Reading Culture in Japan

Author(s):  
Andrew T. Kamei-Dyche

Reading in Japan has a rich history replete with transformative moments. The arrival of Chinese logographs by the 5th century necessitated the development of reading mechanisms adapting the logographs to the Japanese language which had previously lacked writing. In the Heian (794–1185) court, reading was often a social activity incorporating performance. Small reading communities read romances aloud to one another, while poetry competitions involved intense bouts of composition and reading. During the medieval era (1185–1600), literature spread through the recitation of epic tales with musical accompaniment, while in early modern times (1600–1867) the gradual expansion of literacy combined with a print revolution fueled the emergence of socially and geographically diverse communities of readers. Alongside studies of medicine and Neo-Confucian thought a market in popular fiction flourished. The arrival of modern printing technology at the end of the 19th century ushered in mass-market readership. Cheap printings of classic texts competed with popular serial fiction, both of which were encouraged by newspapers. During the early 20th century, reading came to be seen as an act of self-cultivation but retained a social element as students and educated urbanites read together and discussed literature. Contemporary Japanese society retains a strong emphasis on the social values of reading, understanding reading not primarily as an individual engagement with one’s interests but rather as a means to acquire a consciousness of one’s group and nation. Newspaper readership continues to be enormous, and the influence exercised by newspaper corporations and prominent publishers in Japanese society is significant, shaping not only what is read but how. Japanese manga, meanwhile, continue to enjoy a diffuse range of reading communities that represent considerable wealth and influence. Such communities vary by gender, age, and political leanings, and demand media suited to their own particular reading practices and identities. Technological innovation has also facilitated new reading experiences, such as visual novels, a type of interactive fiction game popular among Japanese gamers. The Internet has given rise to virtual reading cultures, embracing both traditional print readerships and visual novel fandoms, further enhanced by ubiquitous smartphone use among readers of all ages. Tokyo’s book town, Kanda-Jinbochō, is a thriving cultural center, and book fairs and other events are widely celebrated.

1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 221-226
Author(s):  
Олена Горова

Професійне   становлення   особистості   супроводжує   всі   етапи  соціально-вікового   розвитку  особистості.  Трудова  діяльність  є  основним  видом  суспільної  активності,  який  дозволяє  працівнику  задовольняти  основні  потреби,  особливо  у  процесі  постійних  соціальних,  освітніх  реформ.  Важливим  завданням психологічного супроводу працівника у процесі виконання професійної діяльності є забезпечення  сприятливих  умов  формування  професійно  важливих  якостей.  Соціальна  успішність  є  результатом  ефективного  розв’язання  виробничих  завдань, які  мають  суспільно корисну  важливість  та  пов’язані  з  потребами інших людей. Якісний прогресивний розвиток працівника можливий лише за умови збереження  стійкого  позитивного  ставлення  до  професії.  Позитивна  професійна  самоідентифікація  пов’язана  з  ототожненням  та  персоналізацією  працівником  особистісних  рис  працівників,  які  досягли  успіху  у  професії,  мають  суспільно  визнані  результати  діяльності.  Таким  чином,  професійна  успішність  як  суб’єктне  новоутворення  у  якості  відчуття  гордості  за  власні  результати  діяльності  забезпечує  реалізацію традиції наставництва і  передачі позитивного професійного досвіду.    Професійно  успішний  працівник  усвідомлює  необхідність  та  важливість  результатів  своєї  діяльності  для  інших,  що  вимагає,  відповідно,  від  соціального  середовища  усвідомлення  необхідності  визнання  результатів  діяльності  фахівців.  Знехтуваний  суспільством  працівник,  або  той,  результати  діяльності  якого  позиціонуються  як  меншовартісні,  дистанціюється  від  професії  та  має  негативний  потенціал розвитку. Professional formation of the person accompanies all phases of social and age of the individual. Gainful  employment is the main form of social activity that allows the employee to realize the basic needs. An important task  of psychological support worker in the course of professional activity is to provide favorable conditions for the  formation  of  professionally  important  qualities.  Professional  success  is  the  result  of  an  effective  solution  of  industrial jobs that are socially useful and important related to the needs of others. High-quality progressive  development of an employee is only possible while maintaining a stable positive attitude towards the profession.  Positive  professional  identity  associated  with  the  identification  and  personalization  of  employee  personality traits of employees who have been successful in the profession, who have publicly acknowledged  performance. Thus professional success as the subjective feeling of a lump in the pride of their own results of  operations  ensures  the  implementation  of  the  tradition  of  mentoring  and  of  positive  transfer  of  professional  experience.  Professionally successful employees aware of the need and the importance of the results of its operations  for the other, which requires, respectively, from the social environment - awareness of the need to recognize the  performance of specialists. Unclaimed society worker, or the results of operations, which are positioned as less  important, is moving away from the profession and has a negative potential. 


