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Social Network Sites and Japanese Netizens

Applebottom

後輩
11 Apr 2015
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Since this century is basically dominated by Social Media and Social Network Sites (like Facebook, Twitter, Line, Mixi, Tumblr, to name some of the most popular) I want to learn more about how Japanese people and others, of course, handle things on-line, how has the social etiquette of Japan has transferred to the on-line environment.

I am currently working on my master thesis on this topic and would like to know as much as I can about it since I find it fascinating how people behave in the cyberspace.

Have you ever reflected on your own behaviour when you are on different social sites?
How about how you talk with people from your own country (Japan) compared with foreigners?
Do you feel like you have more liberty in expressing yourself on-line or do you still feel constrained by the social norms?

These are just some of the few topics that I propose to discuss on this thread. How do we create our on-line identity...ever thought about that?

I post this topic here as a intro thread for you to know me and me to know the cyber you. Hey! Konnichiwa! I'm Anca, a master student from Romania studying in Sweden about Japanese culture (crazy combination, I know) and I would love to know more about you :) Yoroshiku!
 
There are very very few Japanese members here. If you want input from Japanese users of social media, you're going to have to post in Japanese on sites that are in Japanese.
 
Oh, thank you for the hint! I am trying to find people to talk to about this topic, Japanese and people passionate about Japan, all over the place, although I'm more interested in the Japanese perspective. So now I am visiting forums and such, trying to find as much as I can.

Would you happen to know of any forums with Japanese that want to speak in English? I've had this problem until now many times, writing in English but getting no response because of the language. If you do know I would very much appreciate it :)
 
I could do that, since I also know a bit of the language...but I don't have that much experience using it in order to actually have a conversation in Japanese. But if I must...i will become best friends with my Japanese-English dictionary!
 
I could do that, since I also know a bit of the language...but I don't have that much experience using it in order to actually have a conversation in Japanese. But if I must...i will become best friends with my Japanese-English dictionary!
How can you possibly seriously study a country's culture without a deep understanding of the language?

Everything you learn will have to go through a filter of another person's interpretation during translation. Everything you learn will have to be concepts readily expressed in another language.

This baffles me.
 
I teach at a university. About 99 percent of all students never use Facebook. A handful use Twitter. It's all email and/or Line. One of the most popular J teachers/administrators uses Twitter to communicate to staff and students.

My wife (considerably older than a college student although nowhere near a decrepit age) and all of her mama friends ubiquitously use Line.

Japanese seem to shy away from Facebook because they were initially too shy to say no to friend requests, and the got inundated.

Would you happen to know of any forums with Japanese that want to speak in English?
Sorry, but no. Most Japanese are so afraid of making mistakes that they will not speak in English. Even those who do will claim that they are bad at it. If you are trying to find HS or uni age Japanese, I'd say forget it. They are so gun-shy it's not worth trying unless you can communicate solely in Japanese.

Have you even tried a simple Google search? I found these near the top of the results just using "Japan 'social media' " as the keywords.
Looking at 2013's Japanese social-media scene | The Japan Times
Top 6 social networks in Japan - Digital Intelligence daily digital marketing research
Social Media Marketing in Japan
Japan Lags World in Social-Media Adoption | Digital - Advertising Age
http://www.jsnds.org/jnds/34_1_1.pdf
Japan Society: A Brief History of Social Media In Japan

If you're looking for data for a degree paper, plug those words (and others) into Google Scholar for more (and more professional) reports.
 
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How can you possibly seriously study a country's culture without a deep understanding of the language?

Everything you learn will have to go through a filter of another person's interpretation during translation. Everything you learn will have to be concepts readily expressed in another language.

This baffles me.

It may baffle you, but you do know that some of the major works on Japanese culture were done by some people that have never even been to Japan, not to say anything about knowing the language.

I understand what you are saying and I know that the best way to understand how people feel and think about certain things is through the way that they express themselves in their native language.

I know the language, I've studied it but I haven't practised it since there were no Japanese to talk or write to, so it will take me much more time than I have to be able to translate kanji and sentences. I know people that have lived in Japan for a few years and still needed help from a native to translate stuff. Japanese isn't a simple language, sometime even the natives don't get the meaning of some structures, and if the can't do it, i won't say anything about a person that has no practice in actually using real life (not that school book) structures.

So don't jump to such harsh conclusions about learning about a culture and it's language, because there are also people that like and study about Japan but never got to learn it in such a way as to communicate about deeper subjects.
 
