This paper investigates the dynamic interplay between Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the humanities, charting their co-evolution through historical and philosophical perspectives. It discusses how AI has reshaped the landscape of technology and intertwined deeply with the humanities, influencing the creation, processing, and interpretation of knowledge.

    The discussion begins by contextualizing the humanities within the broad narrative of information and computation, tracing back from the origins of written language to the advent of AI. It highlights the contributions of pivotal figures like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, whose early visions of computing and systematic information organization anticipated modern AI innovations. The paper underscores the need to revisit the historical lineage of knowledge systems to grasp fully the implications of AI within the humanities.

    Delving into the semiotic aspects, the paper examines how modern language models, such as OpenAI’s GPT series, have revolutionized natural language processing. It expands the conversation to include AI’s role in creating complex systems of symbols encompassing text, images, and sounds, which has significant repercussions for fields like media studies and semiotics.

    The author contends that the swift advancement of AI technologies offers both opportunities and challenges to the humanities. While AI’s capability to analyze and synthesize vast data arrays can challenge established humanistic methodologies, it also provides innovative tools for creative and analytical endeavors. The paper critiques the potential risks of depersonalizing knowledge processes through AI and advocates for a critical assessment of how these technologies are shaping cultural and ethical norms.

    In conclusion, the paper argues that despite AI’s profound influence on the humanities, the foundational humanistic values of critical thinking, interpretative analysis, and ethical deliberation remain vital. As AI technologies grow more advanced, the humanities are essential in exploring the implications of these technologies on society, ensuring that AI’s development enriches rather than undermines humanistic disciplines.

    In Japan, the concept of indexicality in photojournalism has a rich history. It emerged during an era when photographs were often subject to technical adjustments and corrections for various reasons. Even then, readers had already begun viewing these images as the result of light interacting with the subject despite the initial photographic process and subsequent modifications.

    During wartime propaganda, photographs were frequently altered for different purposes, yet readers’ attitudes remained consistent, allowing the indexical function to persist. After World War II, photojournalism using film cameras demonstrated remarkable indexical stability for about half a century. However, as we entered the 1990s, advancements in digital technologies-such as image manipulation techniques and the digitization of data for capture, transmission, and storage-gradually transformed the definition of a photograph. No longer could we strictly define a photograph as an image created solely by light from the subject.

    Amidst this increased plasticity (the potential for modification), news organizations have strived to maintain the perception of photojournalistic images as indices by adhering to ethical guidelines that discourage digital manipulation of digital photographs. However, the landscape has evolved further. Smartphones equipped with computational photography capabilities generate images that resemble past high-quality photographs, even though they are distinct from photorealistic images produced by AI. Additionally, recent high-end digital cameras now incorporate features to prove the authenticity of captured images, recording metadata to ensure transparency regarding any image alterations.

    Based on the authority of existing media and the trust bestowed by readers, the method of maintaining the "indexicality" of journalistic photographs through self-restraint in image manipulation is no longer the sole approach in this complex media environment.

    This article discusses the potential for using AI in the digital media environment in harmony with constitutional values. The use cases of AI in the digital media environment can be categorized into recommendation, automation of content moderation, and mass creation of content using generative AI.

    Each use case of AI has specific problems: filter bubbles, lack of transparency, and pink-slime journalism. This article discusses the potential of digital constitutionalism as a fundamental principle for designing digital media environments to address these problems.

    This paper addresses a neglected aspect of replay as media discourse, focusing on the judgmental debate among the perceptual experiences it provides. This paper revisists Harry Collins’ (2010) conception of “ubiquitous expertise” as the epistemology of sports judgment. Collins argues that because of the widespread use of video replays, sports judgment is no longer exclusive to a select group of experts, but has instead become common and widely practiced in front of a TV. While Collins’s argument is persuasive to some extent, its flaw lies in its exclusive consideration of replay as a visual technology. This paper examines replay as a type of media discourse that involves the interplay of video replay footage and sportscasters’ commentary. The ethnomethodological analysis focuses on the specific use of replay in sports broadcasts, clarifying the structure of the “instruction for seeing” (Goodwin 1996). The results demonstrate a departure from Collins’ argument. Collins presumes that the viewers must possess a profound understanding of the rules and regulations of the sport in order to make their own judgments. On the contrary, this paper demonstrates that such assumptions may be unnecessary and that the media discourse may guide the viewers to be able to make their own judgment. According to this paper’s findings, the mundane competence of understanding media discourses is more essential and fundamental for “ubiquitous expertise” than knowledge of the sport’s rules.

    This study analyzes the evolving representation of female characters in Disney/Pixar’s Cars trilogy (2006-2017) and assesses how these changes align with the theoretical and cultural framework of postfeminism. Postfeminism is a theoretical concept suggesting that feminism has fulfilled its objectives and is now outdated. This paper explores how postfeminist sensibilities, discussed by feminist media studies scholars, are integrated into and evolve within the content distributed by the global media conglomerate, The Walt Disney Company.

    The analyses aim to uncover shifts in the number of female characters, their attributes, and amount of their dialogue within the trilogy (Analysis 1), and variations in the narrative role and positionality of the female character with the most dialogue in each film (Analysis 2).

