Abstract
The Imperial Throne in Japan has consistently been handed down through the male-line. However, the Imperial Family is currently in danger of extinction as it has only three princes. Currently, arguments that the Imperial House Law should be amended to allow princesses to succeed to the throne have gained support, while there are also persistent calls for the branch families, which were abolished by the US occupation forces in 1947, to be restored. Against this backdrop, social networking sites are awash with 'sexist' slurs against researchers who take the position that the patrilineal-line succession should be maintained. Not a few of these accounts are anonymous, making fun of their appearance and academic background. Harassment of researchers by anonymous Japanese-language accounts has long been a problem, not only about topics on the Imperial Family, and some researchers have been forced to close their accounts because their living addresses were opened or because of sexual harassment. Although the importance of gender equality is a basic premise, in the first place, experts in history, religion, anthropology, law, sociology and other fields have different views on whether the current system constitutes sexual discrimination. However, for the reasons mentioned above, many researchers are hesitant to express their views on social networking services, and there are limited opportunities to disseminate their expertise to the general public, with gossip magazines becoming the main source of information. How should imperial researchers deal with Social media? What are the structures that are the cause of the slanderous battles? Is male lineage succession sexist in the first place? Using journalism and social media on gender issues in the imperial family as a case study, this presentation analyses the current state of information dissemination by humanities researchers in Japanese studies, and considers what the future should look like.
Original language | English |
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DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 7 Jun 2024 |
Event | UEA PGR Conference 2024: Humanities on the Frontlines of Institutions - University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom Duration: 7 Jun 2024 → … |
Conference
Conference | UEA PGR Conference 2024 |
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Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
City | Norwich |
Period | 7/06/24 → … |
Keywords
- Japanese Studies