jsn Journal

Cultural Politics in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake: From the Earthquake to National Spirit Restoration

Krittaphol Viphaveekul — 2024-06-19

The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake was not only Japan's most catastrophic disaster, it also represents a social and cultural incident that reflected the social values and political ideologies of the society. While most earthquake studies in Thailand focus on scientific data and disaster management, they often neglect the social and historical impacts. Therefore, this article aims to study the history and social responses to the Great Kanto Earthquake in order to understand the cultural politics of the incident. The study found that this earthquake was the most destructive in Japan’s history, characterized by a large and long-lasting fire that caused enormous damage and numerous deaths. Japan's response to this disaster can reflect the social values and political ideologies of the society. The elite and intellectuals interpreted the earthquake as divine retribution for the Japanese. They asserted that it is time for the Japanese people to awaken from their obsession with Western values and to embrace traditional Japanese values once again. The government also utilized the earthquake as a symbol to revive the national spirit.

Editor's Note

Yupaka Fukushima — 2024-06-19

Warrior Spirit in Zeami's Noh Plays

Winai Jamornsuriya — 2024-06-19

This research aims at studying strategies for creating warrior characters and studying the elements of attaining the enlightenment of warrior spirits in the seven of Zeami’s Noh plays: Atsumori, Kiyotsune, Sanemori, Tadanori, Michimori, Yashima, Yorimasa. The research found that Zeami created two characteristics that are conducive to attaining enlightenment for most warriors: being sympathetic (7 plays), and having faith in Buddhist teachings on chanting and reading the sutras (5 out of 7 plays). Additionally, in addition to chanting or reading the sutras, most warrior spirits require two other elements to attain enlightenment: the warrior himself has to have a desire for enlightenment (6 out of 7 plays), and other characters promote the attaining of enlightenment (6 out of 7 plays).

Tokyo under the Hoof: Horse-Drawn Carriage, Urban Transformation, and Historical Agency

Tinakrit Sireerat — 2024-06-19

This research examines the introduction of horsecars (horse-drawn carriages) in Tokyo during the Meiji Period (1868-1912). Previous studies have tended to focus on the carriage, discussing technological development, urban transportation, and modernization; however, the horse, which was one of the key components of this technology, has been surprisingly overlooked. In order to address this academic lacuna, the present research seeks to recover the role of horses in the making of modern Tokyo. The article opens with an overview of how horsecars developed as an important means of transportation in Tokyo. Then, drawing insights from environmental history and science and technology studies (STS), the horsecars are unpacked in order to examine how the human-horse relationship was configured to facilitate urban life. To conclude the article, a discussion of the instances of horse rampages demonstrates the ways in which horses participated in past actions, which then calls for further reflection on how agency works in history and historiography.

The Translation of Literature About Japan in Thailand Between the 1900s and 1940s

Namthip Methasate — 2024-06-19

This article aims to examine the translation of literature about Japan in Thailand between the 1900s and 1940s, with consideration of the historical context of Thai-Japanese relations and the Thai social context, which is the background of the translation. This is a study that connects and expands on past research, which usually focuses on literary translation from after World War II or the 1950s onwards in order to provide a more complete picture of the history of Japanese literary translation in Thailand. The results of the study show that the nature of translation production tends to be different and can be divided into two periods, consistent with the changes in the situation of Thai-Japanese relations. The first period is between the 1900s and 1930s, when the translation works surveyed were based on the selection of the translators' interests. The translators independently handled the publishing and distribution without any patronage or control over the translation and production. However, the context of society's interests or trends affects the selection of translation production. The latter period is the 1940s, during which most of all translation works found were produced and published by Japanese agencies, especially the Institute of Japano-Thai Culture（日泰文化研究所）, under the cultural promotion policy as part of the cooperation towards the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere during World War II. In addition, the production of these translation works contributes to enhancing the knowledge about Japan in Thailand as well.

