Kuitsuki ga chau de : Gender, Language and Change in a W omen’s University

Kuitsuki ga chau de – – a phrase in Kansai dialect that can be roughly translated as
“The response is different.” This phrase encapsulates the feelings of a small group of
women discussing the change in atmosphere they have perceived with the arrival of male
students to their formerly all-female university. Demographic trends and economic
factors have led to significant changes in Japanese universities in recent years, including
amalgamation and privatization (Tsuruta, 2003), and the introduction of coeducation into
single-sex institutions. The way that women talk about these changes can provide rich
material for studies in gender and language. This paper examines the specific case of
Kyoto Tachibana University, an all-women’s liberal arts university that became a coeducational institution in April of 2005. As an all-women’s university, the institution had
a student population of approximately 2,200. In terms of its membership (all female
students of approximately the same age), location (large percentage of students coming
from the Kansai region) and purpose (advanced education), the university was a
relatively homogenous community of practice. In the initial year of the new co-ed
system, approximately 140 men enrolled as first -year undergraduate students in the
faculties of Liberal Arts, Cultural Policy and Nursing. In this paper, I will examine how
a small sample of female students perceive and talk about the change from all-women’s

to co-educational institution, and how gender informs their perceptions and discussion of
this topic.
Japanese language, since classical times, but especially since the Meiji period,
has been considered a highly gendered language in areas of lexical choices, level of

2
politeness, and sentence ending patterns. Inoue argues that modern, standard women’s
language was in effect created through state intervention from the end of the nineteenth
century as part of the conscious attempt to create a modern nation incorporating a
gendered division of labour (Inoue, 2002). The ideology encapsulated in the slogan
“Good Wife, W ise Mother” was promoted by the state, and language usage was
manipulated to further the state’s modernization project. This manipulation also included
the introduction of the idea of Standard Japanese, based on the upper-middle class dialect
spoken in the Yamanote area of Tokyo. The women in this study are defining their
speech patterns both in relation and in reaction to this now prevalent ideology concerning
norms for speech for women.
Most of the women whose conversation was recorded for this study come from
the Kansai region and speak some form of the Kansai dialect, rather than standard Tokyo
Japanese, as their mother tongue. It should be noted that, within the Kansai region,
many variations of the dialect exist, with some, particularly the Kyoto variation,
considered softer and less direct than other forms. However, in terms of generally
accepted cultural knowledge, and with respect to differences within the region itself, in
the plain form, Kansai dialect is considered to be less marked for gender than standard
Japanese. Furthermore, although the use of honorifics is common (Itose, 2004),
communication in the dialect is considered more direct (Palter and Slotsve, 1995).
Particularly when women use it, it tends to be considered less refined than the standard.
However, Kansai dialect is currently enjoying a covert prestige boom in Japan (Miyake,

3
1995 1), partly because many of the most prominent entertainers and comedians come
from the Osaka area and consciously use the dialect in their performance.
The data for this project was collected in June of 2005 as part of an investigation
of speech patterns among women in the Kansai region of Japan. Subjects were
interviewed and recorded in groups, pairs and individually. Three sets of pairs also
agreed to have their conversation videotaped when the investigator was not in the room.
The sample size for this study is small, and extracts from just four participants are used,
so this may limit the extent to which the results can be generalized. Recordings were
transcribed by a native-speaking female university student, and reviewed again by
another native -speaking female student. Transcripts and tapes were analysed using
techniques borrowed from Conversation Analysis, but informed by the view that
ideologies not recognized or accepted by the participants may be at work as a subtext in
their production of spoken discourse.
The excerpts quoted in this presentation are taken from approximately two hours
of taped conversations and interviews with two pairs of subjects, four women chose the
pseudonyms Satomi (S), Emiko (E), Mametaro (M), and Xavier (X). The choice of male
pseudonyms by Mametaro and Xavier is interesting, and suggests a choice to identify
more closely with male norms and standards. In June of 2005, all four were either 20 or
21 years old, and third -year students in the Department of English Communications at
Kyoto Tachibana University. All four had returned home in the spring of 2005 from a
six-month study abroad term in either Canada or Australia. Both of Satomi’s parents
work, Emiko’s father is a professional and her mother is a full-time homemaker.

