Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the multiple meanings of communication noryoku (ability to communicate) in contemporary Japan, drawing on a team-ethnography of communication skills workshops run by an adult with hattatsu-shogai (developmental disability) and long-term research on hikikomori and hattatsu-shogai.

Paper long abstract:

In contemporary Japan, communication noryoku, or the ability to communicate, is considered one of the most important skill-sets for new graduates seeking employment. What exactly does communication noryoku mean, and how do youth and adults in Japan cope with the social demands to communicate "well"? This paper draws upon one-year-team-ethnographic fieldwork conducted by Sachiko Horiguchi and Junko Teruyama, in communication skills workshops run by an adult identifying with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (hattatsu shogai tojisha) around the Tokyo area, as well as the presenters' long-term research on hikikomori (socially withdrawal) and hattatssu shōgai (developmental disability, including ADHD, autism spectrum disorder [ASD], and learning disability), and explores the multiple meanings of communication noryoku in contemporary Japan.

After a brief historic overview of how and why communication noryoku has come to be increasingly seen as a must-have skill in Japan, data from participant observation in the communication skills workshops, which we shall call "Sandbox," as well as narratives from "Sandbox" leader, facilitators, and participants will be presented. "Sandbox" workshops, inspired by theatrical methods, are designed mainly for adults with ASD and focus on improving communication skills through "trying out" a variety of communication tasks, but are open to all that are interested. The ethnographic data from these workshops will be analyzed through insights from Horiguchi's and Teruyama's individual research spanning over a decade on children, youth, and adults suffering from communication problems, namely hikikomori and hattatsu shogai. We will focus on ways in which the ideals of communication are framed and negotiated within competing paradigms of "Japanese high context" modes of communication, symbolized in the popularized expression, "kuki wo yomu" (reading the air), as well as "direct and straightforward American, low-context" modes. The bodily, sensory, and affective ideals of communication will also be explored, along with the emphasis on verbal and bodily expressions of acceptance and empathy. Finally, we will reflect on how the two anthropologists performed differently in the communication skills workshops, in an attempt to highlight the roles of the ethnographer's bodily and sensory perceptions in ethnographic fieldwork.