While patient participation in medical decision-making is increasingly advocated in contemporary medicine, its difficulty has also been repeatedly pointed out. Detailed explorations of actual decision-making are important to deepen our understanding of this gap. Using the methodology of conversation analysis, this study examines how doctors use inexplicit treatment recommendations in outpatient consultations in a Japanese hospital. It shows that this type of recommendation does not immediately place the patient in the position of accepting or rejecting the recommendation. Because of this affordance, it is recurrently used by doctors either to initiate a complex recommendation or to cautiously recommend a treatment which may not be readily acceptable to the patient. In the latter, it enables a patient to initiate negotiation of the recommended treatment by displaying a stance toward it without officially taking a position and thereby enhances the possibility of patient participation. Though the decision-making initiated by an inexplicit recommendation falls short of the ideal model of “shared decision-making,” it can be regarded as a feasible practice for promoting patient participation in everyday consultation.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which started at the beginning of the 2020 Japanese academic year, has caused many universities to switch to online classes, and students who were planning to study in Japan are now “studying abroad” online. Before the pandemic, remote exchange classes connecting overseas and Japanese students have been conducted in Japanese language education, and many practical reports and studies have been carried out. This paper outlines the achievements and significance of remote learning to date, and discusses the importance of a setting where students can participate in a community, even if it’s online. In addition, interviews were conducted with three students who studied abroad at Japanese universities, and their accounts were used to examine what they were looking for when they studied abroad and how they evaluated their studies in 2020. The results showed that the purpose of studying in Japan was to experience Japanese lifestyle, and that although they regarded the educational outcomes as positive, they found it difficult to build relationships and participate in the community. This study concludes that it is important to incorporate a system that promotes community participation as one of its multiple settings into online education.

The purpose of this paper is to show that online communication is as rich in communicative activities as face-to-face communication, by analyzing classroom discussion in an online graduate seminar. It was found that in the online seminar participants engaged in highly interactive communication activities by actively taking turns in cooperation with each other and using various strategies to avoid the awkwardness of silence. It became clear that participants built up mutual understanding and trust by actively referring to the video and audio shared through video conferencing software and collaborating with each other to solve connection problems and research difficulties.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increasing number of online meetings being introduced as a work tool. In these meetings, children can enter the work environment. How can children participate in the world of adults in situations where work and parenting conflict? In this study, we examined this issue through a detailed analysis of a case in which an interviewee’s child entered a BBC News interview, focusing on speech, eye gaze changes, and body movements. In the after-the-fact reports, some of the child’s speech and actions were edited out, and the child was treated as if she had “invaded” the interview. However, this analysis revealed that the child did not simply seek one-way communication with her mother while her mother was working, but understood what actions she could take in the situation, and adjusted the timing of her speech, eye contact, and actions. In addition, the child maintained communication by using the formality of the presenter’s name-calling as a resource and by organizing her speech sequences according to that formality. Unlike what the media reports suggested, the child participated in the interaction actively by referring to limited cues and rules that are self-evident to adults.

In recent years, the number of foreign nationals working as care workers in Japan has increased significantly, with people of various residential statuses and nationalities working in long-term nursing homes. However, foreign staff are rarely seen as independent social actors and are seldom discussed in relation to other actors and stakeholders. This paper focuses on the aspect of learning through online “Japanese & Nursing Care Workshops” in which four groups of people, including care workers in technical intern training programs, staff of facilities and supervising organizations, and Japanese teachers, participated. It records how the participants collaborated through Japanese language education practices that were created proactively and interactively, and how they explored issues and solutions to Japanese language learning and communication, within the real context of a nursing home providing long-term care during the COVID-19 pandemic. In these processes, each participant was prioritized as a social actor, and a detailed description was attempted which did not neglect their individuality and specificity. The study indicated that conventional discourse should be reconsidered. It also offered new knowledge on how the four actors learned from each other and what problems could be highlighted from their learning. This paper also suggests future discussions for Japanese language education for care workers in technical intern training programs.

This paper investigates metaphors of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japanese from the view of cognitive linguistics. The data were extracted from direct quotations in newspaper articles reporting voices of ordinary people and their social backgrounds. We found that the most productive metaphors used in the conceptualization of the pandemic were two war metaphors, “DISEASE TREATMENT IS WAR” and “BUSINESS IS WAR” These are often summarized as slogans in public discourse, such as “the war on COVID.” The meaning focus analysis using conceptual metaphor theory revealed that although these two war metaphors were not compatible in terms of conceptual structure, the incompatibility rarely surfaces because of the difference in semantic focus. In the pandemic situation, people such as restaurant owners and retailers were in a state of social conflict between stopping their business to “fight against” COVID-19 and continuing to economically “survive” the pandemic. This paper suggested that this conflict reflects the incompatibility between the two war metaphors.

