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\"Boldly rethinks the origins of modern Japanese language, literature, and visual culture from the perspective of media history. This book represents the first systematic study of the ways in which media and inscriptive technologies available in Japan at its threshold of modernization in the late 19th to early 20th century shaped and brought into being modern Japanese literature\"-- Provided by publisher.

A sensational newspaper article concerning a possible adverse reaction to the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine was published in March 2013 in Japan. In June 2013, the Japanese government suspended their proactive recommendation for vaccination, despite the lack of proof for a causal relationship. We searched Nikkei Telecom 21, the largest newspaper database in Japan, for articles published from January 2011 to December 2015 to evaluate the characteristics of newspaper publications about human papillomavirus vaccination. We identified 1138 HPV vaccine–related articles. Compared with those published before March 2013, articles concerning human papillomavirus vaccination after March 2013 were more likely to include adverse reaction-related and authority-related keywords; articles that included efficacy-related keywords decreased significantly. Negative-negative and negative-neutral articles became more frequent, and positive-positive and positive-neutral articles were less frequent. A sensational case report shaped the tone of negative media coverage as a catalyst, regardless of scientific statements from health authorities.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused not only a disease epidemic but also an infodemic. Due to the increased use of the internet and social media, along with the development of communication technology, information has spread faster and farther during the COVID-19 infodemic. Moreover, the increased choice of information sources has made it more difficult to make sound decisions regarding information. Although social media is the most common source of misinformation, other forms of media can also spread misinformation. However, the media sources used by people with high health literacy and COVID-19 knowledge to obtain information are unclear. Furthermore, the association between the use of multiple information sources and health literacy or COVID-19 knowledge is ill-defined. This study aims to examine the following 3 aspects regarding the COVID-19 infodemic: (1) the relationship between health literacy, COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used; (2) the impact of media use on health literacy; and (3) the impact of media use on COVID-19 knowledge. An online cross-sectional study was conducted in November 2021. Participants were 477 individuals aged 20-69 years. After obtaining consent to participate in the study, participants were asked about sociodemographic indicators, sources of health-related information, health literacy, and COVID-19 knowledge. Sources of health-related information were categorized into 4 types: mass media, digital media, social media, and face-to-face communication. The Spearman rank correlation test was conducted to determine the relationship between health literacy, the number of correct answers to COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used. Multiple regression analysis was conducted with health literacy and the number of correct answers as dependent variables, the 4 media types as independent variables, and age and sex as adjustment variables. Mass media was the most frequently used source of information, followed by digital media, face-to-face communication, and social media. Social media use was significantly higher among individuals aged 20-29 years than among other age groups. Significant positive correlations were found between health literacy, the number of positive responses to COVID-19 knowledge, and the number of information sources used. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that health literacy is associated with access to information from digital media and face-to-face communication. Additionally, COVID-19 knowledge was associated with access to information from mass media, digital media, and face-to-face communication. Health literacy and COVID-19 knowledge could be improved using diverse information sources, especially by providing opportunities to use digital media and face-to-face communication. Furthermore, it may be important to improve health literacy and provide accurate knowledge about COVID-19 to young adults.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster caused a global panic by a release of harmful radionuclides. In a disaster setting, misusage of contemporary media sources available today can lead to disseminated incorrect information and panic. The study aims to build a scale which examines associations between media and individual anxieties, and to propose effective media usages for future disaster management. The University of Tokyo collaborated with the Fukushima local government to conduct a radiation-health-seminar for a total of 1560 residents, at 12 different locations in Fukushima. A 13 item questionnaire collected once before and after a radiation-seminar was used on factor analysis to develop sub-scales for multiple regression models, to determine relationships between the sub-scales and media type consumed. A paired t-test was used to examine any changes in sub-scale of pre- and post-seminar scores. Three sub-scales were revealed and were associated with different media types: was with rumors, while concern for the future was positively associated with regional-newspapers and negatively with national-newspapers. Anxiety about social-disruption was associated with radio. The seminar had a significant effect on anxiety reduction for all the three sub-scales. Different media types were associated with various heightened concerns, and that a radiation seminar was helpful to reduce anxieties in the post-disaster setting. By tailoring post-disaster messages via specific media types, i.e., radio, it may be possible to effectively convey important information, as well as to calm fears about particular elements of post-disaster recovery and to combat rumors.