Reading Strategy Use of Thai JFL College Students With Different Reading Ability

Thanyarat sanguansri — 2024-06-19

This research aims 1) to investigate the reading strategy use of Thai JFL college students; 2) to study the reading strategy use at different levels of Japanese reading ability; and 3) to study the relationship between reading strategies and Japanese reading ability. The sample group used in this research was 200 students majoring in Japanese (2nd year, 3rd year, and 4th year) from two universities in Thailand. The research tools were a questionnaire on reading strategies,a reading comprehension test, and an interview (think-alound) from a sample of 20 students. The results of the research revealed that 1) the most-used Japanese reading strategy was problem solving, followed by support strategies and global strategies; 2) the group of learners with a high level of reading ability used reading strategies more than those with a low level of reading ability; 3) the relationship between global reading strategies and reading ability (reading test score) was found among the learners that had a high level of reading ability in Japanese. However, there was no relationship among the learners with a low level of reading ability. The results of this research will benefit the teaching of Japanese reading; they will help teachers understand more about students' reading strategies and be able to apply them to activities to help promote reading skills so that students can succeed in their reading.

The Situational Factors That Affect the Language Used in Offering Assistance Among Thai, Japanese and Thai Japanese Language users

Wanwisa Kunpattaranirun — 2024-06-19

This research article is a study of the language used in offering assistance on the part of Thai, Japanese and Thai Japanese language users. The objective was to study the semantic units used in offering assistance and to study the relationships among the situational factors and types of semantic units. Data were collected through a discourse completion test from a sample of Thai, Japanese and Thai Japanese language users, with a total of 180 people. Data were analyzed by counting frequencies and using percentage statistics. The study found the following. One, the semantic units used in offering assistance can be divided into three groups: introductory utterances, offer-assistance utterances, and supplementary utterances. Two, the type of situation affected the selection of the type of semantic units, and three, situational factors affected Thais in choosing the type of semantic units---in situations that provide assistance in personal matters, Thais asked the interlocutor for information in the introduction, offered assistance by asking about the interlocutor’s needs, and often used supplementary semantic units. In the situations that provide assistance in work, Thais used identity markers in the introduction, offered assistance by asking non-specific questions and not using supplementary semantic units. Four, situational factors affected the Japanese in choosing the type of semantic units in introductory utterances and supplementary utterances, but did not affect offer-assistance utterances---in situations that provide assistance in personal matters, the Japanese asked the interlocutor for information in the introduction while they mentioned the interlocutor's condition in situations that provide assistance in work and often used supplementary semantic units, and offered assistance in the form of questions in every situation. Five, situational factors affected the Thai Japanese language users in choosing the type of semantic units in introductory utterances and supplementary utterances, but did not affect offer-assistance utterances---in the situations that provide assistance in personal matters, Thai Japanese language users asked the interlocutor for information in the introduction while they used identity markers in the situation that provide assistance in work, and offered assistance in the form of questions in every situation.

The Role Language of Boku-shoujo and Orekko-type Characters in Japanese Animation

Nitwipha Saengnin — 2024-06-19

This study examines the role language of two types of female characters, namely “Boku-shoujo” and “Orekko,” in Japanese animations by analyzing the use of the Japanese masculine first person pronoun (“Boku” and “Ore”) and gender-specific sentence endings. Data were collected from six Japanese animations and analyzed in order to identify how the Japanese masculine first-person pronoun, and gender-specific sentence endings were used as role language. The results showed that eight characters in the Boku-shoujo type used the pronoun “Boku,” and seven characters in the Orekko used “Ore” without changing in any situation. All of the Orekko-type characters also used masculine sentence endings more often than the Boku-shoujo did. Despite the predominantly feminine appearances of the characters, there is no evident distinction between the Boku-shoujo and Orekko types. However, Orekko-type characters are typically assigned roles related to combat and exhibit more masculinity in their language compared to Boku-shoujo-type characters. Consequently, based on the findings of this research, it can be concluded that the language used by female characters is specifically tailored to indicate the diverse roles of these characters in the story. Female characters with combat roles and a more assertive demeanor employ the masculine pronoun "Ore" and exhibit more masculine sentence endings. In contrast, Boku-shoujo-type characters demonstrate masculinity when performing combat-related roles while still maintaining a cute, feminine quality.