With the global outbreak of COVID-19, how did university students mutually experience a sense of togetherness despite their daily activities moving from physical to online spaces? This paper presents university students’ online casual conversation data collected during the early days of the pandemic. Characteristics of online conversation, communication via screens and webcams, include range of vision that differs from that of face-to-face communication and the corresponding verbal and non-verbal behaviors regarding how to see and to be seen. This paper analyzes how “bonding” (Ide & Hata, 2020) emerged in online spaces by focusing on the actions of looking at others and their spaces through screens and choosing what to show on webcams and how to display it. A sense of togetherness was seen to emerge through joint-gazing, voice resonance about visual resources, and the expansion of communication space through reference to others’ private spaces. Furthermore, social connections among participants were strengthened by sharing and confirming online conversational norms through mutual acts of adjusting and evaluating the way they appear on webcams. The analysis revealed multiple ways in which young people create bonds at the physical, interactional, and sociocultural levels through reciprocal interactions using visual communication resources.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unexpected changes to the lives of the deaf and hard of hearing. This paper points out that in a prolonged pandemic, it is important to record as many accurate descriptions as possible, rather than to analyze or evaluate. It looks at the lack of information in sign language, including during the Olympics and Paralympics, and how children have struggled with on-line lessons and isolation at home.

With the spread of COVID-19, support for foreign residents, for whom information in Japanese might be hard to understand, has become a pressing issue. However, there are still few studies on foreign resident mothers, a marginalized subgroup among foreign residents. To investigate their present situation and the issues relating to their support during the COVID-19 pandemic, I analyzed the reports of the Association for Toyonaka Multicultural Symbiosis, an association which offers wide support to foreign residents in Toyonaka City, Osaka, and conducted an interview survey with the staff in charge. The results of my study showed that the association provides information and support based on the needs of foreign residents, both in outdoor settings and online through various tools like video conference systems. It also expanded support though the employment of members from multiple linguistic and cultural backgrounds, under the COVID-19 state of emergency. It has also become clear that changes in methods of communication through the use of online tools makes it more difficult to detect the concerns and insecurities of foreign residents.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought research on Japanese and Ryukyuan dialects to a standstill, hindering researchers from conducting fieldwork. In the early stages of the pandemic, the dialect research community responded by discussing relevant issues, sharing ideas about alternative research methods, and creating research environments specifically designed for the current situation. This study provides an overview of the various responses of the community to the pandemic situation and prospects for future research. First, it presents three types of reactions to the pandemic from the research community, namely, grass-root gatherings for information exchange, organizational activities of academic societies, and support for individual researchers conducting online interviews. Following this, we discuss various alternative research methods with a special focus on how they been shared and discussed among researchers. Taking into consideration the issue of fieldwork, one of the authors has proposed a guideline for conducting linguistic fieldwork that is specifically designed for the COVID-19 pandemic situation. In conclusion, the present paper provides prospects for future research with emphasis on the positive consequences of the pandemic on dialect research.

In areas affected by natural disasters, messages in the local dialect are sometimes used to encourage and inspire disaster victims. This usage is referred to as “dialect ale” or “dialect slogan”. In the disaster areas affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 and the Kumamoto Earthquake in 2016, slogans in dialect such as ‘Keppare! Iwate’ and ‘Ganbaruken! Kumamoto’ were observed (Inoue et al. 2013, Mogi 2019). In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020, dialect-based “ale” and “slogans” have been observed but of a slightly different type to those of the 2011 and 2016 disasters. In this study, we analyzed the similarities and differences between the “dialect ale” and slogans observed in the aftermath of the Great East Japan and the Kumamoto Earthquakes and those of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conclude that is seems appropriate to distinguish between what can be seen as “ale” and “slogan” based on the meaning of the dialect part of these messages.

This study investigates the functions of listener responses in Japanese conversation. Data were gathered from free conversation and storytelling between 14 pairs of native speakers (NS-NS) and 13 pairs of native speakers and non-native speakers (NS-NNS). Listener responses, such as un, hai, and soodesuka, were classified into seven categories according to function. The results showed that learners (non-native speakers) tend to produce less “showing listening” but more “understanding” and “reaction to the speaker’s response request” listener responses, compared with native speakers. The frequent use of “understanding” and “reaction to the speaker’s response request” listener responses suggests that learners tend to make it clear that they are understanding what the native speakers are saying and trying to facilitate communication. The less frequent use of “showing listening” listener responses, however, could project the impression that learners’ listener responses are not adequate. Furthermore, analysis of the functions and types of listener responses showed that the learners often used “soo-group” listener responses to indicate “understanding,” whereas native speakers showed frequent use of “a-group” listener responses.