Based on a corpus of news articles published in Asahi Shimbun over four decades (1984-2025), this study examines how Kampo medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), two medical traditions sharing a common historical origin, are discursively represented in Japanese mainstream media. Using topic modeling and word embedding analysis, it analyzes long-term patterns at two levels: thematic structures identified through topic modeling and semantic associations derived from word embeddings. The results show that Asahi Shimbun consistently differentiates Kampo medicine and TCM through sustained thematic and semantic organization. At the thematic level, coverage is structured across six domains, within which Kampo medicine is more stably integrated into core public concerns related to health practices and material supply, while TCM is more often situated in culturally oriented, comparative, or externally referenced contexts. Diachronically, these distinctions persist while adjusting to changing social demands and policy priorities. At the semantic level, Kampo medicine and TCM form distinct and relatively stable semantic neighborhoods. Kampo medicine is closely associated with concrete therapeutic entities, while TCM is framed within abstract classificatory, institutional, and system-oriented concepts. Together, thematic differentiation and semantic stabilization reinforce a clear discursive boundary between the two traditions. These findings reveal how Japanese mainstream media differentially position homologous medical knowledge over the long term, highlighting their role in shaping meaning within the modern nation-state context. The study applies recontextualization to long-term media analysis and shows how agenda-setting and framing contribute to the localization and othering of homologous knowledge. By linking macro-level thematic structures with micro-level semantic patterns, it further clarifies how media discourse shapes knowledge boundaries and cultural identity, extending the application of recontextualization theory in health and cross-cultural communication research.

Highlighting minorities and crime survivors through public discourse is essential for their support and protection. However, advocating for minorities is challenging due to the fear of potential isolation from one’s social circles. This reluctance contributes to the societal phenomenon known as the “spiral of silence,” significantly impeding efforts to support socially vulnerable individuals. This study centers on a pivotal instance where the silence surrounding sexual abuse in the Japanese entertainment industry was disrupted, in which the late company president had allegedly abused idol trainees of the company for decades. Utilizing extensive data from news media and social media, the study probes the engagement dynamics of public attention to this scandal. Results indicate that users on social media provided earlier and greater coverage for this scandal compared to news media outlets. Furthermore, television demonstrated a significant delay in addressing this issue compared to other news media, such as tabloids, magazines, and online news. Regarding social media engagement, idol fans exhibited a more subdued response to the issue compared to the general public. Notably, fans more loyal to the company tended to be slower to mention the issue, with a higher likelihood of standing in defense of the perpetrators. Moreover, conflicting attitudes were observed within the fan communities, culminating in an observable “echo chamber” phenomenon. This paper presents a novel examination of the process of disruption of social silence and offers critical insights for aiding vulnerable individuals in environments dominated by an unacknowledged spiral of silence. This study is novel in that it suggests a reinterpretation of the “spiral of silence theory” in the age of social media, through a comprehensive analysis of relevant social media data and news media data. This contributes to the body of research that has analyzed the spiral of silence theory online.

Although rubella is an infectious disease that can be prevented by vaccination, there have been periodic epidemics in Japan, mainly among adult males. One of the reasons for this is the lack of interest in vaccination among the target adult male population. To clarify the reality of the discussion about rubella and provide basic resource for enlightening activities for rubella prevention, we collected and analyzed Twitter posts about rubella in Japanese between January 2010 and May 2022. We examined time series, number of tweets per account, tweeted contents, and retweet network. We found that the weekly number of rubella reports and the number of Twitter posts fluctuate simultaneously. During the 2018 rubella epidemic, the number of tweets increased due to the start of the rubella routine vaccination program and the use of cartoons to raise awareness. While 80% of the accounts posted three times or fewer during the period, some accounts posted multiple times per day for more than 12 years. Medical terms such as vaccines and antibodies were frequently used in the tweet contexts. In the retweet activity, a variety of actors, including mass media, medical professionals, and even rubella sufferers, contributed to disseminate rubella-related information.

