This study explores the representation of healthy culture in Hoshi Shinichi’s short story “Nemuri Usagi” (The Sleeping Rabbit), focusing on how the narrative reflects Japanese values related to physical, mental, and social well-being. Using a qualitative descriptive approach and literary anthropology framework, the analysis identifies cultural elements that construct a holistic concept of health in Japanese society. The findings reveal that “Nemuri Usagi” portrays health not merely as the absence of illness, but as an integration of discipline, harmony, and mindfulness in daily life. Through symbolic characters and minimalist storytelling, Hoshi Shinichi emphasizes the balance between rest and productivity, individual awareness and collective responsibility. This study highlights how modern Japanese literature can serve as a medium for promoting cultural perspectives on health that combine tradition, ethics, and humanism.

This article examines Akutagawa Ryūnosuke's short story Yabu no Naka (1922) as a critical reflection of the socio-political transformations during Japan's Taishō era (1912-1926). Using a New Historicism approach, the study reveals how the story's multiperspective narrative technique not only challenges the notion of absolute truth but also represents the paradoxes of Japan's modernization, including class tensions, gender dynamics, and legal authority. Through characters such as the woodcutter, the priest, the bandit Tajōmaru, and the samurai's wife Masago, Akutagawa portrays a society caught between traditional values and Western modernity. The article concludes that Yabu no Naka is a brilliant sociological portrait of truth's relativity and the complexities of social change in the Taishō era.

This study investigates the distribution and syntactic-semantic functions of the Japanese case particle no (の) in news articles published on NHK News Web Easy during March 2025. The aim is to provide a descriptive analysis of how the particle no operates within simplified Japanese news texts. Data were collected using web scraping techniques through the ParseHub platform, allowing automated and structured extraction of 80 articles. 508 instances of no were identified and manually analyzed to classify their linguistic functions. The findings show that the most dominant function is a nominal connector, accounting for 422 occurrences, followed by functions such as indicating origin, possession, spatial relationships, and conversational emphasis. The pattern Nominal₁ + no + Nominal₂ was found to be the most common syntactic structure across the dataset. This reflects the critical role of no in forming meaningful and information-dense phrases even within simplified Japanese texts. The combination of automatic data retrieval and manual linguistic analysis in this research highlights the effectiveness of integrating technology and qualitative approaches in language studies. The results contribute to understanding authentic Japanese grammatical usage and provide pedagogical insights for teaching Japanese as a foreign language. Future research is encouraged to expand the scope with longitudinal data and semi-automated analysis tools for broader linguistic coverage.

This research discusses the use of uchi ni, aida ni, saichuu ni, and tochuu de in Japanese sentences: a morphosyntactic and semantic study. These four structures have similar usage which makes it difficult for foreign learners to understand and apply them, resulting in frequent errors. However, if they are well understood, errors can be minimized. This study will discuss the use of these four structures morphologically, syntactically, and semantically. After that, the similarities and differences will be described. The method used is descriptive qualitative method with library study technique. For the study method, the distributional method is used, and the study technique uses the substitution technique. These four structures have similar meanings but different nuances, in some sentences some can be substituted for each other and some cannot, depending on the use of sentences and conditions.

Carnivore women have become a phenomenon in Japan. Carnivore women is a term used to describe women whose characteristics are more aggressive and different from the traditional Japanese women’s behavior standard. This phenomenon has been represented in media, including manga. There are two mangas that seem to portray carnivore women through their plot, which are Takane no Hana Nara Ochitekoi!! and Boku no Kanojo wa Saikou Desu!. This research aims to analyze how the heroines in those mangas that are identified as carnivore women show their gender expression. This research uses Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) theory as well as qualitative descriptive approach with textual analysis method to carry out the analysis. The result of this research shows that both heroines from Takane no Hana Nara Ochitekoi!! and Boku no Kanojo wa Saikou Desu! show their gender expression mostly through masculine traits and behaviors, such as aggressive, masculine, dominant, and athletic. However, they also show it through feminine and androgyny traits and behaviors, although not as dominant as their masculine ones. It means that the portrayal of carnivore women represents a deconstruction of the gender expression of women while keeping some of the traditional feminity traits.

Penelitian ini membahas fenomena pemberian nama diri di Indonesia yang mengandung unsur bahasa Jepang sebagai bagian dari kajian onomastik dalam ranah sosiolinguistik. Fenomena tersebut muncul seiring meningkatnya pengaruh budaya populer Jepang, terutama anime dan manga, yang mendorong sebagian orang tua memilih nama dengan nuansa Jepang bagi anak mereka. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah menganalisis pola penamaan, klasifikasi jenis kata, serta makna yang terkandung dalam nama diri tersebut. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah deskriptif kualitatif dengan teknik pengumpulan data melalui metode cakap dengan teknik cakap semuka dan cakap tansemuka. Teori yang digunakan dalam analisis ini adalah teori yang diusung oleh Wierzbicka (1997). Jumlah data yang dianalisis sebanyak lima belas nama yang mengandung unsur bahasa Jepang. Berdasarkan analisis yang telah dilakukan, nama diri yang mengandung unsur bahasa Jepang di Indonesia didominasi oleh nama yang tersusun atas tiga kata dengan jumlah sembilan data, di mana pada setiap nama hanya terdapat satu kata yang mengandung unsur bahasa Jepang. Kata yang menunjukkan unsur bahasa Jepang umumnya berasal dari jenis kata benda (N). Adapun makna yang dimunculkan pada nama-nama tersebut memiliki keterkaitan dengan makna leksikalnya.

