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Filicide in the Media: News Coverage of Mothers Who Kill in 1970s Japan

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Translating Maternal Violence

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Abstract

Castellini analyses media coverage of cases of maternal filicide in late postwar Japan. Focusing on the Asahi shinbun and Yomiuri shinbun (two of the major Japanese national dailies), he foregrounds the rhetorical, editorial and linguistic strategies by means of which maternal filicide came to be represented as an alarming social phenomenon of historical proportions. Using translation as both a theoretical framework and a methodological tool, Castellini proceeds to examine two major categories under which such cases were represented: kogoroshi (child-killing) and boshi shinjū (mother–child double-suicide), and reflects on the extent to which they allowed a differential treatment and visibility of a maternal potential for violence.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Together with the Mainichi shinbun, the Asahi and the Yomiuri are often referred to as “the big three,” and until the 1970s they represented the three major Japanese dailies: in 1961, at the time of the television boom in Japan, Edward P. Whittemore (1961: 1) claimed that 37 million newspapers were being sold in Japan each day and that of these the Asahi, the Yomiuri and the Mainichi accounted for 19 million newspapers distributed nationally (i.e. more than half the total number of newspapers published in the country). The figures provided 30 years later by Ofer Feldman (1993: 11) confirmed the continued primacy of the big three, with the Yomiuri selling 14.5 million copies, the Asahi 12.9 million and the Mainichi a more modest 6.3 million. More recently, Kaori Hayashi (2000: 148) identified the Asahi and the Yomiuri as “by far the two best-selling newspapers” in Japan, with the Yomiuri selling daily 10 million copies and the Asahi 8 million. Multiple factors such as the extraordinarily high circulation of newspapers in Japan, their capillary distribution at the national level (facilitated by Japan’s relatively small surface area) and the nearly perfect literacy rate of the population partially explain the considerable influence of the news press on public opinion, and have historically made Japan “one of the most newspaper-conscious countries in the world” (Whittemore 1961: 1).

  2. 2.

    On a different note, the analysis I offer of Japanese news stories provides access to textual materials that have remained largely unexplored in Anglo-American scholarship in the fields of journalism, media studies and communication studies. As might be expected, a cursory review of scholarship in English on media representations of mothers who kill reveals its fundamental reliance on primary sources in the English language. This has inevitably translated into disproportionate attention being given to British, American or Australian news media to the detriment of sources in other languages. See, for example, Barnett (2005, 2006, 2007, 2013), Coward (1997), Douglas and Michaels (2004), Goc (2003, 2007, 2009, 2013). For an article on media representations of maternal filicide based on non-English sources, see Cavaglion (2008).

  3. 3.

    A highly debated example of media’s capacity to circumscribe the visual and narrative dimensions of what then counts as the knowable “reality” has come to the fore in recent years with the practice of “embedded reporting” where the selective power of the media operates in accordance with state directives on how war and conflict are to be reported. See Butler (2010), Tuosto (2008), Fahmy and Johnson (2007), Paul and Kim (2004).

  4. 4.

    For a rich discussion on media framing and its relation to the agenda-setting function of news reporting, see Scheufele and Tewskbury (2007) and the many articles in the special issue of the Journal of Comnunication (2007) 57(1).

  5. 5.

    Chinese characters or kanji have an intrinsic meaning or range of meanings and more than one pronunciation according to context and position. In this case we can see that the character 殺 has at least two pronunciations: “koro” (as in the verb 殺すkorosu) and “satsu” (as in the words jisatsu 自殺 or satsujin 殺人).

  6. 6.

    There are other words in Japanese that may function as synonyms of kogoroshi: akachan-goroshi (赤ちゃん殺し akachan = baby), yōji-goroshi ( 幼児殺し yōji = infant), eiji-goroshi ( 嬰児殺し eiji = infant, newborn baby) and eijisatsu ( 嬰児殺 neonaticide). I want to contend that, because they emerge in combination with either the noun form -goroshi or, more broadly, the Chinese character meaning to kill (as in the case of eijisatsu), my argument about the explicit articulation of violence that characterizes the term kogoroshi could be extended to these other linguistic examples without undergoing significant alterations. As a matter of fact, kogoroshi in my discussion is almost representative for such broad group of terms that buy into the same semantic field of violence and killing.

  7. 7.

