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This practice-based research examines, analyses and responds to the use of nostalgia as an ideological mechanism in the development of Japanese national identity and as an integral aspect of modernity. In discussions of the construction of national identities, whether in terms of 'narrative' or material culture, 'image' and 'vision' have generally been used as metaphorical terms. This thesis investigates the use of nostalgia in photography as a de facto visual construction of national space. Three groups of archive photographic material are examined; landscapes of the late 19th century genre of Yokohama shashin, or tourist photo, pictorial photography of the Taishö-period (1912 - 1926), and propaganda photography produced in Japanese-occupied Manchuria from the 30s and 40s. Nostalgia is then investigated in contemporary sites of leisure and consumerism, where it is considered as elemental in attempts to redefine the identity of Japan as a post-industrial society. In exploring the use of nostalgia in different historical periods and styles of photography, the primary objective of this research is not to provide a critique of the formal attributes of these images. It is rather to examine, both theoretically and visually, nostalgia's reoccurrence as a mechanism of historical erasure, in which each manifestation posits its own version of authenticity.

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This thesis is a study of one aspectual construction, the "te-i(ru)" construction, in Japanese. This construction posed a serious problem for the study of Aspect in Semantics. That is, it seems to allow two contradictory interpretations: progressive and perfect of result. We argue that the the two distinct readings are the result of the syntactic interaction of the morpheme "te", the aspectual predicate, and the aspectual auxiliary verb "i-(ru)". Adopting the framework proposed by Travis (1991, 1994), we argue that the semantic operators, "BECOME" and "CAUSE", originally proposed by Dowty (1979), are actually generated in Syntax as the aspectual predicate, Asp$ sp0$, and the higher V$ sp0$ of a double VP structure, respectively. The event argument (Higginbotham 1985) is, we claim, subcategorized for and $ theta$-marked by the aspectual predicate. Further, we demonstrate that a morpheme "te" is an imperfective marker, and show that the two readings, progressive type and perfect type, arise because this morpheme is generated in the higher aspectual category, EP, in Japanese. The auxiliary verb "i-(ru)" connects the embedded event noted by EP to an interval time through the control of the event argument. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that Aspect is a syntactic category.

The Japanese language is known for its various styles of speech, conditioned by factors such as social status, formality, and gender. When a speaker switches between the speech styles within the same talk targeted at the same recipient, such a phenomenon is called speech style shifting (hereafter SS). This study explores the frequency and the functions of SS through examining two types of conversations (Japanese native/native and native/non-native conversations) quantitatively and qualitatively in order to gain further understanding of the phenomenon. The results shows that all natives employed SS, and they produce SS approximately twice as frequently when the talk is targeted to non-natives than to natives. They also show that certain functions of SS are employed as foreigner talk (Ellis 2008) aimed at assisting non-natives. The study reveals the complexity of SS and underscores the necessity of closely observing various types of discourse to advance understanding of SS. / Japanese Language and Linguistics

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Abstract Japanese anime being an important part of modern and contemporary popular visual culture, its aesthetic merits, its roots in Japanese visual arts as well as its rich symbology derived from Japanese folkloristic, literary and religious themes are worth investigating. This research aims to track the visual links between Edo and Meiji period monster art (y??kai-ga) paintings and modern day anime by concentrating on the works of Edo and Meiji period painters and the post-war period animation and manga series Gegegeno Kitaro, created by Mizuki Shigeru. Some of the Japanese origins of anime and manga imagery can be traced back to the early 12th century Ch??j?? Giga animal scrolls, where comic art and narrative pictures first appear. However, more recent sources are found in woodblock prints of the late Edo period. These prints are the forerunners of manga in that dialogues appear with the image, generally no anatomical details are given nor are they in perspective, but often a mood is expressed in a cartoon-like manner. The visual rendering of y??kai (monsters) is a Japanese cultural phenomenon: y??kai paintings originate in the Muromachi period, and take up part of the visual arts of that era. The distinct monster (y??kai) imagery emerging in the late Edo to early Meiji periods is the focus of this research. Investigating the Gegegeno Kitaro series, the study pinpoints the visual roots of the animation characters in the context of y??kai folklore and Edo and Meiji period monster painting traditions. Being a very popular series consisting of numerous episodes broadcast from the 1960s to the present time, by analyzing the changing images related to the representation of monsters in the series the study documents the changes in the perception of monsters in this time period, while it reflects on the importance of Mizuki??s work in keeping visual traditions alive and educating new audiences about folklore by recasting y??kai imagery in modern day settings in an innovative way. Additionally, by analyzing and comparing character, set, costume and mask design, plot and storyline of y??kai-themed films, the study attempts to shed light on the roles the representations of y??kai have been assigned in post-war Japanese cinema.

This study analyses overlaps in naturally occurring multi-party conversations among Japanese long-term residents of Australia, to investigate how Australian culture influences their Japanese communication style. One of the study???s interests is how their gendered communication styles appear in Australian English culture. Japanese gendered communication styles have been discussed in the literature, for example that males interrupt females more than vice versa; active participation by males versus passive participation by females in mixed-gender conversations; self-oriented topic initiation by males versus other-oriented topic initiation by females etc. These styles were assumed to be rarely observed in their L1 communication styles in Australia, where English, in which gendered language is less distinctive than Japanese, is spoken, and gender-free society has been more emphasised and practiced than in Japan. Among conversations recorded by the two informants, three multi-party conversations per informant (i.e. six in total) were selected, in which over 2000 overlaps are observed. The study first established a framework of functional overlap classification in terms of the ownership of the conversational floor. Then, based on this frame, all overlaps were classified into a number of functional categories, and were analysed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. The results showed little differences in the Japanese communication styles of the long-term residents of Australia from the Japanese communication styles which have been discussed in the literature, such as frequent use of aizuchi and other cooperative overlaps at and other than at Transition Relevance Places. As for gendered communication style, at least socio-cultural norms between traditional Japanese husband and wife are observed in the informants??? communication style. Although a number of variables that surround the informants need to be considered, the results may suggest that Japanese socio-cultural norms are, at this stage, more stable and they maintain the communication style of the Japanese long-term residents of foreign culture in their first language communication more strongly than was expected. However, different trends may be observed in future.