This study analyzes the phenomenon of stigma experienced by the main character in Daruma Matsuura’s novel Izana (誘) using Erving Goffman's stigma theory. Goffman categorizes stigma into three types: abominations of the body, blemishes of individual character, and tribal stigma. The research aims to identify the forms of stigma experienced by Izana, her process of internalizing that stigma, and the strategies of stigma management presented in the novel. Employing a qualitative descriptive method and narrative analysis, the data were gathered through document analysis and literature study, focusing on the primary text of the novel and secondary sources such as Goffman's theoretical framework. The findings reveal that Izana is stigmatized as a “cursed child” due to her unattractive appearance (abomination of the body) and her birth in the year of the Fire Horse (tribal stigma), both of which are culturally associated with misfortune. These factors lead to her internalizing a negative self-image and developing feelings of alienation. The study also finds that stigma management is initially performed by Chigusa, who conceals Izana’s identity through passing, and later by Izana herself, who uses covering to downplay her differences. These strategies reflect complex efforts to resist and adapt to societal rejection. The analysis highlights how literature reflects the social construction of stigma and reveals the psychological and relational consequences of exclusion. This study contributes to literary sociology by showing how fictional narratives can critique real-world practices of marginalization and offer insights into the dynamics of social labeling and resistance.

This study aims to find out about differences in the representation of women in Fibe Mini commercial ads in Japan and Indonesia. The research method used is a descriptive method with critical discourse analysis by Van Dijk (1981). The object of research are Japan and Indonesia Fibe Mini commercial ads uploaded on Youtube Fibe Mini official channel by each country. The result of analysis showed significant differences in the way Fibe Mini advertisements are packaged in Japan and Indonesia regarding digestive health. Japanese ads emphasize the importance of staying healthy for women office workers. Meanwhile, Indonesian ads emphasize maintaining health to get results in one’s appearances, results of a healthy body can affect one’s body that is charming and a face that is radiantly beautiful. Based on findings, it is concluded that there are striking differences is in the portrayal of women’s lifestyles in Japanese and Indonesian ads.

Madara Uchiha, the principal antagonist in Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto series, embodies the paradox of seeking peace through authoritarian control. His character integrates psychological trauma, political philosophy, and narrative symbolism, reflecting real-world tensions between idealism and power. This study analyzes Madara’s internal-external conflicts, philosophy of peace, and narrative impact through an interdisciplinary lens (psychoanalytic, Marxist, and Machiavellian theories). Qualitative critical-scene analysis of manga volumes 55–72 (Naruto), focusing on 26 purposively sampled scenes (Vol. 65–67) depicting Madara’s trauma, ideology, and pivotal conflicts. Madara’s trauma (e.g., loss of his brother Izuna) fuels a pathological id-superego conflict, distorting his initial idealism into a Nietzschean will to power and Machiavellian realism. His "Tsukuyomi Infinite" project peace via mass illusion parallels modern authoritarianism (e.g., surveillance states). As a Hegelian antithesis to protagonist Naruto, Madara’s downfall exposes the ethical failure of power detached from empathy. Madara epitomizes how unhealed trauma and systemic injustice mutate into totalitarian ideology. His narrative serves as an allegory for the dangers of absolutist solutions to human suffering, affirming that true peace requires reconciliation not erasure of freedom and vulnerability.

Language has variation due to the diversity of the speakers and their social interactions (Chaer & Agustina, 2004). Language variations can be found in many social groups. Otaku is one of the groups. This research is descriptive-qualitative research that studies otaku language variation in josei-muke contents category. This research aims to describe the word formation, meaning, and function of the language variation. The data were taken from comments on Youtube videos and archived live streaming about josei-muke content. The analysis of its word formation using Tsujimura’s (2014) theory, of its meaning by considering its meaning in dictionaries and other internet sources about otaku language variation on josei-muke contents. Then, the function is described by the result of word formation and meaning analysis. This research found eight types of word formation, which are affixation, compounding, clipping, borrowing, noun formation from renyoukei of verbs, abbreviation, onomatopoeia, and original Japanese words. The meanings can be classified into eight groups, which are type and genre of the content, otaku type, title of the content, role in the content, coupling in the content, technical term, valuation, and expression of feeling. Then, the functions of otaku language variation on josei-muke contents are also found, which are as identity as otaku, to concise speech, to convey information briefly, and to express feelings.