Who Gets to Speak? Voice, Silence, and the Politics of Free Speech in Contemporary Japan
- University of Zurich, RAA-G-01 Little Aula
Rämistrasse 59
8001 Zurich
Switzerland
- Prof. Dr. Kaori Hayashi Executive Vice President and Professor at the Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo
- University of Zurich, Asien-Orient-Institut AOI
Event organised by University of Zurich, Asien-Orient-Institut.
Freedom of speech is commonly understood as the right to express opinions without interference. Yet this understanding often overlooks a fundamental democratic question: who is actually able to speak, be heard, and participate in public life on equal terms? This lecture examines that question through the lens of contemporary Japan. Although freedom of speech is guaranteed by Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution, access to public voice has historically been unevenly distributed.
Political, media, and intellectual authority have long been concentrated among a relatively narrow group of speakers, while women and other marginalized groups have often faced obstables to participation, recognition, and credibility.
Recent developments in Japanese media reveal both the possiblities and limitations of democratic inclusion.
Using contemporary Japan as a point of departure, the lecture proposes a relational understanding of free speech and explores its implications for democratic societies confronting inequalities of voices in the digital age.
