Listen to the story of disappearing ice: Japanese local media not reporting climate risks to intangible culture and the journalistic norms

Abstract

Abstract Climate systems have experienced irreversible changes, including ice loss. It threatens the continuity of ice tradition. Journalistic norms determine people's awareness of climate risks posed on local intangible cultural heritage. Nevertheless, little has been studied about local media coverage of climate change in line with the culture in Japan. By comparing with foreign articles, this paper investigates what hampers Japanese local journalists from reporting climate risks on local intangible cultural heritage. A case selected is a winter tradition in Nagano; ritual for ice ridges on Lake Suwa, which local people have considered the god's crossing (omiwatari) and have worshiped for five centuries. This research utilizes quantitative analysis of text mining with word clouds to highlight the different viewpoints of articles written in Japan and abroad. Qualitative analysis scrutinizes the focal points of the local journalists who report the tradition. The results showed the different characteristics of the one-shot articles in foreign media and a series of news in the Japanese local newspapers. Foreign media emphasized the climate risk of continuity of the omiwatari practice in the future, while Japanese local media focused on the daily practice of the seasonal event. Interviews in this research revealed that the Japanese journalists focused on ongoing challenges the practitioners face rather than future climate risks. It also recognized the difficulty of reporting invisible climate change impacts in daily news articles. Finally, the article discusses journalistic norms that hamper or encourage journalists to frame climate change and intangible cultural heritage.