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 119-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Filipi

This paper examines how and by whom tellings with two young children are triggered at ages 23, 36 and 42 months. The data for the investigation is derived from a larger Australian English corpus of over 50 hours of interactions in the home, although one of the children is a bilingual Italian/ English-speaking child. The data is derived from two parent/child dyads, and in the case of the child aged 42 months, a triadic interaction between a mother, her own child and a second child. Using the micro-analytic methods of conversation analysis, the study analyses five samples of tellings. The first two describe how a child, Cassandra, aged 23 months, is invited to recount events of her day by her parents. The trigger for these tellings is the social activity of sharing everyday routine events. The next two samples focus on Rosie at 36 months who is also invited to share a telling by her parent about a birthday party celebration and one about a neighbourhood cat, Claude. The first telling is triggered by an object, a balloon from a birthday party from the day before, while the second is triggered by play involving the character of a cat, initially derived from a favourite story, Hairy Maclary. In the final sample, Cassandra, aged 42 months, initiates a telling about an experience at her grandmother’s which is trigged by a picture in a book. The analyses in each case reveal the interactional issues that arise in the action of telling and how these are dealt with by all participants. By focusing on the three ages, key features in the children’s participation in storytelling are uncovered.


2020 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 656-676
Author(s):  
Igor V. Omeliyanchuk

The article examines the main forms and methods of agitation and propagandistic activities of monarchic parties in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century. Among them the author singles out such ones as periodical press, publication of books, brochures and flyers, organization of manifestations, religious processions, public prayers and funeral services, sending deputations to the monarch, organization of public lectures and readings for the people, as well as various philanthropic events. Using various forms of propagandistic activities the monarchists aspired to embrace all social groups and classes of the population in order to organize all-class and all-estate political movement in support of the autocracy. While they gained certain success in promoting their ideology, the Rights, nevertheless, lost to their adversaries from the radical opposition camp, as the monarchists constrained by their conservative ideology, could not promise immediate social and political changes to the population, and that fact was excessively used by their opponents. Moreover, the ideological paradigm of the Right camp expressed in the “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality” formula no longer agreed with the social and economic realities of Russia due to modernization processes that were underway in the country from the middle of the 19th century.


wisdom ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
Gegham HOVHANNISYAN

The article covers the manifestations and peculiarities of the ideology of socialism in the social-political life of Armenia at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. General characteristics, aims and directions of activity of the political organizations functioning in the Armenian reality within the given time-period, whose program documents feature the ideology of socialism to one degree or another, are given (Hunchakian Party, Dashnaktsutyun, Armenian Social-democrats, Specifics, Socialists-revolutionaries). The specific peculiarities of the national-political life of Armenia in the given time-period and their impact on the ideology of political forces are introduced.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Pirozhok

The relevance of determining the theoretical and methodological determinants of the Robert von Moll’s concept of the social state is due to the need to determine the patterns of evolution of ideas about the state and law, as well as the need to assess the ability to use the potential of the Robert von Moll’s theoretical and legal heritage, his predecessors and contemporaries to identify the optimal model of the social state. Modern Russia attempts to build such state. The proclamation and consolidation of Russia as a social state governed by the rule of law at the constitutional level requires attention both to the experiments carried out in social and legal development, and to the practices of social reform, and also to those ideas that have not yet been embodied. The ideas of European scholars regarding the evolution of the state-legal organization of society in the early modern period, based on which Robert von Mohl (1799–1875) developed original concepts of a social state and a state governed by the rule of law are discussed in the article. An analysis of the state of European political and legal thought and identification of the factors that have a significant impact on the development of Robert von Mohl’s doctrine of a social state governed by the rule of law are the purposes of the scientific article. The methodological basis of the study was the dialectical-materialistic, general scientific (historical, systemic) and special (historical-legal, comparativelegal) methods of legal research. The method of reconstruction and interpretation of legal ideas had great importance. As a result of the study, it was concluded that in the first half of the 19th century in European political and legal thought various approaches was formed to consider the problems of social protection and how to resolve them. The development trend of European political science became the transition from ideas and principles formed in the conditions of police states and enlightened absolutism to the ideas of a state governed by the rule of law (constitutional) that protects the rights and freedoms of a citizen. At the same time, it was a question of the rights and freedoms of only a part of the population: the proletariat growing in number and significance was not always evaluated as an independent social stratum. The axiological principles of state justification have also changed. Rights and utility principle became dominant principles. In the first half of the 19th century the social issue as an independent scientific problem of the European political and legal thought was not posed and not systematically developed. Questions about the social essence of the state, the specifics of the implementation of the state social function, the features of public administration in the new stage of socio-economic development of society predetermined the emergence of the idea of a social state. This idea was comprehensively characterized in the Robert von Mohl’s works. He went down in the history of political and legal thought as founder of the concepts of social and governed by the rule of law state.


2021 ◽  
pp. 092137402110218
Author(s):  
Ute Röschenthaler

Brokers have played important roles in the trade of green tea between China and Mali, from the 19th century when tea first came to Mali up to the present. They mediate between tea buyers and sellers, work on their own account, use soft skills, knowledge and networks and make a living from the commission they gain. This article examines the work of brokers in the tea trade, the social constellations in which they are active and the scope of their activity. Based on extensive field research in Mali and China, this article shows how brokers create their own jobs in a dynamic business landscape, which is often delimited by governmental policies, competing entrepreneurial activities and social movements.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ja-Ho Koo ◽  
Jhoon Kim ◽  
Yun Gon Lee ◽  
Sang Seo Park ◽  
Seoyoung Lee ◽  
...  

