[lit-ideas] Communication Habits

From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Anthro-L List" <ANTHRO-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:15:58 +0900
The following are my notes on a special section in Senden Kaigi (September
2008)  in which cell phone novels appear as one example of a broader trend
in the communication habits of Japanese youth. I wonder if this phenomenon
occurs in other parts of the world, and how people here react to the efforts
to explain it presented in this source.


p. 24-51 特集 会話力のある言葉 "Language with Dialogue Powerr"
>
>
> 寄り添えるのは、会話力のある言葉 "Dialogoue power brings people together."
>
>
> Not one-way presentation, but words that emerge in dialogue and are able to
> strong involvement (関心) and empathy (共感). This special reports on
> interviews with with experts and hit contents creators in an attempt to
> understand the power of dialogue.
>
>
> 稲増龍夫 (Tatsuo Inamasu, Hosei University Professor of Sociology)
>
> 川上善郎 (Yoshiro Kawakami, Seijo University Professor of Literature)
>
> 伊東寿朗 (Toshiaki Ito, Publishing Producer)
>
> 鷲尾和彦 (Kazuhiko Washio, Hakuhodo DY Partners Media Environment Institute)
>
> 島田紳助 (Shinsuke Shimada, popular comedian and MC)
>
>
> Cell phone novels (携帯小説) top best seller lists in Japan. No. 1 恋空
> 切ナイ恋ものがたり and No. 2 赤い糸 broke the million books sold market within one
> month after release. Five of the best selling books of 2007 were cell phone
> novels. In a country where young people not reading has become an obsession,
> this new literary form seems to have something going for it.
>
>
> Toshiaki Ito suggests that what cell phone novels describe is the real
> world with which teens are familiar. The language they use is everyday, not
> literary. Writer and reader angles on the world are very close. Thus,
> readers find it easy to empathize with what the writers are saying.
>
>
> Ito should know what he is talking about. He is involved in the cell phone
> novel portal site 魔法の図書館(Magic Library), and the publication of cell phone
> novels whose total sales have topped five million. He is also the author of 
> ケータイ小説革命論
> (Cell phone novel revolution).
>
>
> Ito says that cell phone novels differ from conventional novels, which are
> written and then published in a form of one-way communication from author to
> reader. In contrast, cell phone novel sites are equipped with bulletin
> boards, where readers can communicate with the author while the work is
> still being written.
>
>
> Most comments, however, are thanks to the author for writing the novel.
> Cell phone novels are frequently described as two-way communication, but
> reader thanks do more to encourage the authors to keep writing than to
> change the story. Occasionally there are critical comments, but these are
> rapidly countered by the supporters of the work. Sometimes the battle
> becomes so fierce that authors are upset or, unable to bear criticism, give
> up mid-way. Then, however, they receive messages urging them to come back
> and continue. This kind of encouragement becomes motivation for the authors.
> Ito says that, "If an ordinary novel is like a CD, cell phone novels are
> like live performances, where the performer is stimulated by the audience
> response.
>
>
> *Like modern personalities, [the authors of ]cell phone novels expand [the
> reach of] their readers' empathy.*
>
>
> Hakuhodo DY Media Partners Kazuhiko Washio, author of 共感ブランディング (Empathy
> Branding) argues from another perspective that cell phone novels succeed
> because they fit the habit of modern young people of receiving information
> in fragmentary forms.  He notes the current popularity of short, nonsense
> gags, in contrast to to the older, more elaborate rhetoric of 漫才(traditional
> comic dialogue). In music, too conceptual albums no longer sell. Instead
> music purchasers buy and download one song at a time. Washio says that,
> "Cell phone novels arrive bit by bit, day by day, and are probably read more
> like short letters from the author than a single, continuous novel. "
>
>
> Most cell phone novels are based on true stories. Readers respond to the
> authors' desire for "someone to listen to my story." Encouraged by reader
> response, the author continues to write. The overlapping feelings of author
> and reader become the basis of empathy. Increasingly, says Washio, empathy
> is aroused on a one-to-one basis.  It is like the empathy that was created
> because young people listened to the same music or late-night radio
> programs. They would feel empathy and then write letters to the
> personalities who appeared on these shows. The empathy would spread to
> others. The authors of cell phone novels resemble those radio personalities,
> but thanks to the interactive nature of cell phone technology, can suddenly
> become hits more rapidly. Large audiences form that support the creation of
> books, films, or TV drama series based on the novels.
>
>
> Also, says Washio, the subject matter of these novels is the kind of stuff
> that teens usually hide from their parents. That makes them feel even more
> real.
>
>
> *Conversation increases the feeling of participation and makes information
> easier to understand*
>
> **
>
> On TV, information-variety and quiz shows are popular. According to Yoshiro
> Kawakami, the popularity of both is due to the conversation that dominates
> their programming.  Until recently, says Kawakami, mass media were
> "teaching," "communicating to," or otherwise preaching from on high to their
> audiences. Still, however, they assumed a sophisticated audience. The
> information they presented was difficult to understand for people without
> higher education. Now that pushy approach is giving way to conversation,
> with even one-way media like TV trying to create a feeling of participation
> in their audiences. The most popular program hosts are those who keep
> conversations going and can interject, just at the right moment, with the
> questions that audience members want to ask.
>
>
> Kawakami also asserts that conversation makes information easier to
> understand. Talk shows in which reporters and commentators are asked
> questions communicate more effectively than ordinary news broadcasts. [I
> find myself thinking of the Rachel Maddow Show and, especially the "Talk Me
> Down" segment.]
>
>
> *Conversational power is being able to drop down to the other's level and
> get them to talk*
>
> **
>
> According to Tatsuo Inamasu, those best able to lead a conversation are
> those who are skilled coordinators.  The best talk show hosts are those who
> hold back and let others talk. One example is comedian Hideyuki Nakayama
> (Hide-chan), who, says Inamasu, is a genius at drawing people out. Other is
> Shinsuke Shimada, who, says Inamasu, is responsible for the current おバカ(The
> Fool) boom. He created a new TV genre by picking out people who would not
> have previously been seen as able to compete in quiz shows, then using his
> conversational talent to present them as distinctive individuals. Creating a
> group of such people, he created the new genre.
>
>
> Shinsuke uses his own confusion to put himself on the same level as the
> person he is talking with,  making it possible for the conversation to flow
> back and forth (like playing catch).
>
>
> *Can corporations converse with consumers?*
>
> **
>
> Can, in other words, corporations do what Shinsuke does? Present themselves
> as confused and draw out what consumers have to say? The usual approach of
> questionnaires in which formal language is used to ask for opinions makes it
> difficult to penetrate the 本音, the consumer's real feelings. That said, is
> it possible for a company to lower itself to say, for example, "The fact is,
> we have this really serious problem"? Can a company present itself from a
> position of weakness that invites the consumer's advice?
>
>
> Professor Kawakami rejects conventional survey research approaches that, he
> says, impose the researcher's views on the consumer, forcing the consumer's
> responses to remain within the company's pre-defined framework. It is
> better, he says, to encourage the consumer to do the talking. Awareness of
> this fact has led to the growing popularity of one-on-one depth interviews,
> which take a long time and tend to take the form of casual conversations. It
> is here, in these casual conversations, that the consumer's true feelings
> are revealed.
>
>
>
John
-- 
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
[lit-ideas] Communication Habits

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