Resurgences of Women’s Language in Japanese TV News: Shirabete Mitara and the Representation of Foreign Women

This study examines the representation of women’s language in Shirabete Mitara, a television segment aired by the Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV. Drawing on audiovisual translation research and recent developments in Japanese sociolinguistics and media studies, it explores the inter-indexical relations between the Japanese voice-over and interlingual subtitles used to translate the speech of foreign female speakers, and the ideological portrayals of femininity they construct. The analysis of interview segments reveals not only the discrepancy between the non-native speakers’ speech and that adopted by Japanese voice actresses, but also a process of hyperfeminization that indexes the metapragmatic stereotypes around which the so-called Japanese Women’s Language (joseigo) has crystallized. The study further shows how the speakers’ iconic bodies are instrumentalized as semiotic resources to convey specific ideologies of femininity, ultimately reinforcing gender-based discrimination deeply rooted in contemporary Japanese society.