38Received 01.07.2025. Revised 29.07.2025. Accepted 29.08.2025.
Abstract. The article analyzes the specifics of the influence of the media sphere on the state of mass consciousness in Japan. Using the example of the panic caused by the predictions of a catastrophic earthquake in Japan, “scheduled” for July 5, 2025, the author of the article shows the vulnerability of the Japanese mass consciousness, and an amazing degree of uncritical trust of the Japanese public in eschatological sensations. The author proceeds from the hypothesis that the majority of Japanese are inclined to unconsciously believe an information due to a combination of two circumstances: 1) national socio-cultural characteristics, most clearly expressed in the desire for consensus; and 2) in the unparalleled role of the media sphere (in comparison with other countries), which makes the most effective use of such media implications as agenda setting, framing, priming and “spiral of silence”. The big press in Japan has strong levers of influence on public opinion (as a case study, the author considers a unique system of journalistic clubs). However, due to traditional caution and political correctness, the traditional media sphere is losing consumer sympathy, and influence is flowing to the new media actors – streaming platforms, media hostings and social networks, which attract the public with fake sensations and cause an increase in fears and phobias in the mass consciousness. Discourse analysis of sources, in-depth interviews and the author’s year-long participant observation have been quite instrumental for examination of such a complex and liquid phenomenon as Japanese mass consciousness.
Keywords: Japan, mass consciousness, big press, new media, agenda-setting, framing, priming, journalistic clubs
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