must also thank Wakako for roping in the kind and generous women in Edinburgh who made this project a pleasure. Thank you Kimiko, Kazuko, Eiko and Kae. And thank you to the other participants Yumiko and Yumi in Chester and Marple, and of course to Asan and especially to Chika. I would like to thank my supervisors, first of all Dr. Lola Martinez for her patience, unstinting support and intellectual stimulation. I didn’t think I could do this but she knew differently. Thank you to Dr. Steven Hughes for the focus he provided when the going got tough – and things did get tough. And thanks to Dr. Kevin Latham for his words of encouragement over what has been a very long period of time. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Dr. Rayna Denison and Dr. Narmala Halstead for their insight and direction. Thank you both for your contribution to this thesis. And finally, but most especially, I am extremely grateful to my husband Graham who made this whole life experience possible. You know better than I do how much this means to me. And thank you to my children Stuart, Ross and Kate, for your patience and all the lost days of summer while I worked at my desk – and the kitchen table. I hope that I can make it up to you somehow. iv Chapter One: Introduction and the Theoretical Framework 1.1 The Starting Point This thesis is the result of an investigation into the long-term media practices of a small group of Japanese women who are resident in the UK. The term ‘media’ is used throughout this document to refer inclusively to the electronic media of film, television, internet, radio and recorded music and the print media of books, magazines and newspapers. The enquiry was designed as a project that would incorporate the qualitative research methods of anthropology using ethnographic processes in order to map out the uses and meanings of media texts, practices and the associated technologies for a particular group of social subjects within a particular social context.