1

Quoted in Sturtz Sreetharan, 2004

4
Mametaro and Xavier come from self-employed families where both parents work.
Satomi and Mametaro were born and raised the Kansai region, Emiko was born in the
region but moved away for several years during elementary school, and Xavier came to
Kyoto two years earlier from the island of Shikoku.
During the interview, the subjects were asked questions about gendered speech
patterns and their own perceptions of how they spoke. During the free conversation
segments, the students were told that they could talk about any topic they wanted, but a
list of suggested topics was also available. The first suggestion related to how the
students thought the university had changed since becoming co-ed. The two pairs,
Satomi - Emiko and Mametaro - Xavier, did in fact start out their conversations on this

topic.
In the audiotaped interview, participants were asked if they found it easier to
speak in all-female or in mixed-sex groups. Satomi and Emiko generally agreed that at
this stage in their lives they were comfortable speaking in either same-sex or mixed -sex
groups. Mametaro and Xavier, however, clearly stated that they preferred speaking with
men in mixed-sex groups. They expressed distaste for the topics discussed in all-female
groups and complained that a small number of speakers tend to dominate the
conversation. This observation contradicts Coates’s claim that female conversations tend
to be co-operative and jointly constructed (Coates, 1998), but the comment does
reproduce the stereotypical notion that the topics women discuss are fixed and limited
(Lakoff 1975; Kramer, quoted in Johnson and Aries, 1998). Mametaro goes on to
criticize same-sex female conversations for being insincere. Furthermore, she states that
conversations with men are more fun, interesting, and reach a deeper level.

5

M: Kya:: tte moriagaru tte kanji de

They get all excited like “Kyaa”

otoko no ko wa mou nanka omoshiroku

and guys are like interesting,

shikamo chotto nanka fukaku ikeru

and you can go a bit deeper with them,

toko mo aru shi, nanka tanoshiku ikeru

and it’s like more fun,

kedo, shikamo onna no ko tte kekkou

but with girls, they’re really quite

ura omote ga hageshii to iu ka

two-faced. (Laughter)

Mametaro and Xavier set themselves apart from other women, whom they judge
as being two -faced, and seem to value and enjoy their conversations with men more.
However, while they orient themselves toward male conversations, they also
acknowledge that they themselves use or should use so-called feminine speech. When
asked to describe feminine speech, they use stereotypical terms, including soft, gentle ,
indirect and emotional. Mametaro states that she uses feminine expressions, but this is
followed by laughter, possibly indicating that she is speaking ironically. In fact, of the
four women interviewed, Mametaro employs the least amount of standard feminine
speech patterns, and some of the expressions she uses very definitely index masculinity.
Mametaro plans to enter the traditionally male-dominated field of comedy. She currently
appears on a local television broadcast, and is an accomplished performer. One native
speaker likened her speech and mannerisms to Matsumoto Hitoshi of the comedy duo
Downtown. Both Mametaro and Xavier are founding members of the university rakugo
(traditional storytelling) club.
Xavier reveals some of the contradictions, or difficulties, she feels in using
feminine patterns, when she states that she “code -switches” between feminine and

6
masculine styles. She says that if she becomes conscious that she is talking like a woman,
she will immediately follow up with an expression that sounds masculine. In her
statement she reveals the extent to which the naturalized ideology of the feminine norm
acts on her as a speaking subject, and her own conscious rejection of or resistance to that
norm.

(X) Onna pokku shabe, shabetteru natte

If I become conscious that I’m talk, I’m talking

ishiki shite shimattara kyuu ni

like a woman, all of a sudden

otokoppoku nanka kuchou kaetari toka

it’s like my tone changes or like I have male

nanka aru mitai na kanji.

mannerisms.

Nante iun desho. Nanka

How can I say this? It’s like

nani nani de nai no? toka itta ato ni

after I’ve said something like “such and such,
isn’t it”? [feminine]

Iya, iya, iya, honna kotonai wa

I like, “No, no, no, it’s not like that at all.”

Nanka kou jibun no naka de kou nan ka

It’s like that way inside of me.

