This
paper examines Japanese media coverage and analysis of the recent Israel-Hamas
war. Specifically, it argues that the Japanese public, media and government are
being exposed to a distorted view of Islam and Muslim countries. For instance,
Japanese academia seems captivated by anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism,
leading to the radicalization of students. This, in turn, results in distorted
perspectives on Muslim affairs for the Japanese people, media and government.
This paper will focus on a case study from YouTube conducted by Akari Iiyama, a
Japanese author. It will illustrate how her analysis unveils a distorted
perspective of the Israel-Hamas war. Further, this study suggests that media
reports play a crucial role in our comprehension of language dynamics in
contemporary everyday life. It aims to enhance our understanding, especially in
the context of Israel-Hamas war reporting, of the theory of speech style in
socio-linguistics. Specifically, the theory of “involvement” will be discussed
in relation to Japanese web-based data.
