ABSTRACT
By 2050, people over the age of 65 will constitute almost 40% of the total population of Japan (Statistics Bureau, 2014). Responding to such demographics, this study examines the blogging practices of previously understudied older Japanese men and women, and compares their practices with those of younger counterparts. In research on blogging, age has not often been problematized, especially outside the privileged category of “youth”. A notable exception is a study by Fullwood, Sheehan, and Nicholls (2009) on age and gender differences in MySpace blogs. Even here, however, seniors are outside targeted age groups. As blogging is no longer dominated by youth, and an increasing number of seniors are online in the United States (Smith, 2014), Japan (Nagao, 2010) and elsewhere, this chapter addresses a research gap in sociolinguistics (Coupland, 2004, p. 83).