Emiko explicitly states that she speaks in a feminine manner. She says that she
consciously rejects vulgar language usage considered “unfeminine.”

(E) Jibun ga shaberu no ha onna kotoba

The fact is that what I speak is women’s

nan desu yo

language

Kitanai kotoba zukai ha shaberanai shi

I don’t use dirty language

Onnappoku shabetterun desu yo ne

I speak in a feminine way.

7
In fact, of the four women interviewed, Emiko’s speech exhibits the greatest
number of examples of structures and sentence -ending particles that index femininity, for
example, the yo ne combination seen above. In terms of pitch, her range is much higher,
and she uses a greater range of modulation, with the effect being that she seems more
emotionally engaged.
Satomi, on the other hand, comments that while she always thought her language
was “normal,” since coming to university and meeting people from other places, she has
been told that her language is vulgar, or kitanai, a term usually associated with male
speech, and furthermore that her dialect is very strong, kitsui. Satomi was born and
raised in Kyoto, and when asked what style of speech epitomizes femininity, she
identifies the Kyoto dialect. Satomi uses the terms yawarakai (soft, gentle), ochitsuite
shizuka (calm and quiet) and shitsu ga aru (refined) when describing Kyoto dialect as
spoken by women. All of these terms are commonly associated with traditional norms
for feminine speech and resemble terms and qualities identified by university students in
an earlier study (Satake 1998). Satomi’s comments here illustrate the disconnect between
norms and realities for young women today. While Satomi appears to accept and
reproduce the idealized norm, she herself speaks something quite different, and in fact
she rationalizes her own “ kitanai” speech by saying the she comes from a part of Kyoto
where all kinds of dialects (Kyoto, Osaka and Nara) are mixed in.
These four women represent a range of speaking styles and illustrate the fact that
even among women of similar class and regional backgrounds, there is a broad spectrum
of non-homogenous femininities performed through speech (Matsumoto, 2002). These
women are consciously or unconsciously choosing to speak in different modes that can

8
be considered, to a greater or lesser extent, constrained by norms for feminine speech.
However, while it appears that these women are conscious of gender stereotypes, and do
not necessarily use stereotypical standard Japanese gendered speech patterns at all times
and in all situations, the content of a large part of their speech recorded here tends to
reproduce traditional stereotypes regarding accepted or acceptable behavior for females
and males. The following extracts concerning the transition to co-education at Tachibana
illustrate underlying assumptions surrounding norms and expectations for behaviour.
Satomi tentatively characterizes the change as a rejuvenation.

S: Kyougaku ni natte wakagaetta.
Koto nai? Nanka wakagaetta tte
iikata hen yakedo

It’s been rejuvenated since it became co-ed.
Hasn’t it? Rejuvenation.
It’s, like, a strange way to call it.

E: Hai. Ee--, na.

Yes, yeah, right.

S: Nanka, joshidai niwa nai genki sa

Somehow, it’s like there’s something like an
energy now

mitai na no ga dete kita.
E: Ee:: Datte, sou iu hodo otoko no ko

that there isn’t at a women’s university.
Rea::lly? But, there aren’t that many boys here.

inai yo.

S: Iya, inai kedo, e, demo nanka otoko no

No, there aren’t, but, uh, but somehow guys

ko wa otoko no ko de sonzai kan, nanka

are guys, somehow they’re projecting the feeling

dashitoru, jibunra de

of their existence, by themselves

E: A— naruhodo. Katamatteru yo ne.

Oh, I get it. T hey’re hanging out in groups,
aren’t they.

S: Orera o mirun janai iu kanji de.

It’s like “Don’t be looking at us.”

9

Satomi expresses a direct opinion which she then mitigates with “hasn’t it?” or
“isn’t that the fact?” and then “it’s a strange way to call it.” In fact, Emiko doesn’t seem
convinced, expressing only weak agreement, and then fairly direct disagreement with her
intonation and her statement “there aren’t that many boys here.” She uses the term otoko

no ko, or boy, emphasizing their youth, despite the fact that the “boys” are only two years
younger. Satomi then backtracks, but comes back with her opinion, invoking a boyswill- be-boys explanation. She feels that somehow, despite their small number, the male
students manage to make their existence known, in this case in terms of energy and
vitality, with a touch of attitude.
Soon after, Satomi likens the male students to her younger brother. Emiko
comments that the boys are kawaii, or cute, further emphasizing the fact that they are
younger. Between the two of them, although more on Satomi’s part, as demonstrated by
the minimal responses from Emiko, they seem to be building up an image of youthful,
energetic “younger brother” category members who are cute, sweet, but able to establish
their own territory.