    Sonezaki shinjū (Love suicides at Sonezaki) and, most notably, his masterpiece Shinjū ten no amijima (Love suicides at Amijima) constitute two of the most famous literary and theatrical examples.

  8. 8.

    News media sometimes employ the expression muri shinjū (literally “forced double-suicide”). However, the use of the word muri (forcible, forced) seems to be left to the discretion of the single journalist and its occurrence in my data set remains irregular.

  9. 9.

    My argument ought not to be understood as a way to celebrate the untranslatability of the source language compared to the target language. In fact, the same density of accumulated meaning that we find in words like shinjū is likely to mark those expressions in the target language (such as “double-suicide” or “murder-suicide”) that are variously employed to translate it. This is what Venuti (1986: 182) describes as “a simultaneous excess of target-language meaning and a loss of source-language meaning, both of which the translator tries to limit by choosing to communicate a specific signified to the exclusion of others.” This exposes the ethical responsibility of the translator and his/her linguistic choices, and the importance that his/her intentions remain visible throughout the translating process (see also Venuti 1995).

  10. 10.

    Table 2.1 shows the number of news items per year that employed the category shinjū in their headlines (the figures do not yet distinguish between parent–child suicides and suicide pacts between actual lovers).

  11. 11.

    Bryant does not provide in this instance the Japanese original for “infanticide,” but to the extent that her use of the term is consistent throughout her article, here she is clearly referring to kogoroshi and to the explicit murderous violence the term conveys.

  12. 12.

    A considerable number of news items in my data set offer only short, bare accounts of the circumstances surrounding the accidents and simply provide concise answers to the five Ws of news reporting: Who? What? When? Where? Why? Because of their factual nature these articles do not offer major insights into the social perception of mothers who kill their children. They, however, provide important information about the visibility of this kind of occurrences and about the identity of the culprit: in 70 per cent of the total number of cases the mother was singled out as the culprit, whereas in 23 per cent of cases the father was, while another 5 per cent of news items identified or suggested the complicity of both parents.

  13. 13.

    These amplification strategies were originally identified in Tama’s (2008) study of media coverage of filicide in 1973 in Japan (originally published in 2001 with the title Boseiai to iu seido—kogoroshi to chūzetsu no poritikusu [The Institution of Maternal Love: The Politics of Infanticide and Abortion]). Here I draw on her insights and apply them to a data set that is both broader (in terms of years covered) and different in nature from the one she relied upon, but which seems to equally confirm her findings. Tama’s data set included articles published in 1973 in the Asahi shinbun and Mainichi shinbun and comprised news items on both filicide and child abandonment. This enabled her to elaborate on the changing conceptions of motherhood, parent–child relationship and family. My data set remains, on the other hand, primarily focused on media coverage of cases of filicide.

  14. 14.

    The classification of cases of boshi shinjū under the category of “murder” within official criminal statistics suggests yet another way in which maternal violence might have been apprehended differently in a different discursive site, and would certainly add an interesting layer to the narrative I provide in Translating Maternal Violence.

  15. 15.

    “Aomori de mo boshi sannin shinjū.” Yomiuri shinbun, 15 May, 1970, p. 15. Morning ed.

  16. 16.

    “Gunma de mo boshi shinjū.” Asahi shinbun, 5 June, 1970, p. 11. Evening ed.

  17. 17.

    “Mata shi no sekkan.” Asahi shinbun, 13 September, 1970, p. 22. Morning ed.

  18. 18.

    “Mata akachan-goroshi.” Yomiuri shinbun, 28 September, 1970, p. 14. Morning ed.

  19. 19.

    “Mata, hidoi hahaoya.” Yomiuri shinbun, 17 November, 1970, p. 13. Morning ed.

  20. 20.

    “Yokohamasen de mo sanninn. Noirōze. Haha ga michizure.” Asahi shinbun, 17 November, 1970, p. 22. Morning ed.

  21. 21.

    “Mata haha ga niji wo korosu.” Asahi shinbun, 11 February, 1971, p. 18. Morning ed.

  22. 22.

    “Hokkaidō de mo ko-michizure.” Asahi shinbun, 5 April, 1971, p. 22. Morning ed.

  23. 23.

    “Naze? Kodomo-goroshi aitsugu.” Asahi shinbun, 4 August, 1972, p. 11. Evening ed.

  24. 24.

    “Mikon no haha mata satsujin.” Asahi shinbun, 23 October, 1972, p. 23. Morning ed.

