In staunch pursuit: The semantics of the japanese terms shukatsu ‘job hunting’ and konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’

This chapter presents an analysis of two Japanese compound words that share a common suffix. The words are shūkatsu ‘job hunting’ and konkatsu ‘marriage partner hunting’. It is perhaps not entirely unexpected that the English glosses fall short of conveying the significant cultural context behind them. The shared suffix, katsu, comes from the Japanese word katsudō, which means ‘activity’. As Dalton and Dales (Japanese Studies 36(1):1-19, 2016) point out, katsu implies a high level of engagement and dedication as well as a degree of obligation or a sense of duty associated with the task. For instance, shūkatsu implies single-mindedness regarding the activity of job-seeking, requiring deliberate effort from the participant. Similarly, konkatsu implies that total devotion to the act of finding a marriage partner. Konkatsu, unlike shūkatsu, has drawn some attention from scholars (Yamada in ‘Konkatsu’ genshō no shakaigaku. Tōyōkeizaishinpōsha, Tokyo, 2010; Dalton and Dales in Japanese Studies 36(1):1-19, 2016), but no accurate semantic analysis of either has been carried out thus far. This study uses the framework of the Natural Semantic Metalanguage approach to clarify the meaning of these two Japanese compound words. The analysis reveals that the people engaged in the activities they refer to are fearful of not attaining their goal and that the use of the suffix katsu in the Japanese word formation process is therefore semantically rooted. The analysis also assists in identifying and elaborating on some of the contradictions and complexities of modern Japanese society.