Analysis of Text in Newspaper Articles on Genetically Modified Foods

Abstract

We analyzed the domestic topic of genetically modified food in Japan by using text-mining techniques. We used KH Coder—free software for quantitative text analysis of the Japanese language—to analyze 1164 Japanese newspaper articles published between December 1988 and November 2018. Our text-mining analysis revealed that the number of articles on this topic increased in 1999 and 2000. Particularly in 1999, “labeling” was used frequently in newspapers, and in 2000, “safety” was used frequently. Four research periods (phases 1 to 4) were identified through the analysis of frequently appearing words with a focus on changes in the labeling system. Response analysis revealed that the debate on genetically modified food had focused on “labeling” and “safety” in phases 2 and 3. In addition, hierarchical cluster analysis showed that Group H (genetically modified food labeling and safety) was the principal category in phase 2. We used an analysis of co-occurrence networks to visualize the relationships of the words in group H in each of the four periods. The analysis showed clearly that there was an active debate that ranged from genetically modified food importation to the establishment of genetically modified food labeling (in phase 2), and then from the establishment of genetically modified food labeling to transfer of the food labeling business to government control (in phase 3). Also, it became clear that there was constant reporting about “safety”, but only temporary, intensive reporting about “labeling”.