  25. 25.

    “Mata mugoi waga-kogoroshi. Mendō miru iya. Sakuran no haha.” Yomiuri shinbun, 26 February, 1973, p. 10. Evening ed.

  26. 26.

    “Mata ‘Irōzaki shinjū’. Boshi sannin.” Yomiuri shinbun, 16, October, 1973, p. 11. Evening ed.

  27. 27.

    “Wagako no inochi naze ubau.” Asahi shinbun, 21 December, 1970, p. 18. Morning ed.

  28. 28.

    “Kore de mo oya ka.”Yomiuri shinbun, 13 March, 1971, p. 15. Morning ed.

  29. 29.

    A kotatsu is a knee-high table with an electric foot-warmer installed inside on the top board, which is used with a hanging quilt during winter to retain heat.

  30. 30.

    “Katei no naka mo ningen fuzai.” Asahi shinbun, 21 December, 1970, p. 18. Morning ed.

  31. 31.

    “Nichiyō…Shinjū ya jisatsu aitsugu.” Asahi shinbun, 5 April, 1971, p. 22. Morning ed.

  32. 32.

    Ibid.

  33. 33.

    “Saishi-goroshi tobikomu.” Ibid.

  34. 34.

    “Hokkaidō de mo ko-michizure.” Ibid.

  35. 35.

    “Wagako koroshite / Haha, jisatsu hakaru.” Ibid.

  36. 36.

    “Adachi de kappuku hakaru.” Ibid.

  37. 37.

    Traditionally, Japanese characters are written in columns going from top to bottom and read from right to left. The spatial organization of news items on a newspaper page is devised according to this order.

  38. 38.

    “Gasu chūdoku / Yōji shinu / Boshi shinjū ka.” Ibid.

  39. 39.

    “Tonai de yōji suishi futari.” Ibid.

  40. 40.

    “Akisame no naka ni shi ni isogu.” Asahi shinbun, 6 September, 1973, p. 11. Evening ed.

  41. 41.

    “Ritsudai jokyōju ikka ga shinjū / Niji wo michizure jusui.” Ibid.

  42. 42.

    “Jigyō shippai no ikka mo / Yahari niji michizure.” Ibid.

  43. 43.

    “Gasu de boshi sannin.” Ibid.

  44. 44.

    “Hahaoya, mijukuji ni shi no sekkan.” Ibid.

  45. 45.

    “Akachan junan no sesō. Kōkai nai ‘kekkan hahaoya.’” Yomiuri shinbun, 18 August, 1970, p. 13. Morning ed.

  46. 46.

    “Akachan junan jidai.” Asahi shinbun, 5 September, 1970, p. 17. Morning ed.

  47. 47.

    “Akachan junan itsu made.” Asahi shinbun, 19 September, 1970, p. 22. Morning ed.

  48. 48.

    “Akachan mata junan.” Asahi shinbun, 22 September, 1970, p. 11. Evening ed.

  49. 49.

    “Akachan mata junan.” Yomiuri shinbun, 11 October, 1970, p. 14. Morning ed.

  50. 50.

    “Akachan gonan.” Asahi shinbun, 8 February, 1971, p. 9. Evening ed.

  51. 51.

    “Bosei sōshitsu jidai.” Yomiuri shinbun, 22 October, 1972, p. 18. Morning ed.

  52. 52.

    “Kosute kogoroshi no sesō.” Yomiuri shinbun, 10 April, 1973, p. 7. Evening ed.

  53. 53.

    “Aa akachan junan.” Yomiuri shinbun, 13 July, 1973, p. 23. Morning ed.

  54. 54.

    “‘Tōmei kōsoku’ hijō kosute.” Yomiuri shinbun, 30 October, 1972, p. 15. Morning ed.

  55. 55.

    “Boshi-ryō de sannin shinjū.” Ibid.

  56. 56.

    “Haha ni nagerare shinu.” Ibid.

  57. 57.

    “Kore ga oya ka.” Asahi shinbun, 4 September, 1970, p. 22. Morning ed.

  58. 58.

    “‘Oni-fūfu’ ni jikkei hanketsu.” Yomiuri shinbun, 19 December, 1970, p. 9. Evening ed.

  59. 59.

    “Wagako no inochi naze ubau?” Asahi shinbun, 21 December, 1970, p. 18. Morning ed.

