This study demonstrates that the narrative structure of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens utilizes the technique of special correspondents of the 1850s by considering a feature of their style, “night-walk.” This was different from the technique used by ordinary reporters, as night-walk conveyed the perspective of someone present at the reported incident. The study focuses on the novel’s narrative style to elucidate its adoption of this new journalistic style. However, the analysis concerns not only the narrator but also the character of Dr. Alexandre Manette, owing to his similarities to special correspondents of the real world; his document temporarily replaces the narration.

The study begins with highlighting how special correspondents walked across cities at night and noted down what they saw, not from an outsider’s perspective but from that of the reported, which made night-walk a unique feature of their writing. This is followed by an analysis of the narrator, who, although an omniscient third-person narrator, uses the first-person pronoun once, when talking about their habit of night-walk. Finally, it focuses on two scenes in which Dr. Manette narrates his own experiences to illustrate his similarities with special correspondents.

The plot of Henry James’s The Golden Bowl (1904) explores the process of Maggie Verver’s gradual realization of and struggle toward the adultery between her husband, Prince Amerigo, and her schoolmate Charlotte Stant. Hidden behind their adultery issues, however, a more deep-rooted problem underlies the plot—Maggie’s incestuous love for her father. Previous studies also regarded her love for her father as incestuous. In particular, this novel’s denouncement is interpreted as the dissolution of the incestuous situation. Mr. Verver and Charlotte depart for America, leaving behind Maggie and the prince in Europe. Although the distance prevents them from having a love affair, more investigation of the representations of Maggie’s pagoda, which was built in her heart when she got married, shows how she disguises incestuous love as family affection. Furthermore, her attitude toward the hidden incestuous love is intertwined with the treatment of their adultery. This paper analyzes this intertwinement to reveal her silent defiance of social mores. At the end of the novel, she allows herself to keep the love inside of herself and never abandons it.

Ewan MacColl was a singer and an actor who played a significant role in the post-war British folk revival of the 1950s and 60s. He was also a radio narrator and producer. Together with the BBC producer, Charles Parker, and the American folk singer, Peggy Seeger, MacColl produced the BBC radio documentary called the Radio Ballads series, broadcasted annually between 1958 and 64. The Radio Ballads, using songs, instrumental music, sound effects, and the recorded voices of ordinary people, was an innovative new form of popular culture. The Big Hewer (1961), the fourth episode of the Radio Ballads, featured the life of coal miners through the folklore of the Big Hewer, a miner renowned for his strength and hard work. This legend was handed down in the mining community all over the British Isles, from generation to generation. Although the coal industry itself started to decline throughout the 1950s and 1960s, owing to the changes in the national energy strategy, The Big Hewer provided an explored miners’ pride in and bond with their communities, which were ultimately doomed to lose. By articulating the ideas and activities of the British Folk Revival that focused on coal-mining songs, this paper illuminates the process through which The Big Hewer developed into a new form of folk culture that wove the colliers’ stories of their tough life and their folklore into the medium of folk song.

Asakusa, Tokyo developed during the Edo period (1603–1867) as one of the leading entertainment districts in Japan. The arrival of Commodore Perry’s Black Ships in 1853 led to the opening of Japan to foreign contact and brought a turning point to Asakusa. This paper considers how the Bunmei-kaika (cultural enlightenment) movement affected live entertainment in the district during the Meiji era (1868–1912).

The new government wanted to impress upon Westerners the idea that Japan was a civilized nation. While Western dignitaries wanted to see traditional performances unique to Japan, the authorities prohibited some they believed Westerners would consider barbaric and dubious. In the meantime, common Japanese people, who could not even think of traveling abroad, simply wanted to know about the West and went to Asakusa to enjoy Western culture, such as the circus.

This paper first examines Asakusa’s shows witnessed by Westerners, focusing on the opinion of the English journalist John Reddie Black (1826–1880), who considered them barbaric. After discussing the examples of Western culture that Japanese enjoyed, the paper also analyzes the relationship between Asakusa and Black’s son, Henry James Black (1858–1923), who became a Rakugo storyteller.

This study discusses the possibility that pronunciation instruction can intrinsically motivate Japanese university English learners by re-examining the significance of pronunciation instruction in English educational settings. To this end, 154 Japanese university students completed surveys on English pronunciation awareness and learning motivation. An online questionnaire asking questions related to basic information including feelings of liking or disliking English was also administered. The overall scores of the English pronunciation awareness survey and five types of motivation based on self-determination theory (intrinsic regulation, identified regulation, introjected regulation, external regulation, and non-regulation) were compared across four groups in the quartile range using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Next, the total score of intrinsic motivation and the results of the responses to the questionnaire survey were compared.

According to the results, learners’ views of English pronunciation are positively related to intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, intrinsic motivation could be positively related to feelings of liking English. This means that emphasizing English pronunciation instruction may increase learners’ intrinsic motivation and their feelings of liking English. Based on these results, this study discusses the significance of incorporating pronunciation instruction into English educational settings and the measures that must be taken to incorporate it.