Manzai, Japanese duo stand-up comedy, has a social aspect because it is based on social codes. This study focuses on ‘boyaki (blurting out) manzai’ in postwar Japan and analyzes its content from two perspectives (first, from the social context of then, and second, from the social context of now), in order to clarify its relationship with social norms. In boyaki manzai, the new culture (particularly the fashion and behavior of young women) that was introduced to the country after World War II was the subject of ridicule. However, the content of the manzai of then does not evoke laughter in the present social context. From the modern perspective, it is evident that the statements in boyaki manzai contain gender discrimination based on male-centric principles, and thus, it is sometimes perceived negatively. This study argues that the acceptable range of laughter changes with social norms.

It has been a tradition for a defeated candidate of the U.S. presidential election to give a concession speech as soon as the winner is determined. In 2020, however, Donald Trump refused to concede the election to Joe Biden. This was considered to have impeded the peaceful transfer of power. Some even suspected that it might have contributed to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. As Trump continued to refuse conceding defeat, a video of John McCain’s concession speech in the 2008 presidential election resurfaced on the internet. In this article, I examine McCain’s concession speech and consider how the defeated presidential candidates should communicate with the public. The main purpose of this article is not to criticize Trump for his unwillingness to concede but to clarify the American values that are embodied in McCain’s concession speech and his actions surrounding it. Given the relative lack of communication research on concession speeches, this article has a potential to demonstrate the validity of research that treats concession speeches as a genre of political discourse.

The present study examined the state-anxiety of Japanese college students (N=86) in dyadic conversations both quantitatively and qualitatively from the following four perspectives; 1) the state anxiety change before/after the conversation, 2) the state anxiety change between the conversations with a stranger/friend, 3) an influence of other relevant factors such as trait-anxiety and agari (broad psychological and physical experiences including “stage-fright”) on the state anxiety, and 4) an influence of the cognitive factors such as self-construals, living abroad experiences, and the conversation situation with a stranger/friend. The participants had 20-minute conversations with both a same-sex stranger/friend. State-anxiety was measured twice with The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory right before/after the conversation. The study also measured the trait-anxiety, independent/interdependent self-construals, agari, and the pulse before/during/after the conversation as quantitative data. After all quantitative data was collected, participants were interviewed about their emotion experiences and perceptions of the conversation. The quantitative questionnaire data was statistically analyzed with MANOVA (repeated measures). The qualitative interview data was coded and analyzed. The results show the participants’ state-anxiety level tended to decrease after the conversation with both a stranger and a friend. The participants’ state anxiety level before the conversation with a stranger was likely higher than with a friend. The study also reveals a significant influence of living abroad experiences and self-construals on their state-anxiety level. The interview results suggest their perception of the conversation situation with a stranger/friend influences their state-anxiety.

NHK Chugakusei Nikki was a weekly educational TV program produced by NHK Nagoya Broadcasting Station. It aired nationally from 1972 to 2012. This show was significant because it focused persistently on “the daily lives of ordinary” junior high school students and attracted a larger audience than other educational TV series. Interestingly, amateur teenage actors played themselves in the program. This study analyses how the program was viewed and produced. It also takes the media studies perspective to discuss why viewers considered the images of junior high school students disseminated by the program to be attractive and realistic. In doing so, it specifically references Dean MacCannell’s concept of staged authenticity. The present study is original because it presents the viewpoint that the producers, viewers, and performers of the TV program were all spectators observing the “back region” of other groups, while simultaneously being performers who showed other groups their own back region. The study finds that the television program was underpinned by the desire of viewers and producers to understand junior high school students, scrutinize their human aspects, and function as appropriate adult for students. The program also represented an attempt to preserve the boundaries between adults and junior high school students, and between being in school and out of school. The study could yield a more comprehensive understanding of the nature of real and everyday life depicted on television and other media.