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Paper short abstract

This study investigates the shifting patterns of media narratives regarding Japan’s most vulnerable populations, focusing on the urban poor and foreign residents, particularly Japanese Brazilians (nikkeijin). The research examines preliminary findings from three major national print media outlets.

Paper long abstract

Mass media in contemporary Japan operates within a fundamental contradiction, serving as a primary conduit for communicating public policy while simultaneously treating its audience as consumers. This commercial drive often results in the marginalization of social issues that lack "market appeal," specifically the persistent reality of poverty. This study investigates the shifting patterns of media narratives regarding Japan’s most vulnerable populations, focusing on the urban elderly and foreign residents, particularly Japanese Brazilians (nikkeijin). While Japan has long been projected as a model of Asian prosperity, this image has frequently glossed over significant government failures to generate household wealth and address stagnant wages over the past two decades.

This research examines preliminary findings from three major national print media outlets: Yomiuri Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, and Nikkei News. By selecting news coverage from pivotal economic periods—including the post-bubble era, the 2008 global financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic—this study identifies how media language shapes the "invisibility" of the poor. Findings suggest that while the urban poor are framed through a lens of "self-reliance," foreign residents are often portrayed as an elastic labor force. During economic shocks, these migrant workers—concentrated in manufacturing under irregular contracts—are the first to be discarded, yet remain excluded from the social security systems guaranteed to Japanese citizens.

The implications of these media patterns are profound for Japanese civil society. First, by framing poverty as a lack of individual self-reliance rather than a systemic policy failure, the media reduces public pressure for robust welfare reform. Second, the portrayal of foreign residents as temporary, irregular labor reinforces a "security gap" where tax-paying residents are denied basic living standards during emergencies. Ultimately, this study argues that the commercialized nature of Japanese media reinforces social stratification. By prioritizing narratives that satisfy consumer expectations over those that challenge policy shortcomings, the media perpetuates the exclusion of marginalized groups from the national discourse, hindering the development of a truly inclusive social safety net in an aging, globalized Japan.

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Paper short abstract

This paper argues that the TV drama Signal (Fuji TV, 2018), a Japanese remake of a Korean drama by the same name (2016), presents a deviation from the conventional representation of economic inequality in Japanese TV dramas and challenges the traditional view of Japan as a ‘middle-class society’.

Paper long abstract

This paper argues that the TV drama Signal (Fuji TV, 2018), a Japanese remake of a Korean drama by the same name (tvN, 2016), presents a deviation from the conventional representation of economic inequality in Japanese TV dramas and challenges the traditional view of Japan as a ‘middle-class society’.

The economic recovery in Post-war Japan has created a society where ‘[A]round three-quarters of the population identify themselves as middle class’ (Jones, 2007, p. 5), fostering a ‘middle-class’ myth. Japanese TV dramas reflected this view, where economic differences were presented on screen but bore little effect on the characters or the plotline, fostering and promoting the view that personal responsibility, grit, and perseverance are the main vehicles for improvement and advancement in life, ignoring the potential effect different socio-economic conditions have on life possibilities and struggles. Despite the economic crisis of the 1990s and the growing socio-economic inequalities, the effects of the ageing population and the rise in fractional contracts and low pay part-time employment (Shirahase, 2014), Japanese TV dramas of the late-90s-early 2000s continued to promote the ‘middle-class myth’.

Utilising transnational TV theory and focusing on textual and multimodal analysis of the drama, this paper discusses how, through the new phenomenon of Japanese remakes of Korean dramas, the drama adopts a convention, typical to K-dramas, where socio-economic disparities are foregrounded and play a significant role in characters’ lives, to expand the discourse within Japan. This allows the introduction of new discussions into the debate around economy and society in Japan, by openly and explicitly exploring the effects of socio-economic inequalities on characters’ life choices and possibilities.

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Paper short abstract

This paper discusses the representation of foreigners in Japan in Tōkyō Saradabōru by Kruomaru and in Sukima by Gao Yan. It argues that the former risks reinforcing the Japanese/foreign divide, whereas the second reframes identity through transnational histories and entangled colonial pasts.

Paper long abstract

In recent years, debates on immigration and multicultural coexistence have permeated social media and popular culture in Japan. Amid these discourses and a concurrent resurgence of conservative voices, manga and television dramas have become sites for negotiating the visibility of foreigners in Japan and raising questions related to colonial history and identity.

Based on textual and visual analysis, this paper looks at the representation of non-Western foreigners in Japanese manga. It is premised on the notion that such a discussion is enriched by the inclusion of non-Japanese writers who work in Japan. It examines two graphic narratives, Tōkyō Saradabōru (Tokyo Salad Bowl, 2021-2024) by the Japanese manga artist Kuromaru, adapted into an NHK live-action drama in 2025, and Sukima (Gap, 2025) by Gao Yan, a Taiwanese artist based in Japan.

Tōkyō Saradabōru follows an eccentric female detective, whose hair is dyed green, and a brooding police translator with a complicated past. They encounter various foreigners, who in some way or another become involved in crime, whether it be as victims or perpetrators. The manga aims to counter stereotypes and present foreigners as complex human beings who happen to make Japan their home. However, it tends to reinforce the Japanese–non-Japanese divide and overlook deeper historical entanglements.

In contrast, Gao Yan foregrounds transnational and trans-minority connections, exploring and questioning notions of identity and belonging as well as the painful work involved in the excavation of history and understanding of political processes, usually concealed by those in power. In Sukima, a Taiwanese art student arrives for a year of study abroad in Okinawa and forges connections with a cast of various people, Japanese, Okinawan and Chinese. Gao draws parallels between Taiwan and Okinawa through shared histories of annexation and occupation, weaving personal narratives that traverse national boundaries. Instead of creating the dichotomy of Japanese versus foreign, Gao crafts a complex web of connections that call attention to history.

This presentation highlights the importance of inclusion of diverse voices and points of view when we discuss the representation of foreignness and identity in Japanese arts and media.