People say that there is a decline in the consumption of text as a result of the overwhelming growth of audio and visual information. The purpose of this paper is to test this argument. To achieve this purpose, The Information Distribution Census published by the Japanese government was analyzed. The analysis revealed a rather unexpected reality. In terms of consumption, text information has grown faster than audio and visual information in the past 20 years. Along with the transition from conventional to electronic media, the relevance of textual information continues to grow.

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In this paper, I investigate how the Japanese weekly Asahi Geino generated sei-fuzoku (popular attitudes toward sexual behavior). I conducted interviews with Asahi Geino editors, then analyzed the data I obtained with the KT2 software system. From the results, I conclude that sei-fuzoku exist in a fantastic binomial context (G. Rodari) made up of two heterogeneous elements: one a sexual element that loses its inherent meaning in people's memories, the other a non-sexual element that is stable in meaning. New combinations of these elements are produced by, and themselves produce, new sei-fuzoku.

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This paper aims to examine the role expectations of female radio personalities and the gender structuring of radio personalities. Radio has come to be situated as a local medium aiming at mass personal communication, and its broadcasters are called "radio personalities." Through interviews with former radio producers and female radio personalities, I conclude that female radio personalities are expected to perform specifically feminine roles. Acting as the metaphorical wives of their partners, they speak as representatives of those involved in daily and/or household matters. For this reason, radio cannot yet be called gender-free.

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The purpose of my paper is to analyze the development of Korean newspapers in Japan from 1945 to 1949. It focuses on the following two aspects. The first is the social context surrounding the birth, the second is the way in which these newspapers were affected and made change direction in such area as editorial policy of Korean newspapers in Japan, by a kind of "power". In this way, I clarify that Korean newspapers in Japan emerged in the all of the political groups integrated, and their editorial directions had been spreading diversely. However, the conflicts caused by the cold war and the changes in the publishing environment forced Korean newspapers to align with one or the other of the two Korean organizations. Thus, Korean newspapers in Japan lost their diversity and incorporated into the paradigm of binaries. The question now arises: What "power" compelled the Korean newspapers in Japan to split into two camps? A further direction of this study will be the analysis of the mechanism of power in the censorship system of GHQ/SCAP.

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The purpose of this research is to elucidate the relationship between radio and domestic life. In Japan, radio broadcasting started in 1925. This article focuses on the "image" of radio that was represented in magazines for women of that time. I analyze articles about radio which appeared in three magazines. The results show that most of the articles focused on electrical gadgets and technology. This demonstrates that the "image" of radio in domestic life was presented within a specific social context. In magazines for women, the "image" of radio was as a symbol of modern science in the form of new domestic appliances.

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The purpose of this study is to examine changes in the official media in former communist countries, especially in national television in Czechoslovakia before 1989. After considering the communist theory of the press expounded by W. Schramm, this study presents several points and perspectives which shed light on the function of the official media under the Czech communist regime. In Czechoslovakia, the law provided for strict control of the media by the government. But in practice, the activity of National TV showed incremental changes away from this strict control in the following ways: 1) a conceptual change concerning "socialist entertainment," 2) the introduction of audience research and commercial messages, and 3) program exchanges with the West. While the media in communist Czechoslovakia has been studied previously as an instrument of Communist Party propaganda, this study shows how changes in the media under communist rule may actually have contributed to the collapse of the regime.

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This ethnographical study attempts to explore how news is produced in ethnic minority media. To examine this question, I conducted a case study of two Japanese newspapers published by new immigrants in New York City. The data were collected through participant observation. The results show that the ethnic minority media don't have enough access to the ethnic majority group as news sources. They also suggest that the Japanese community described in the newspapers reflects active networks between journalists and new sources.

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For over fifty years, television stations have been sending information to their audiences in the form of a one-way stream. Now Internet technology has made it possible for the audience to respond with e-mail, online forms, discussion groups and more. This study examines the changing relationship between broadcasters and their audiences between 1995 and 2002 by analyzing the Tokyo Broadcasting System's Website data. The research found that the Internet serves broadcasters and their audiences in four primary ways: 1) As a window into public opinion and attitudes. 2) As a means of gathering material for television programs. 3) As an educational tool to teach media literacy. 4) As a way to enable audience members to broadcast short films of their own. The study also found that in the Internet world the vertical relationship between broadcaster and audience has been changing towards a more lateral.

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This article investigates in detail how the United States government censored newspapers at Japanese-American "assembly centers" during World War II. These camps were temporary staging areas that accommodated the evacuated West Coast Japanese Americans before they were transferred to more permanent inland "relocation centers." Drawing on the archival records of camp authorities, this study first examines official "center regulations" that enabled press censorship. It then probes how censorship was carried out by local camp administrations. By looking at examples of press controls at major assembly camps, this study also points out several common characteristics in their practice of newspaper censorship.

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