I teach at a university. About 99 percent of all students never use Facebook. A handful use Twitter. It's all email and/or Line. One of the most popular J teachers/administrators uses Twitter to communicate to staff and students.

My wife (considerably older than a college student although nowhere near a decrepit age) and all of her mama friends ubiquitously use Line.

Japanese seem to shy away from Facebook because they were initially too shy to say no to friend requests, and the got inundated.

Sorry, but no. Most Japanese are so afraid of making mistakes that they will not speak in English. Even those who do will claim that they are bad at it. If you are trying to find HS or uni age Japanese, I'd say forget it. They are so gun-shy it's not worth trying unless you can communicate solely in Japanese.

Have you even tried a simple Google search? I found these near the top of the results just using "Japan 'social media' " as the keywords.
Looking at 2013's Japanese social-media scene | The Japan Times
Top 6 social networks in Japan - Digital Intelligence daily digital marketing research
Social Media Marketing in Japan
Japan Lags World in Social-Media Adoption | Digital - Advertising Age
http://www.jsnds.org/jnds/34_1_1.pdf
Japan Society: A Brief History of Social Media In Japan

If you're looking for data for a degree paper, plug those words (and others) into Google Scholar for more (and more professional) reports.

Wow, you really helped me with what you wrote there, because you corrected some ideas that I had about the Japanese. I've read in an article that the number of Facebook users has increased in the last years, becoming larger than the Mixi users, for example. This made me curios why the sudden change since in another article, a few years back, the author said that Facebook wasn't popular at all because of its demands like real name and photo. I know that Line is popular (i also use it). I guess Facebook might be used more by adults, because i've seen many people in the subway using it so i would assume is not totally unpopular (not sure yet)

I know about the whole "afraid of English" issue. I even wrote to student clubs that considered themselves international and wanted to meet with international students to talk and got no reply. But if I don't talk with people I will not be able to get a clear picture of how they use SNS in Japan from their perspective.

Thank you for giving me those links, you are very kind and I appreciate your help! :) I have googled about the subject and found many articles relating to this as well and i will keep on searching because new things appear each day.
 
So don't jump to such harsh conclusions about learning about a culture and it's language, because there are also people that like and study about Japan but never got to learn it in such a way as to communicate about deeper subjects.

The only conclusions I reached were:

Everything a person who doesn't understand Japanese learns about Japanese culture...

1. Will have to be secondhand knowledge, colored by the interpretation;

2. Will have to be concepts which can be readily expressed in a non-Japanese language.

Please tell me which of these conclusions you find harsh.

I did my masters quite a few years ago, so perhaps things have changed, but I was expected to have a deep and broad understanding of my field of study. This is why it baffles me that one would attempt cultural research without knowing the language of the culture.
 
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It may baffle you, but you do know that some of the major works on Japanese culture were done by some people that have never even been to Japan, not to say anything about knowing the language.
例えばどういう作品が存在するのか例出していただけませんか。

Japanese isn't a simple language, sometime even the natives don't get the meaning of some structures, and if the can't do it, i won't say anything about a person that has no practice in actually using real life (not that school book) structures.
日本語が母語である人にとっても理解しづらい構文とは、具体的にはどういうものを指していらっしゃるんでしょう?古語や漢文でもない限り思いつかないのですが、もし万が一本当に存在するのであれば一日本人として見てみたい気もしますから。まさかとは思いますが、その日本に数年住んでいたことがあるというお知り合いの方々と、ただ一人の日本人の方だけが情報源というわけではありませんよね?
 
I would suggest using the Hellotalk language exchange app to find Japanese people wanting to chat in English. I've found lots of users to be really forthcoming :)
 
わからないほうがいい2ちゃん語もあるんでしょうが
なるほど。確かに俗語は知らない人には通じにくいでしょうね。ただ言及されてるのが「単語・用語」じゃなくて「構文」ですからねぇ。ほんとに実在するかどうか。。。
 
OPが言いたいことは少し分かるけど、結論は逆と思います。
分かりにくい俗語だからこそ、翻訳が難しくて頼りなくて、英語で研究するのは無理です。
 
Japanese isn't a simple language, sometime even the natives don't get the meaning of some structures
翻訳以前に、ほんとにそんな構文(単語ではなく)が存在するのか知りたい、というのが趣旨だったんですが。。。どっちにしてもちょっと off topic でしたね。😅
 
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