Cell Phone City Mobile Phone Use and the Hybridization of Space in Tokyo PhD Thesis, Urban Studies Deirdre Aranka Lucia Sneep Universität Duisburg-Essen IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies Cell Phone City Mobile Phone Use and the Hybridization of Space in Tokyo Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktor der Philosophie (Dr. phil.) der Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften der Universität Duisburg-Essen vorgelegt von Deirdre Aranka Lucia Sneep aus Mülheim (Ruhr) Gutachter/Betreuer: Prof. Dr. Jens Martin Gurr and Prof. Dr. Florian Coulmas, Universität Duisburg-Essen Duisburg, 8 September 2017 Disputation: Essen, den 12. Juni 2018 1 This PhD project has been a part of the ‘Urban Systems in East Asia’ cluster of the IN-EAST School of Advanced Studies, University of Duisburg-Essen. All photographs and images in this thesis belong to the author, unless otherwise stated in the caption. Do not reproduce without permission. Diese Dissertation wird über DuEPublico, dem Dokumenten- und Publikationsserver der Universität Duisburg-Essen, zur Verfügung gestellt und liegt auch als Print-Version vor. DOI: 10.17185/duepublico/71795 URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:464-20200610-125905-4 Alle Rechte vorbehalten. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 6 Smartphone Citizens................................................................................................................................................. 6 Telecommunication Revolutions ............................................................................................................................ 7 The Research Question ..........................................................................................................................................10 Significance ..............................................................................................................................................................13 Definitions and Language ......................................................................................................................................15 2: Mobile Phone use in Japan ....................................................................................................................................18 Mobile Telecommunication Technology and Japan ..........................................................................................18 Personal Mobile Phone use in Japan ...................................................................................................................23 The 1990’s – From Pager to Mobile Phone ...................................................................................................23 The 2000’s – The Emergence of Japan’s ‘Mobile Culture’ ..........................................................................25 Keitai Culture Continued: the Smartphone ..........................................................................................................28 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................................35 3: The Mobile Phone, Analyzed ................................................................................................................................38 Common Themes ...................................................................................................................................................39 Utopia versus Dystopia .....................................................................................................................................40 Technological Othering .....................................................................................................................................47 The Mobile Phone Historical ‘Vacuum’ .........................................................................................................48 Global Implications of Assumptions in Mobile Research ...........................................................................51 Space and the Mobile Phone .................................................................................................................................53 A Spatial Tool from the Start ...........................................................................................................................53 IT Cities ...............................................................................................................................................................57 Online ‘Space’ and the City...............................................................................................................................59 Online and Offline Space in the Mobile Age ................................................................................................64 Conclusion: Themes and Gaps in Mobile Phone Research .............................................................................68 4. Methodology of the Research ...............................................................................................................................71 Selected Areas for Fieldwork ................................................................................................................................71 Nishi-Shinjuku ....................................................................................................................................................73 Shinjuku Sanchōme ............................................................................................................................................75 Kabukichō ...........................................................................................................................................................76 Ookubo ................................................................................................................................................................77 Previous Research ...................................................................................................................................................79 Qualitative Research: Urban Wandering and Urban Ethnography ................................................................81 The Flâneur .........................................................................................................................................................82 Psychogeography ................................................................................................................................................83 The Phoneur .......................................................................................................................................................84 Psychogeography and Urban Wandering in Japanese Research .................................................................84 3 Reinventing Urban Drifting ..............................................................................................................................86 Method and Obstacles ...........................................................................................................................................87 Filming: Ethical and Legal Issues ....................................................................................................................88 Quantitative Research: Behavioral Mapping.......................................................................................................90 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................................................92 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................................................95 5. Results and Analysis................................................................................................................................................97 Ookubo .....................................................................................................................................................................99 Pedestrian Information .....................................................................................................................................99 Mobile Phone Activity Density ........................................................................................................................99 Data ......................................................................................................................................................................99 Nishi-Shinjuku ...................................................................................................................................................... 100 Pedestrian Information .................................................................................................................................. 100 Mobile Phone Activity Density ..................................................................................................................... 100 Data ................................................................................................................................................................... 100 Shinjuku Sanchōme ............................................................................................................................................