In an aging society, worsening chronic diseases increase the burden on patients and the health care system. Using online health information including health information via social networking sites (SNSs), such as Facebook and YouTube, may play an important role in the self-management of chronic diseases and health promotion for internet users. This study aims to improve strategies for promoting access to reliable information for the self-management of chronic diseases via the internet, and to identify populations facing barriers to using the internet for health, we examined chronic diseases and characteristics associated with online health information seeking and the use of SNSs. This study used data from the INFORM Study 2020, which was a nationally representative cross-sectional postal mail survey conducted using a self-administered questionnaire in 2020. The dependent variables were online health information seeking and SNS use. Online health information seeking was assessed using 1 question about whether respondents used the internet to find health or medical information. SNS use was assessed by inquiring about the following 4 aspects: visiting SNSs, sharing health information on SNSs, writing in an online diary or blog, and watching a health-related video on YouTube. The independent variables were 8 chronic diseases. Other independent variables were sex, age, education status, work, marital status, household income, health literacy, and self-reported health status. We conducted a multivariable logistic regression model adjusted for all independent variables to examine the associations of chronic diseases and other variables with online health information seeking and SNS use. The final sample for analysis comprised 2481 internet users. Hypertension or high blood pressure, chronic lung diseases, depression or anxiety disorder, and cancer were reported by 24.5%, 10.1%, 7.7%, and 7.2% of respondents, respectively. The odds ratio of online health information seeking among respondents with cancer was 2.19 (95% CI 1.47-3.27) compared with that among those without cancer, and the odds ratio among those with depression or anxiety disorder was 2.27 (95% CI 1.46-3.53) compared with that among those without. Further, the odds ratio for watching a health-related YouTube video among those with chronic lung diseases was 1.42 (95% CI 1.05-1.93) compared with that among those without these diseases. Women, younger age, higher level of education, and high health literacy were positively associated with online health information seeking and SNS use. For patients with cancer, strategies for promoting access to websites with reliable cancer-related information as well as access among patients with chronic lung diseases to YouTube videos providing reliable information may be beneficial for the management of these diseases. Moreover, it is important to improve the online environment to encourage men, older adults, internet users with lower education levels, and those with low health literacy to access online health information.

The COVID-19 pandemic, declared in March 2020, profoundly affected global health, societal, and economic frameworks. Vaccination became a crucial tactic in combating the virus. Simultaneously, the pandemic likely underscored the internet's role as a vital resource for seeking health information. The proliferation of misinformation on social media was observed, potentially influencing vaccination decisions and timing. This study aimed to explore the relationship between COVID-19 vaccination rates, including the timing of vaccination, and reliance on internet-based information sources in Japan. Using a cross-sectional study design using a subset of panel data, this nationwide survey was conducted in 7 waves. A total of 10,000 participants were randomly selected through an internet survey firm, narrowing down to 8724 after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The primary outcome was the COVID-19 vaccination date, divided into vaccinated versus unvaccinated and early versus late vaccination groups. The main exposure variable was the use of internet-based information sources. Control variables included gender, family structure, education level, employment status, household income, eligibility for priority COVID-19 vaccination due to pre-existing medical conditions, and a health literacy scale score. Two regression analyses using generalized estimating equations accounted for prefecture-specific correlations, focusing on vaccination status and timing. In addition, chi-square tests assessed the relationship between each information source and vaccination rates. Representing a cross-section of the Japanese population, the regression analysis found a significant association between internet information seeking and higher vaccination rates (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.42 for those younger than 65 years; aOR 1.66 for those aged 65 years and older). However, no significant link was found regarding vaccination timing. Chi-square tests showed positive associations with vaccination for television, government web pages, and web news, whereas blogs and some social networking sites were negatively correlated. Internet-based information seeking is positively linked to COVID-19 vaccination rates in Japan, underscoring the significant influence of online information on public health decisions. Nonetheless, certain online information sources, including blogs and some social networks, negatively affected vaccination rates, warranting caution in their use and recognition. The study highlights the critical role of credible online sources in public health communication and the challenge of combating misinformation on less regulated platforms. This research sheds light on how the digital information landscape influences health behaviors, stressing the importance of accurate and trustworthy health information amidst global health emergencies.