S: Nanka toriaezu, kyougaku ni natte

Well, for now anyways, since it’s become co- ed

uchi no otouto ga iru mitai na.

it’s like my little brother is here.

Choudo ikkai sei ya shi

He’s just a first year student, too

E: Kawaii na:: minna

They’re cute, aren’t they, all of them.

S: Nanka kyapi kyapi shiteiru.

Like, there’s all this energy.

E: Un. Nanka.

Yeah, or something.

10
Satomi uses the expression kyapi kyapi which evokes unruly and noisy youthful
energy, and is usually used in reference to girls, implying that the energy she feels
created is partly due to the reaction of women to the men’s presence.
The talk moves into a discussion about the formation of the baseball team at
Tachibana. Baseball in Japan is an exclusively male sport with very nostalgic
associations to an image of an idealized young athlete who exemplifies dedication, hard
work, sportsmanship and spirit. This reference to baseball serves to bring to mind an
image of male youth around which most Japanese share a common understanding and
feeling of nostalgia.
Mametaro is unequivocally enthusiastic about the appearance of male students on
the campus, although she also refers to them as boys.

M: Watashi wa, ano:: zenzen mou
sugoi ii to omou. Meccha ee. Mou, ne.
nanka. kimochi ga chau ne.

I think, um, it’s absolutely,
it’s really fabulous, It’s really great,
Somehow the feeling’s different, isn’t it.

X: Dou iu, dou iu toko ga ii no?

What kind, what kind of things are good?

M: Nanka, otoko no ko ga yappari ii yan.

Like, boys are, you know, just good. (Laughter)

Mametaro code switches here, starting off in relatively standard Japanese and
changing immediately into Osaka dialect. This kind of code switching is not unusual, but
suggests here that she is going into performance mode. Kansai dialect is very closely
associated with the comedy performance known as manza i, and, as stated earlier,
Mametaro wants to become a famous comedian. The switch could mean she is turning
on the role and embarking on a comedy routine. She takes the part of the boke, or wild

11
and crazy half of the manzai team, to Xavier’s tsukkomi , or straight “ man.” Xavier sets
Mametaro up with the question, “What’s good about it?” and Mame replies with no
particular explanation, just good delivery, “Boys are just good (as we all know),”
followed by laughter.
Later Mametaro also emphasizes the male students’ youth and “cuteness,” and
calls upon a traditional stereotype when she uses the term shounen to refer to them.
Shounen tends to be a more literary word and appears in textbooks and literature that
students would read in school. It is always used to refer to young male teenagers, and
tends to evoke an image of youthful energy and purity.

M: Ano, otoko no ko na, nanka na, kawaii ya.

Um, guys, eh, like, they’re cute!

Honto kawaii yo. Shounen ga oru yo

They’re really cute. There’s shou nen here!

Kawaii shounen ga ippai otte na, demo na,

There’s a whole bunch of cute shounen, but

yappa na, kawaikunai shounen mo

of course, there’s some not -so-cute shounen

oru wake. Maa, ittara akan kedo

around too. Shouldn’t say it, but…

X: Ossan mitai na ko ookunai?

Don’t you think there’s a lot of slobby
types?

As indicated above, Xavier is more ambivalent about the changes. She may be
contradicting M ametaro and advancing her own opinion here, or just playing the “straight
man” and giving Mametaro the opportunity to digress about ossan. ( Ossan is the Osaka
version of ojisan, middle-aged man, and carries connotations of rumpled and distracted.)
This section in fact leads into a separate “routine” regarding different types of men.

12
Xavier also points out that she doesn’t come into contact with the male students
directly, but she notes that she feels that in some way the atmosphere has changed. She
focuses on the change in relation to how it felt for her before, as opposed to how it feels
now. For Xavier, the emphasis is more on the “oppressiveness” she felt in an all-female
environment.

