The media and the pursuit of militarism in Japan: Newspaper editorials in the aftermath of 9/11

Abstract

Following the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, Japan passed laws that resulted in the dispatch of its Self-Defense Force to support military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. This marked a major break from Japan's previous pacifist stance, which, as stated in Article 9 of the national constitution, did not allow for participation in war. This article examines editorials from four leading Japanese newspapers, Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi, and Sankei, to explore a connection between language usage in the media and Japan's move towards militarism. More specifically, the analysis shows that the editorials employed a series of linguistic devices, including metaphors, a grammar of urgency, and the term ‘challenge’ to construct a strong sense of pressure on Japan to participate in the US-led military response, thereby leaving the Japanese public with little course to consider alternatives to military involvement.

Keywords:

• critical discourse analysis
• mass media
• Japanese language
• Japan national constitution
• newspaper editorials
• metaphor
• problem frame

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Scott Saft

Teaches linguistics and English. His research focuses on conversation analysis and analyses of institutional talk in Japanese. His publications have appeared in Discourse and Society, Language in Society, and Pragmatics, among others.

Yumiko Ohara

Teaches linguistics and Japanese. Her research focuses on gender and institutional language from a critical discourse analytic perspective. Her publications have appeared in Discourse and Society and Japanese Language and Literature, among others.