Self-correction in Japanese Public Speaking: A Case Study of Native Speakers’ Speeches in the CSJ Corpus

Asadayuth Chusri — 2024-06-19

This paper investigates the patterns of errors and self-corrections made by native Japanese speakers in public speaking, with the aim of developing a model for teaching Thai learners how to deliver effective monologues. The study analyzes data from 60 speeches by native speakers from the CSJ (Corpus of Spontaneous Japanese), identifying 721 errors in total. Classifying the errors into five types revealed that native speakers tend to correct minor errors (pronunciation, word usage, grammar) immediately without correction markers. However, for major errors (expression and information), they typically use eight types of markers to indicate correction. These self-correction markers include: markers of changing, such as toiu ka; markers of expressing hesitation such as a and maa; markers of refutation such as janai; markers of apology such as gomennasai; markers of expressing doubt such as ka; markers of additional explanation such as ga; markers of searching for words such as nan-toiu-ndesuka; and markers of stalling by using shared information such as are-desune. In addition, native speakers tend to use polite forms when employing certain types of markers in public speaking situations.

Students’ Opinions toward the Use of News Clips from a Japanese News YouTube Channel in Consecutive Interpreting Practice from Japanese into Thai

Narongsak Pitchayapisut — 2024-06-19

The objective of this research was to survey Thai undergraduate students' opinions toward the use of news clips in consecutive interpreting practice, the appropriateness and expectations of the method and procedures of practicing as well as their opinions toward problems during consecutive interpreting practice into Thai. Results revealed that: 1. Students had a positive attitude toward the use of news clips to practice consecutive interpreting into Thai. Students strongly agreed that using news clips would help them learn new vocabulary and that using news clips in interpreting practice is a difficult challenge. 2. Overall, students had a positive attitude toward the method and procedures that the instructor used. Students strongly agreed with the use of news clips in which the news anchors and reporters speak at the native Japanese speaking speed and with the way the instructor allowed students to see a list of difficult or specific terms, or proper nouns during practicing. Also, students strongly agreed with the use of audio clips instead of video clips because watching videos distract them from listening and note-taking. In terms of their expectations, students highly expected that the instructor would provide quick responses for difficult or specific terms, or proper nouns before the practice. 3. Regarding the problems during practicing, students strongly agreed that there were two problems, one being able to understand the content but having a difficulty memorizing the content and the other being able to understand and memorize the content but unable to come up with appropriate translation in time.

The Assessment of Students’ Proficiencies According to the Waseda University Standard Framework After Studying Basic Japanese for the Care Workers Course Through Role-play Activities in Online Media

Kamalas Keeratinanwatthana — 2024-06-19

The purpose of this research article was to study the knowledge and ability of students according to Waseda University’s standard framework. The sample group comprised fifteen 2^nd year-university students who were taking basic Japanese for care workers, who were also given role-play activities in online media. Data was collected through a competency questionnaire adapted from Waseda University’s standard framework based on the perspective of students and teachers. The results of this research revealed that the students received reading, speaking, and listening scores at 7.73/25, 8.33/20, and 5.53/20 respectively in during the pre-test. During the post-test, the students received scores of 10.8/25, 11.45/20, and 8.6/20 respectively. Finally, the scores after the roleplay activities, increased to 14.8/25, 14.33/20, and 10.30/20 respectively. In addition, the students evaluated their self-efficacy according to Waseda University’s standard framework. There was a total of five levels. At Level 1, the students evaluated their listening skills at the most among other skills. At Level 2, the students evaluated their speaking skills as the highest. At Level 3, the students evaluated their listening skills as the highest. At Level 4, the students evaluated their reading skills as the highest and, at Level 5, the students assessed the speaking skills as the highest. Writing skills were deemed as the lowest evaluated skill based on the students’ assessment. According to the teacher’ comments, it was found that the students had limited ability in listening, speaking, and reading vocabulary; and the writing ability was at a minimal. Finally, the students suggested utilizing learning tools from media such as CDs and videos to enhance their listening skills. Additionally, more activities were also suggested to further develop the speaking skills. It was also suggested to use real documents for practicing reading and to practice specific Kanji writing. All of these suggestions will be useful to the future teaching of the Care Workers course.