  60. 60.

    “Koredemo oya ka.” Yomiuri shinbun, 13 March, 1971, p. 15. Morning ed.

  61. 61.

    “Kono kokuhaku na oyatachi.” Asahi shinbun, 24 August, 1972, p. 11. Morning ed.

  62. 62.

    “Oya-gokoro sōshitsu.” Yomiuri shinbun, 11 June, 1973, p. 11. Evening ed.

  63. 63.

    “Mata akachan-goroshi.” Yomiuri shinbun, 28 September, 1970, p. 14. Morning ed.

  64. 64.

    “Niji to muri shinjū.” Yomiuri shinbun, 28 May, 1971, p. 11. Evening ed.

  65. 65.

    “Tsuma ni sarare shinjū ni-ken.” Yomiuri shinbun, 14 November, 1972, p. 11. Evening ed.

  66. 66.

    “Tsuma ni nigerare fushi shinjū hakaru.” Yomiuri shinbun, 20 February, 1973, p. 11. Evening ed.

  67. 67.

    “Tsuma ni sarare muri shinjū.” Asahi shinbun, 12 June, 1973, p. 11. Evening ed.

  68. 68.

    “Tsuma ni nigerare sekkan satsujin.”Yomiuri shinbun, 28 November, 1973, p. 11. Evening ed.

  69. 69.

    “Kore ga oya ka. Jisshi wo korosu.” Asahi shinbun, 4 September, 1970, p. 22. Morning ed.

  70. 70.

    “Haha ga yōjo nageotosu.” Ibid.

  71. 71.

    “Matsudo de wa chichioya ga kōsatsu.” Ibid.

  72. 72.

    “Hahaoya…Kono musekinin, mushinkei.” Asahi shinbun, 19 November 1970, p. 22. Morning ed.

  73. 73.

    “Zankoku mama, yōji wo kerikorosu.” Yomiuri shinbun, 11 April, 1971, p. 15. Morning ed.

  74. 74.

    “Koredemo haha ka!” Yomiuri shinbun, 10 April, 1972, p. 8. Evening ed.

  75. 75.

    “‘Musekinin-mama’ sōken.”Asahi shinbun, 3 June, 1972, p. 8. Evening ed.

  76. 76.

    “Oni no hosutesu-mama.” Yomiuri shinbun, 8 September, 1972, p. 15. Morning ed.

  77. 77.

    “Mugoi haha no satsujin mata.” Asahi shinbun, 11 October, 1972, p. 23. Morning ed.

  78. 78.

    “Oni no haha wa…” Yomiuri shinbun, 4 April, 1973, p. 11. Evening ed.

  79. 79.

    “Hijō na mama―mata niken” Yomiuri Shinbun, 23 November 1970, p. 15. Morning edition.

  80. 80.

    “Mujō no haha yo” Yomiuri shinbun, 11 January, 1972, p. 3. Evening ed.

  81. 81.

    Child-rearing neurosis has been identified as “a condition that emerged as a problem with the nuclearization of Japanese families from the 1960s, when middle-class mothers (typically full-time housewives) came to take on all responsibility for child-rearing” (Goodman et al. 2012: 117).

  82. 82.

    “‘Oni no hahaoya’ to iu keredo uchiki de noirōze ikkan shinai dōki.” Yomiuri shinbun, 5 April, 1973, p. 16. Morning ed.

  83. 83.

    For an extended account of the changes that affected Japanese postwar society and their impact on women, see Chap. 3.

  84. 84.

    “Tsuyoku natta josei, yowaku natta hahaoya.” Asahi shinbun, 12 April, 1970, p. 5. Morning ed.

  85. 85.

    “Kawaru yo no naka.” Yomiuri shinbun, 10 October, 1970, p. 1. Evening ed.

  86. 86.

    “Akachan junan jidai.” Asahi shinbun. 5 September, 1970, p. 17. Morning ed.

  87. 87.

    “Kogoroshi no keifu.” Asahi shinbun, 6 September, 1970, p. 5. Morning ed.

  88. 88.

    “Bosei sōshitsu jidai.” Yomiuri shinbun, 22 October, 1972, p. 18. Morning ed.

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Castellini, A. (2017). Filicide in the Media: News Coverage of Mothers Who Kill in 1970s Japan. In: Translating Maternal Violence. Thinking Gender in Transnational Times. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53882-6_2

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