Abstract
Fieldwork comprised of 62 interviews with individuals aged 30-72 and located across semi-rural and urban Japan, in Autumn 2024, revealed a rapidly changing relationship or breakdown in the relationship between society and mass media. This incorporated not only the abandonment of television sets and newspapers, but also a declining interest in terrestrial television shows and drama series, and national news and entertainment. This paper will explore and discuss the intriguing new outlooks reported by individuals departing from a national cultural production that feels increasingly formulaic and irrelevant to their concerns and beliefs. Most individuals of all ages grappled to find alternative narratives, culture, and sources of information, and reported the additional efforts they undertook to attempt to make accurate judgements of news events - or to manage their ignorance. General trends showed declining interest in culture and fiction per se and amongst women especially, a preference for documentary, realism, actual social relations and real or local connections as a means of extricating from a no-longer relevant ‘hegemonic’ culture, to sustain direction, trust, and meaning.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Handbook of Diversity, Norms, and Negotiations: |
| Subtitle of host publication | Japan on the Margins |
| Editors | Yoko Demelius |
| Publication status | In preparation - 2025 |