M: Jibun wa dou omou? Kawatta ka na
tte omou?
X: Kawatta tte, datte, uchira no mawari tte oran.

What do you think? Do you think it’s
changed?
You say changed, but there aren’t that
many around us.

M; Un, oran na.

Yeah, there aren’t, are there.

X: Tada, nan darou. Na:nka, a, demo nanka.

But, hmm, like, ah, but somehow…

Ano, nan te iun. Joshi bakkari no toki

Um, how can I say this? When it was only
women

no you na, nanka, uttoshisa ja nai kedo

The kind of, not gloominess, but, something,

M: Un, wakaru wa.

Yeah, I know what you mean.

X: Atsugurushisa ja nai kedo, nanka

Not oppressiveness, but the, like,

kigurushisa wa nanka

uncomfortableness has

M: Hetta?

Decreased?

X: Chotto chigau ki ga suru

It feels a bit different.

M: Kawatte kita. Funiki chau? Mazu.

It’s different. Don’t you think the
atmosphere is different? First of all.

X: Un. Funiki ga. Ii imi demo warui imi demo.

Yeah. The atmosphere. In both a good

sense and a bad sense.

13
Xavier is very tentative in advancing her opinion, and her uncertainty is
evidenced by the way she produces out a word and then negates it – not gloomy, not
oppressive – as she searches for an appropriate word. Obviously these words have
occurred to her, but she perhaps does not want to make the situation sound as bad as these
words would imply. Her mannerisms here display what would in traditional language
and gender studies be characterized as “feminine” – tentative, excessive hedging, indirect,
inconclusive, but these mannerisms serve to convey in concrete terms the ambivalence
she feels in regards to the all-female environment.
Both pairs of participants comment directly on the change in the women,
particularly in relation to appearance. Emiko notes the appearance of gyaru on the
campus, coinciding with the arrival of male students. The word “ gyaru,” from the
English “gal,’ refers to a teenage girl who chooses a particular style which includes long
wavy dyed hair (usually brown but sometimes blond), heavy makeup (sometimes silver,
white or bright blue eye shadow), tanned skin, and leg-revealing apparel and high heels.

E: Na, do -donnan daro. Onna no ko no shitsu mo
kawatta yo ne

Hey, wh-what about it. The quality of
the girls has changed too, hasn’t it.

Ｓ: Onna no ko mo kawatta.

The girls are different, too.

Ｅ: Watashi wa sore wa omou yo.

I think so.

Ｓ: Un.

Yeah.

E: Onna, nante iu no, gyaru ga ookunatta.

The women, what’s it called, there’s more
gyaru

S: Aa, wakaru.. Gyaru ne. Nanka heikin
nenrei ga hikukunatta kanji ya na.

Ah, I know what you mean. Gyaru. It’s like

the average age has lowered.

14
E: Sou. Un, nanka na--, mi, mita me ga
chiteki na hito ga inakunatta.

That’s right. Yeah, like, people who lo look intelligent have disappeared.

S: A --, un.

Ah, yeah.

E: Kurogami ga inakunatta ssho

Black hair has disappeared, hasn’t it.

S: Chapatsu ga ooi na.

Lots of brown hair, eh.

E: Un, sou, sou, makigami ga ooi

Yeah, right, right, lots of curls

S: Nna, kon nan, Omae, Beru Bara mitai na.

Like this, eh. You look like T he Rose of

Versailles. (Laughter)
E: Sou ya na. Sore o omotta. Na.

That’s right. T hat’s what I thought.

S: Un

Yeah.

Emiko and Satomi participate in the construction of an opposition between cute,
pure, young men and ultra feminine (and not so pure) young women. In terms of
category pairs discussed in the literature concerning conversation analysis (Ohara and
Saft 2003), shounen, would normally be paired with shoujo, also traditionally an image of
youthful purity, although arguably one that has taken on a different connotation in
contemporary culture. Here, however, instead of shoujo, we see gyaru , who are defined
by appearance, and in the opinion of these women, an object of disdain, going beyond the
limits of acceptable or “proper” expressions of femininity, and not taken seriously as

students.
Mametaro and Xavier participate in a similar construction, albeit in a
characteristically ironic and humorous performance, concerning the way women present
themselves differently with the arrival of men on campus. Mametaro parodies the role of
expert commentator, employing the discourse particle “ma” in the following excerpt that

15
focuses on appearance. While the performance is meant to be taken humorously, the
underlying assumption is that women focus on their appearance, particularly when men
are present. With this performance, M ametaro becomes complicit in the reproduction of
this stereotype.

