Microplastics, an increasingly widespread environmental problem, have built a high profile on different communication platforms in Japan. Inspired by Davies and Horst’s understanding that science communication is constitutive and material, this article empirically analyzed the general situation of microplastics communication in the Japanese context. We examined the development in the meaning of microplastics as the exemplification of the constitutive dimension, as well as its communication stages, authorship, and readership with different interests as the representation of the material dimension. We chose the database National Diet Library Online as representative of Japanese literature. We extracted 190 microplastic-relevant journal articles published in different journal types from 2016 to 2020 and collected 162 online news articles as supplementary material. We found that even though the constitutive meaning of microplastics grew up fast, especially around 2018 and 2019, material factors varied that showed inclinations in practical communications. Despite the similar scale of communication in the specialist and the popular stages, the influences of scientists and interests from scientific fields on microplastics topics were overwhelmingly over the public fields, the divergences of which suggested several difficulties in solving such a complicated environmental problem.
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When the term microplastics was first introduced to the world by Richard Thompson et al. in 2004 (Thompson et al. Citation2004), the topic has built a high profile throughout scientific publications, media outlets, and public debates. Scientific research has proven the ubiquitous presence of microplastics in human life, even though they are an “invisible enemy” for people (Garcia-Vazquez and Garcia-Ael Citation2021). Microplastics are detected not only in seafood (Dehaut, Hermabessiere, and Duflos Citation2019) but also in honey, beer, milk, and other foods commonly seen on family dining tables (Diaz-Basantes, Conesa, and Fullana Citation2020). In 2018, microplastics were first detected in a sample of human stools (Liebmann et al. Citation2018), escalating the public discussion on their negative impacts, particularly on human health. Now it is believed that microplastics put human health at risk via prolonged ingestion (Garcia-Vazquez and Garcia-Ael Citation2021), although the scientific evidence is far from sufficient to confirm the actual risks (Thiele and Hudson Citation2021).
Despite many uncertainties on the long-term risks of microplastics, microplastics have been treated as a real problem worldwide. Among all countries, the situation in Japan deserves special attention. Despite the growing momentum of media coverage of microplastics—as evidenced by the fact that the word “maikuropurasutikku (マイクロプラスチック) (microplastics)” was chosen as the “new word of the year” and included in Sanseido’s Japanese Dictionary in 2018—individual behavior changes regarding general environmental problems, such as the microplastics problem, have been hardly promoted. A survey shows that although 76% of Japanese express concern about general environmental problems, only 32% “are willing to accept cuts in the standard of living to protect environment” (Murata Citation2021). The paradox between concern and reluctance in action shown in our society makes Japan an interesting context to study the communication of a novel scientific research field and environmental problem in a developed society where the old throwaway culture and newly prevailing concept of sustainable development goals are in conflict.
