Hi, everyone.

I'll have to submit my master's thesis (that would have to deal with Japan in one way or the other) in a few months, however there are so many topics I'm interested in, I can't quite decide which one it shall be. I like to read about linguistics (neurolinguistics included), society and politics, and cultural phenomena in general.

Are there any topics that are currently popular and on the rise in the academic field (Japan, US, Europe) that you could recommend? Also, any advice as to what you think would be a great topic to write about is highly appreciated, too.

Thanks a lot for your help and advice.
(I can understand Japanese material)

Race seems to be a hot topic in the US. How about the concept of race in general in Japan?

That might somewhat align with politics and society and could make for a unique and possibly controversial thesis since everyone else will inevitably make their thesis about samurai.

You can't really ever go wrong with samurai.

TsugiAshi Wrote:Race seems to be a hot topic in the US. How about the concept of race in general in Japan?

Race, particularly the Zainichi, has been done a lot.

"The Ninja in contemporary popular culture"

Just because I'd be amused by a master's thesis that constantly references Naruto.

It's kind of like race, but maybe something about ハーフ and how they deal with being part of two cultures. After I saw the trailer for a documentary on them (https://vimeo.com/71153390) it made me want to learn more about what Japanese attitudes toward them are like.
You could probably bring up the Miss Universe Japan/Ariana Miyamoto scandal which happened recently too.
Don't know how much ハーフ has been done as a thesis though.

If you're more interested in the linguistic side of things, I think a study of native Japanese speakers trying to learn "a/an" and "the" would prove very interesting, simply because of the differences therein and the topic-comment system in Japanese. In particular, error analysis with regards to those words would be particularly enlightening, especially if they were given the opportunity to write what they wanted to express in Japanese as well.

Then again, grammar excites me more than most people, so keep that in mind.

Raulsen Wrote:If you're more interested in the linguistic side of things, I think a study of native Japanese speakers trying to learn "a/an" and "the" would prove very interesting, simply because of the differences therein and the topic-comment system in Japanese.

I guarantee you this has already been done.

To the OP, since you mentioned neurolinguistics, you should look at the pairing of fMRI experimentation and language processing. I did some work with psycholinguistic some years ago looking at referential processing and we used fMRI in that. It was interesting, I bet there is something that could be used with Japanese that may not be done yet.

Thank you for all the great suggestions so far!

Personally, I specially like the idea of investigating current attitudes and trends with regard to the ハーフ concept, and of course, contrasting the topic-comment system in English and Japanese seems pretty interesting, too!
"The Ninja in contemporary popular culture" sounds really cool, although I am not sure I could make it quite scientific while constantly referencing to Naruto xD

@vix86: fMRI experimentation and language processing I think is a great topic. It seems even today the scientific community has not found a definite answer as to at what point /stage in the processing mechanism comprehension is finally achieved. Thank you for this suggestion!

Shinichirou Wrote:"The Ninja in contemporary popular culture" sounds really cool, although I am not sure I could make it quite scientific while constantly referencing to Naruto xD

You could just title it "The Naruto Effect" and write seriously from then on. There's someone doing a Bachelor's thesis on the Internet of Cats over here, and he's only got one cat picture in 25 pages so far.

I think it'd be interesting to study the usage of "prepaid internet cards" such as (http://bitcash.jp/) or (http://www.webmoney.jp) in terms of why it took off, how it originated, and maybe a comparison of whether such things exist in other countries.

Behaviors and cultural activities associated with increased sex and childbirth rates in Japan

Why are 300 yen ビニール傘 so popular when they break apart with the first serious wind?

That one's been on my mind this week as the road to work (Arco Tower, 下目黒) has been littered with abandoned, broken vinyl umbrellas.

Since you didn't mention what field is your thesis about is difficult to recommend something.

On the other hand, it seems like your Master's program should assign you an advisor and your work should reflect and be guided by this person based on his years of research. If you were just starting the Masters program I'll understand you haven't choose a topic or advisor.

If you're in a Mathematics field I have plenty of specific suggestions regarding Japanese language or language in general, however, whatever you work on has to be similar to your advisor's field of expertise.

Here's a topic for your thesis:

"Have kanji outlived their usefulness? A case for moving to an all-phonetic writing system in Japan".

You could include anecdotes about touchy Japanese teachers slapping their students' hands for using "too many kanji" in their written exercises.

[Zgarbas]

gaiaslastlaugh Wrote:Why are 300 yen ビニール傘 so popular when they break apart with the first serious wind?

That one's been on my mind this week as the road to work (Arco Tower, 下目黒) has been littered with abandoned, broken vinyl umbrellas.

Because 1500yen umbrellas break just as easily in Japan's hellwind*, but you don't cry when they're cheap.
*and if they don't, they get stolen.

john555 Wrote:Here's a topic for your thesis:

"Have kanji outlived their usefulness? A case for moving to an all-phonetic writing system in Japan".

This has been done many times, so it's not going to be worth doing unless you do a lot of research on it -- James Unger, Victor Mair, and John DeFrancis are good people to start with.

Quote:You could include anecdotes about touchy Japanese teachers slapping their students' hands for using "too many kanji" in their written exercises.

You're really bitter about this.

Thank you everyone!
I am very sorry for my late reply. I have been traveling abroad for some time now and when I came back I kind of forgot I have had posted this question here. Thanks for all the helpful advice. I have finally decided to write about 3/11 and Post-Fukushima Nuclear Politics in Japan.

Shinichirou Wrote:Thank you everyone!
I am very sorry for my late reply. I have been traveling abroad for some time now and when I came back I kind of forgot I have had posted this question here. Thanks for all the helpful advice. I have finally decided to write about 3/11 and Post-Fukushima Nuclear Politics in Japan.

What's your research angle? ...speaking as a Fukushima-jin... *highly suspicious glare*

Nah, it's not that serious xD
I just thought of presenting a comprehensive view of how the parties involved perceive this conflict of interest, with special emphasis on the different opinions people have regarding this topic (as opposed to the official position by the government or TEPCO)

Just remember that the prefectural/regional governments are different entities to the national govt, and responded differently (though I'm not necessarily in support of them).

You should also see if you can include the yakuza response.

[Zgarbas]

古市 憲寿's 絶望の国の幸福な若者たち had a chapter on the public response to 3/11 that I thought was quite interesting.

this book is of not much academic interest, but still a good read (the Japanese version lacks the subtitle and one of the stories since they were too straight-forward)

@ktcgx: Thanks for the advise. I think I should indeed take a closer look at what the Yakuza's role was in that respect.
@Zgarbas: I have heard of 古市 憲寿, but I have never actually read anything by this author yet so I think I will probably purchase his book then . "March Was Made of Yarn" seems like it might provide some useful insights into this topic too. Thank you.