    Throughout the trilogy, the proportion of female characters who speak remained below 30% as the narrative progressed, predominantly featuring male protagonists. However, in Cars 3, there was an increase in the number of female characters portrayed independently of men, suggesting a shift towards depicting women as autonomous agents free from subordination to male characters in patriarchal constructs.

    In examining the narrative roles of the female character with the most dialogue in each film, it is evident that each character is portrayed as a postfeminist subject with distinct traits. In Cars 3, Cruz Ramirez’s depiction as a Latina highlights Lightning McQueen’s unacknowledged privilege as a white man. Nonetheless, the film reduces gender inequality-a structural issue-to a personal challenge, addressed through an empowerment discourse that emphasizes individual confidence and competence.

    The inclusion of feminist discourse might enhance the visibility of feminism. However, it also promotes a postfeminist sensibility, that depoliticizes feminism by focusing on individualized discourses.

    This paper examines the propaganda efforts by Japan and its collaborative government in the Japanese-occupied region of North China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. It explores the development and characteristics of these efforts, with a focus on media control and censorship. Building on the experience from Manchukuo, the propaganda in the occupied region of North China was adapted to the local conditions and the shifting war situation. These efforts can be summarized in three key points: (1) centralized management system: as the war progressed, the propaganda system evolved from a fragmented management approach to a centralized, powerful structure designed to maximize its effectiveness;(2) shifting propaganda entities: the responsibility for propaganda shifted throughout the war, moving from the Japanese military to Chinese collaborators, and then back to the Japanese military. Chinese collaborators played a significant role in directing and executing propaganda efforts; (3) dual nature of propaganda: in the occupied region of North China, propaganda had a dual character, projecting an image of Sino-Japanese cooperation while maintaining substantial Japanese control. This duality resulted in a fundamental contradiction between the envisioned East Asian prosperity under Japanese dominance and the future vision of national independence and development held by Chinese collaborators. This conflict made it difficult for propaganda to resonate with the Chinese populace.

    The sexual abstinence movement, where people voluntarily abstain from viewing pornography and masturbating for a certain period through social media communication, is growing in various parts of the English-speaking world (NoFap or Reboot), China (Jiese), and Japan (Ona-kin). This study typifies Japan’s Ona-kin discourse, which emerged earlier in the world, by analyzing over three million "Twitter" posts from 2007 to 2022.

    While previous studies have endeavored to extract discourse data on masculinity and typified subjects based on influencers’ posts, they have not comprehensively elucidated the diachronic variation. To address the methodological issue, we employed natural language processing (NLP) methods, which are increasingly relevant in discourse studies, to extract salient terms using topic modeling.

    The analysis revealed six major types of Ona-kin discourse on "Twitter": (1) initiation and records of Ona-kin practice; (2) means of enhancing sexual pleasure and arousal; (3) popular cartoon-mediated imagery portraying supernatural powers; (4) aspects of physical, mental, and social self-improvement for men; (5) infertility risks for men; and (6) strategies for managing sexual desire. All categories are consistently observed in the "Twitter" corpus; however, Type (4) is prominent. Additionally, the conflict between Types (2) and (4), as well as between Types (4) and (5), highlights inherent contradictions within the Ona-kin discourse regarding idealized masculinity. Types (6) and (2) share a common perspective of spirituality.

    This study addresses the methodological challenges of existing NoFap studies by leveraging the strengths of NLP. It validates the efficacy of topic modeling in discourse studies and fosters methodological deliberation for media studies. Further research is required to elucidate the types and formation processes of Ona-kin discourse prevalent on Japanese social media platforms ("2chan," weblogs, and YouTube) preceding "Twitter."

    In newspaper editorials, the attribution of responsibility for the Fukushima nuclear accident is intertwined with partisanship over nuclear policy. However, it is difficult for the broadcast media to express its own political preferences, which are required by the Japanese Broadcasting Act to be unbiased and politically impartial.

    Therefore, in the broadcast media, the attribution of responsibility for nuclear accidents needs to be done in a way that is less associated with nuclear policy partisanship. The purpose of this paper is to examine the attribution of responsibility for nuclear accidents on the basis of political neutrality and to discuss its significance.

    The research subject of this paper is the public broadcaster NHK, which is required to be more politically neutral than commercial broadcasters. The program in which NHK news commentators express their opinions and arguments is ‘Jiron Koron’. This paper examines the characteristics of the attribution of responsibility by watching 79 ‘Jiron Koron’ programs related to nuclear power plants saved in the Earthquake TV archive from 16 December 2012 to 31 July 2017.

    In ‘Jiron Koron’, news commentators raised issues such as the problem of contaminated water and the challenges of restarting nuclear power plants, but many of their conclusions called for better enforcement of actions by the government. In other words, the responsibility for the nuclear accident attributed to the government was simply the responsibility to improve the situation. In order to maintain political neutrality, the political responsibility for the occurrence of the nuclear accident was not often mentioned.

    The attribution of responsibility to the government by the media is valued as an activity that politicizes social problems. However, further discussion is needed when simply presenting the government’s responsibility for solving the problem.