AbstractBy using multiple satellite measurements, the changes of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over South Korea were investigated from January to March 2020 to evaluate the COVID-19 effect on the regional air quality. The NO2 decrease in South Korea was found but not significant, which indicates the effects of spontaneous social distancing under the maintenance of ordinary life. The AODs in 2020 were normally high in January, but they became lower starting from February. Since the atmosphere over Eastern Asia was unusually stagnant in January and February 2020, the AOD decrease in February 2020 clearly reveals the positive effect of the COVID-19. Considering the insignificant NO2 decrease in South Korea and the relatively long lifetime of aerosols, the AOD decrease in South Korea may be more attributed to the improvement of the air quality in neighboring countries. In March, regional atmosphere became well mixed and ventilated over South Korea, contributing to large enhancement of air quality. While the social activity was reduced after the COVID-19 outbreak, the regional meteorology should be also examined significantly to avoid the biased evaluation of the social impact on the change of the regional air quality.


Comunicar ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 21 (41) ◽  
pp. 61-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristóbal Casanueva-Rocha ◽  
Francisco-Javier Caro-González

At a time when academic activity in the area of communication is principally assessed by the impact of scientific journals, the scientific media and the scientific productivity of researchers, the question arises as to whether social factors condition scientific activity as much as these objective elements. This investigation analyzes the influence of scientific productivity and social activity in the area of communication. We identify a social network of researchers from a compilation of doctoral theses in communication and calculate the scientific production of 180 of the most active researchers who sit on doctoral committees. Social network analysis is then used to study the relations that are formed on these doctoral thesis committees. The results suggest that social factors, rather than individual scientific productivity, positively influence such a key academic and scientific activity as the award of doctoral degrees. Our conclusions point to a disconnection between scientific productivity and the international scope of researchers and their role in the social network. Nevertheless, the consequences of this situation are tempered by the nonhierarchical structure of relations between communication scientists. En un momento en que la actividad académica en el ámbito de la comunicación se valora principalmente por el impacto de las revistas y los medios de comunicación científica y por la productividad de los investigadores, surge la cuestión de si los factores sociales pueden condicionar la actividad científica con la misma fuerza que estos elementos objetivos. Esta investigación analiza la influencia de la productividad científica y de la actividad social en el ámbito de la comunicación. Se ha identificado la red social de los investigadores de comunicación a partir de las tesis doctorales. Para los 180 investigadores más activos en los tribunales de tesis se ha calculado su producción científica. Se utiliza el análisis de redes sociales para estudiar las relaciones que se producen en los tribunales de tesis doctorales. Los resultados muestran que los factores sociales influyen positivamente en una actividad académica y científica tan relevante como la obtención del grado de doctor, mientras que la productividad científica individual no lo hace. Como conclusiones cabe señalar que existe una desconexión entre la productividad científica y la proyección internacional de los investigadores y su papel en la red social. Las implicaciones de este hecho están matizadas por una estructura no jerarquizada de las relaciones entre los científicos de comunicación.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
Yuliia Stepura

Abstract The article examines the nature and importance of using aesthetic and therapeutic concept and educational logotherapy, in particular, for creating a special emotionally comfortable socioeducational environment for primary education The author has represented inteipretation of foreign scholars' views (J. Bugental, V. Frankl, A. Maslow, R. May, J. Moreno, C. Rogers et al) on such terms as “communication ”, “aesthetotherapy ”, “educational logotherapy” etc. An attempt has been made to analyze the social coTitent of pedagogical activity in the context of using logotherapy in primary school based on an agogical paradigm. In the scope of the article, the specific of using the therapeutic metaphor in the educational environment of primary' school has been represented as well as the basic stages of its implementation have been determined. These stages are the following: description of the storyline, persuasion and binding. The author has defined the role of the “living metaphors” in organization of the therapeutic interaction between the teacher and primary' schoolchildren. Particular attention has been paid to formation of the humanistic competency among primary schoolchildren; this competency is to be based on their understanding of the following philosophical and pedagogical categories: a norm (as a means and a results of pupils' social activity), freedom (as a mean and a result of individual self-expression among primary schoolchildren) and happiness (as an individual self-expression among primaryr schoolchildren). The author has assessed the role of deflection method and paradoxical intention for the social development of the pupil and further formation of the individual. Additional attention has been paid to determination of the socioeducational and psychological and pedagogical potential of such leading method in logotherapy as “The Socratic dialogue” (or “The Socratic circle”): as well have been highlighted the main stages of its implementation: consent (search for what pupil may agree), doubt (an expression of doubts towards weak arguments of interlocutor) and arguments (the teacher must convey' one’s opinion, without any resistance from the child): have been represented different various algorithms of its realization: the method of “aquarium”, “panel method” and “questioning technique”.


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