M: Joshidai no toki wa, maa, faunde -shon

When it was a women’s university, um,

3 senchi gurai nuttotta ka na.

we applied about 3 cm of foundation.

Sore ni, maa, kyougaku ni natte kara

On top of that, um, since it became coed,

Sore purasu 3 senchi gurai.
De, maa, 6 senchi. Bai ni nattoru wake yo

Add about 3 cm to that.
And, um, you have 6 cm. It’s doubled, you
realize.

In addition to commenting on appearance, Xavier and Mametaro go into an
extended conversation about two men in their Korean language class. In this excerpt,
gender issues are foregrounded when they comment on how the addition of men to the
classroom has affected the class dynamics.

X: Sou. E, Kankokugo ni na, futari na otoko
ga oru dake de funiki ga nanka

Right. Um, With just the two guys in Korean

class the atmosphere is like,

M: Zenzen chau.

Completely different

X: Chau yo na. Joshi datta toki wa, joshi

It’s different, isn’t it. When it was just

datta toki wa, nanka, homma ni

women, when it was just women, like,

nanka, jouda n toka mo nanka sonna ni

really, like, there weren’t many people

“Hai, hai” toka iu hito ga inakutte

going “Yeah, yeah” joking around.

M: Un, oran, oran.

No, there aren’t, there aren’t.

16
X: De, shi— n toshita kanji de gogaku

And it felt like the language learning

susundottakedo, danshi ga hitori otte,

progressed silently, but with one guy

nanka, Sensei no ii tsukkomi aite ni

like, he became the prof’s straight man,

nattotta. Sou yatte ba ga nagomutte iu ka.

And just like that the place thawed out.

M: Sou.

Right.

X: Nanka koukou mitai na.

Somehow just like high school.

M: Wakaru, wakaru.

I know, I know.

X: “Boku ga ne—“

“You know, I…” (masculine)

M: Demo yappri, sore wa ne--, nani ga

But after all, that’s, you know, what

okottoru tte ittara, sensei, onna no

happened was, the prof, the female prof

sensei wa na – yappari otoko no ko ga

is, you know, when the guys came in,

haitte kite zettai ureshii to omou nen.

I think she’s, happy, for sure.

Dakara, kuitsuki ga chau nen.

So, the response is different, you know.

X: Laughter
M: Chotto, chotto na, misu tara na, otoko

When he screws up even a little bit, the

no ko ga, so, sensei ga “honna ni

guy, yeah, the teacher goes “What’s

machigaitoruka?” tte kou iu.

with this kind of mistake?”

The women observe and evaluate a reaction on the part of the female teacher that
is not unusual. Research shows that male students are given and demand more attention
in class (Swann, 1998). It is interesting, however, that these women do not position
themselves as tsukkomi in this class. Instead, they place themselves outside the frame
and characterize the class as being silent and well behaved, learning language but not
having much fun. Rather than taking on the role of tsukkomi themselves, they allow a
male student to be responsible for changing the atmosphere. They believe that everyone,

17
including the teacher, is relieved that there are now male students in the class. The two
women in this case display a disconnect between the role they aspire to as comedians and
performers, and the part of the passive student they play in class.
An unacknowledged contradiction appears for Mametaro in particular. She states
that she prefers to converse with men because they are more interesting, but she does not
appear to recognize the fact that their presence constrains her behaviour. The following
extract illustrates this contradiction in a humorous manner.

