Japanese Research on Linguistics, Literature, and Culture

Identity formation of the female adolescent character Kiki in Hayao Miyazaki’s anime Kiki’s Delivery Service

2025-11-07T16:56:12+00:00

This study examines the process of Kiki's identity formation as a female adolescent in the anime Kiki's Delivery Service by Hayao Miyazaki, using Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory of identity, and the concept of femininity training from Takie Sugiyama Lebra. The study aims to describe the dynamics of Kiki’s psychosocial development as the main character, which reflects the stages of adolescent identity formation. This research employs a descriptive qualitative method with close-viewing and scene documentation techniques, with data consisting of dialogues, actions, and visual narratives in the form of screenshots from the anime. The results of the analysis indicate that Kiki’s journey corresponds to Erikson’s stages of identity formation, comprising three phases: the phase of initial idealism, the phase of identity crisis, and the phase of identity integration. The concept of femininity training by Lebra apparently does not significantly influence Kiki in her journey to find her identity; in fact, she tends to show the opposite. Thus, the formation of Kiki's self-identity not only signifies self-recovery but also emphasizes the importance of reflective space and social support in forming a complete and independent female adolescent identity.

Untranslatable Japanese business terminology: A qualitative study on culture-bound loanwords retained in global English communication

2025-11-25T15:57:41+00:00

Some culturally rooted Japanese business phrases do not have the precise equivalents in English business terminologies. It is prompting the translators, multinational corporations, and worldwide media to use the original Japanese lexical form. This study examines how Japanese business terms like omotenashi, ikigai, and senpai- kōhai, are used in English-language business discourse. Data were gathered from corporate records, international business media, and academic publications between 2019 and 2024. Grounded in Jakobson's (1995) in theory of cultural untranslatability and further informed by Appiah (1993) notion of thick translation and Skopos Theory (Vermeer, 1978) and by using a qualitative discourse-analytic approach supported by lexical content analysis, the study identified three main reasons for translation retention: (1) high cultural density and embedded socio-ethical values, (2) lack of conceptual equivalence in English, and (3) strategic branding that leverages " Japanese " for global market identity. The findings reveal that explanatory paraphrasing and loanword preservation regularly coexist, implying that English-language business communication employs hybrid semantic representation to accommodate Japanese concepts. The study comes to the conclusion that leadership practice, worldwide brand positioning, and intercultural business negotiations are all influenced by untranslatable business concepts.

An Analysis of the semantic relationships among tsukau, riyousuru, and shiyousuru in Japanese news media

2025-12-18T18:24:28+00:00

This research is conducted to find out the similarities and differences of the three verbs.This research discusses the semantic relationship between the verbs tsukau, riyousuru, shiyousuru in Japanese news media where the three verbs have similar meanings or the same meaning which is "using" when translated into Indonesian. In addition, the method of substitution in the sentence is used to find out the relationship of the three verbs. The data used in this research is obtained from Japanese news media that are always up to date, namely NHK Japan, Yomiuri Shinbun, and Asahi Shinbun, which always present Japanese news to international media.The method of data collection, data analysis, and descriptive analysis. For further analysis, a descriptive qualitative method was used. The three verbs have the same meaning, which is to use or utilize objects or goods for a particular purpose. The similarity of meaning can substitute each other in sentences and can be classified into synonymous meaning relations. However, the difference in meaning between tsukau, riyousuru, and shiyousuru makes the three verbs unable to substitute each other in sentences.