Topics and narratives
When we enter into the "world" of a specific language we also enter into a field in which people are using this language to touch upon topics and narratives that emotionally and intellectually are with and around them. A person coming from the outside will note this fact by repeatedly coming up with ideas and views presented in perfectly correct language, yet producing a degree of puzzlement and perhaps even annoyance or disinterest as they do not link up with what people have on their mind. We should also remember that topics and narratives are quite frequently formed out of feelings of uneasiness about, or even resistance against, some particular status quo structured by specific mechanisms of control (regulations, laws, norms etc.) that may be irrelevant to an outsider seeking to give specific information, or the insider forced to take note of it.
Open questions concerning method in the study of Japanese culture (1997)
Dealing with extreme diversity of opinions: The Sino-Japanese and the Russo-Japanese War (1997)
Passing on values through time: The family as context for learning communicative strategies (2005)
Intercultural communication between Europe and Japan - Can it be more than a fashionable slogan?
Interkulturelle Kommunikation - ein modernes Schlagwort unklaren Inhalts? Dimensionen der Auseinandersetzung mit Japan (1995 2002)
Menschenformung und Konflikt: Gibt es überhaupt Konflikt an japanischen Schulen? (1991/2002)
Tourism as a future for local rail services? An analysis of debates in Akita Prefecture (2016)