This study focuses on the discourse between the salesclerk and regular customers in a neighborhood grocery store that residents could access on foot or by bicycle. In the analysis, I explored the small talk that transpired after the greeting and examined the initiation and convergence in the dialog. I also examined the salesclerk-customer relationship that evolved as the small talk developed, based on the spatial location of the participants. After the initial greeting, the salesclerk’s reference to previous contact, references to daily routine, and jovial remarks by the customer were observed, confirming a sustained relationship between both parties. This small talk transpired due to the proximity of the salesclerk’s position to the entrance and the expected continuation of proximity based on the speed of the customers’ movements. The salesclerk and the customers participated in the conversational exchange on an equal footing, and the selection of goods by the customer indicated that the interaction was not based on a normative hierarchical relationship. Neighborhood stores, where the use of language as described above can be seen, are considered to be one of the places where communication in the local community is accumulated, as occurs in community associations and festivals.

This study analyzes television news reporting on the general agreement of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), using Critical Discourse Analysis. The analysis reveals that the news item constructs the interpretive frameworks that the resulting declines in food prices will benefit consumers and corporations, while the government will provide measures to deal with farmers’ concerns. Furthermore, the news item foregrounds the limited frameworks that people have a passive existence, just influenced by political measures, and that consumers and farmers are in opposition. Such interpretive frameworks are created by the complex interaction of several discourse elements, including the selection of information, rhetorical features, language use, and visual elements. This complex interaction creates and reinforces one-sided perspectives concerning: 1) aspects of events given most importance, 2) causal relationships, and 3) attributes attached to participants. Although each discourse element does not clearly express specific perspectives, all the elements together consistently contribute to presenting the same frameworks. Thus, the news item conceals alternative perspectives and presents the selected frameworks as the only ones, without giving sufficient reasons and explanations.

In contact situations where native Japanese speakers and non-native speakers communicate in Japanese, linguistic behaviors often unfold differently from those between native speakers. One example is the use of the so-called “tameguchi” linguistic form by native speakers. In this study, I focused on the use of tameguchi in first-time face-to-face conversations and examined speech level operation. I identified some metamessages related to the use of speech levels of native speakers, and discussed non-native speakers’ interpretations of tameguchi and their linguistic and cultural implications. The results of a survey conducted on native Japanese speakers and non-native speakers (Koreans speaking Japanese), indicated that the speech levels used by native speakers in face-to-face conversation in first-time contact situations were mainly “desu-masu” forms of “teineigo” (polite forms) and tameguchi. The speech level operation of native speakers was seen to involve “linguistic power relations,” “stereotypes” about Japanese language and “foreigner factors.” The metamessages intended by Japanese speakers were found to be “linguistic consideration” and “linguistic hospitality.” On the other hand, the results showed that the use of tameguchi could trigger misunderstandings and interactional trouble in first-time face-to-face conversations between Japanese and Koreans.

This research examines 1) what criteria Japanese native teachers value when evaluating Japanese narrative writing by JFL (Japanese as a Foreign Language) learners, and 2) how teachers differ in the criteria they give high priority to when determining good writing. In this study, 20 Japanese native teachers who engage in teaching Japanese writing at Japanese universities were asked to evaluate 10 narrative writings by JFL learners and the evaluations of the four best-rated writings were analyzed. The results showed that teachers valued evaluation criteria such as ‘clarity of main point’, ‘interestingness’, ‘coherence’, ‘sufficient description’, ‘sequence’ and ‘accuracy’ for ranking narrative writings. Cluster analysis further revealed that the 20 teachers could be categorized into four groups. The features of the groups are: Japanese accuracy and detailed description oriented, rigorous task achievement oriented, clarity and comprehensibility oriented, and focused description and organization oriented. The results imply that teachers need to be aware of differences among themselves regarding what priority they give when they teach and evaluate narrative writings.

How latency is handled is significant in the analysis of telecommunication interactions. In this paper, we distinguished between “absolute time series” in which all participants are simultaneously viewed without equipment and “relative time series” which focuses on the perspective of each participant. We schematized how latency affects each participant by classifying the following cases: single events, synchronization, differences in inter-speech silence perceived by participants, overlap when multiple listeners simultaneously initiate speech as the next speaker, and overlap between the listener’s selection of the next speaker and the speaker’s continuation. We also discussed how to record communication with latency and how to reproduce relative time series when analyzing pre-existing video data, and illustrated the procedures with a simple case analysis.