M: Nanka, onna onna shitottara na, nanka

Like, when it’s nothing but women, like

sono ten de na, gabba—tte ashi hirogete

in that respect, eh, when it’s just women

onna no ko bakkari n toki ya de, konna

there were girls stretching their legs out

benchi no ue de gabba—tte netoru ko

gabba -- sleeping on top of the benches.

ottan ya. Sou iu hito ottan ya. Jissai ni

There were people like that. In fact,

jibun yattonta yan ka.

you did it too, didn’t you.

X: Shitenai ssho.

I did not! (Laughter)

M: Sou hito ga, maa, hette ikeba ii ka na

It would be good if that kind of person, um

tte omottottara. Yappa otoko no ko no

decreased, I should think. As expected, as a

kouka de ban ban to herimashita wa.

result of boys, they have decreased boom.

X: Hetta?

Decreased?

M: Hetta to omou, watashi wa.

I think they have decreased.

X: Hetta ka na. Hetta ka.

Have they decreased? Have they?

M: Ammari gakkou kitenai kara shiran kedo

I don’t come to school much, so I don’t
know, but…

X: Gakko kii ya

Come to school! (Laughter)

M: Sukunakutemo watashi wa mou

The fact is that I at least don’t do it

18
shinaku natta to iu koto de.

anymore. (Laughter)

On one hand, the story may be seen simply as material for a comedy routine.
Mametaro is as usual in performance mode, setting herself up as the butt of the joke. In
reality, she may or may not feel constrained, and it is quite likely that the people who
know her would realize that she is being ironic and see the humor there. However, at the
same time, with a statement such as “It would be good if that kind of person decreased,”
she is reproducing the idea that women should be more restrained, and take up less space.
She speaks in a neutral or even masculine way, presenting herself humorously as a “badly
behaved woman,” but in her jokes she makes fun of stereotypically feminine behaviour,
reinforcing traditional norms for acceptable female behaviour and appearance.
The women at this university are not ignorant of current scholarship regarding
issues around gender. In the interview, Satomi and Emiko directly comment on being
more conscious of gender issues, indicating that the ideas they have been exposed to at
university regarding gender have caused them to question the idea of femininity.
However, their conversation indicates that they are not sure that being aware of the issues
surrounding gender is necessarily a good thing, in that concepts they have always taken
for granted have been upset.

E: Saikin jenda- o manabidashichatara

Lately since we’ve started learning about gender

sugoi kimon ni omou koto ippai dete

lot’s of serious doubts have occurred to me,

kite, joseirashisa tte nani mitai na,

like, what’s this thing called femininity?

otokorashisa tte nani mitai na

What’s this thing called masculinity

S:Sono onna no ko rashii no, nanka sono

That femininity, like, that fundamental thing

19
kihon teki ni onna no ko rashii to iu koto ga

called femininity,

doko kara umarete kurun ka.

where does it originate from?

E: Sono kotoba o iwareru no ga dandan

Gradually, being told that has, compared to

mukashi hodo,onnarashiku shinasai yo tte

before, when I was told “Be more feminine”

iwaretara, imamade wa sunao ni, a,

I honestly thought, until now “Oh, I have to

onnarashiku shinakya tte omottandesu yo..

be more feminine.

Saikin honto ni iwaretara, onnarashisa tte
Nani, mitai na。

But lately when I’m told that, it’s like
femininity, what’s that?

E: Sore wa ii ka warui ka. Un.

Whether that’s good or bad. Yeah

S: Ii no ka naa. Demo nanka saikin

I guess it’s good. But lately,

wakaran mon ne.

I just don’t know.

It is clear that there is some ambivalence around gender roles, and Emiko shows
her conscious or unconscious ambivalence around conceptions of what roles a woman
can take in her discussion with Satomi about starting a career.

E: Satomi betsu ni shuushoku shinakutemo
zettai aru yo ne, Ie no mawari ni

Even if you don’t really look for a job,
there will for sure be something, around the
house.

S: Nan no shigoto ga aru?

What work is there?

E: E, ie no kaji toka.

Um, housework and stuff.

S: Ya da, sonnan.

No way, not that kind of stuff.

Emiko obviously at least entertains the idea that it is not necessary for Satomi, a
woman, to start a career, an idea that in traditional terms would be unthinkable for a man.

