Abstract
This study explores the status of democratic citizens or demos on the Saitama Times (ST), a local newspaper published in Honjo Town, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, in the early post-World War II period. The paper was published soon after a monumental town assembly with a mass of townspeople, which resolved that all violence should be expelled from the town, following a national press the Asahi Shimbun’s scandalous reports which disclosed that yakuza-related members hijacked town politics. Known as the Honjo Case of 1948, the Case was long recognized as a herald of new, democratic Japan. However, recent researches suggest that both the Asahi’s press campaign and the town assembly were first of all enabled by strong supports from the American Occupation Forces.
Understanding that the ST fulfilled interesting democratic functions in the momentum of a democratic movement, this critical study investigates their rhetoric, exploring democratic ideals and types of citizenship the newspaper tried to instill into their readers. In so doing, the study first learns ideas of democracy and demos from contemporary political theorists. Second, the study reviews the Honjo Case and the ST. Third, the study argues that the idea of demos was well demonstrated on the ST, which, unlike the major national presses around this time, aimed at serving unique pedagogical and political functions. By these discussions, it suggests potential strategies with which democratic citizenship can raise and articulate itself with the larger political communities.