20
It’s possible that she is looking at the work situation through the lens of a young person
who consciously rejects the traditional ideal, for males at least, of lifelong employment,
of dedicating oneself to one’s work. She may be buying into the freeter , or contract
worker mentality, or her stance may reflect the current job market reality where
discrimination based on sex is still not uncommon. Satomi, however, immediately rejects
the idea of just staying home, indicating that for her, this is not an option. She obviously
has strong expectations for a career outside of the home.
It is clear, then, that even within a fairly homogenous group of women in terms of
age and educational experience, there is a wide spectrum of speech styles, ranging from
more masculine to more feminine, and these women to a great extent consciously choose
their style and use language as a resource to construct diverse identities. There also
appears to be a range of understanding of what kinds of career options are available to
them, from the non-traditional comedian to conventional homemaker. However, while
not all of the subjects in this study are necessarily employing norms for feminine speech,
I would argue that at the same time, there is an undercurrent of unacknowledged cultural
ideology and stereotype that constrains these women, again to a greater or lesser extent,
from questioning and de-naturalizing some of the norms traditionally attached to the
feminine. They are still reproducing stereotypes – the examples here being men as active
agents, representative of a masculine ideal, and women concerned about appearance.
Their conversations around the change in their university with the introduction of male
students into the environment give us some indication of the conscious and unconscious
ambivalence they feel around their place and role as a young woman in modern Japanese

21
society and raise questions about the extent of significant or progressive changes in
gender relations in this community.

Nina Langton, Associate Professor, Critical Studies
University of British Columbia Okanagan

References

Coates, Jennifer (1998). Gossip revisited: Language in all-female groups. In J. Coates
(ed.), Language and gender: A reader , 226 – 253. Oxford: Blackwell.
Eckert, Penelope and Sally McConnell-Ginet (1998 [1992]). Communities of practice:
Where language, gender, and power all live. In J. Coates (ed.), Language and
gender: A reader, 484 - 494. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ide, Sachiko (1982). Japanese sociolinguistics: Politeness and women’s language.
Lingua 57: 357- 85.
Inoue, M iyako (2002). Gender, language and modernity: Toward an effective history of
Japanese women’s language. American Ethnologist 29(2): 392- 422.
Iseto Saichiro (2004). Osaka ben kouyuuroku. Tokyo: Sankei Shinbunsha.
Lakoff, Robin (1975). Language and Women’s Place. New York: Harper and Row.
Matsumoto, Yoshiko (2002). Gendered identity and the presentations of self in Japanese.
In S. Benor et al (eds.), Gendered practices in language, 339 – 354. Stanford:
CSLI Publications.

22
McGloin, Naomi Hanaoka (1990). Sex difference and sentence -final particles. In S. Ide
and N. Hanaoka McGloin (eds.), Aspects of Japanese women’s language , 23 – 41.
Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers.
Ohara, Yumiko and Scott Saft (2003). Using conversation analysis to track gender
ideologies in social interaction: toward a feminist analysis of a Japanese phone -in
consultation TV program. Discourse and Society 14(2): 153 – 172.
Palter, DC ad Kaoru Slotsve (1995). Colloquial Kansai Japanese: The dialects and
culture of the Kansai region. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing.
Satake Kuniko (1998). “Onna kotoba / otoko kotoba” kihan o megutte. Kotoba 19: 53 –
68
Shibatani Masayoshi (1990). The languages of Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Sreetharan, Cindi Sturtz (2004). Students, sarariiman (pl.), and seniors: Japanese men’s
use of ‘manly’ speech register. Language in Society 33: 81-107.
Swann, Joan (1998). Talk control: An illustration from the classroom of problems in
analysing male dominance of conversation. In J. Coates (ed.), Language and
gender: A reader, 185 – 196. Oxford: Blackwell.
Tanaka, Hiroko and Mihoko Fukushima (2002). Gender orientations to outward
appearance in Japanese conversation: a study in grammar and interaction.
Discourse and Society 13(6): 749- 765.

Tanaka, Lidia (2004). Gender, language and culture: A study of Japanese television
interview discourse . Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
Tsuruta, Yoko (2003). Globalisation and the recent reforms in Japanese higher education.
Can the Japanese change their education system? 119 – 150. Oxford:
Symposium Books.