Abstract

This paper analyzes the structure of unsuccessful chats over the internet about Japanese religions. On the internet, people of different religions and beliefs can easily meet. However, in Japan, chats about religion rarely succeed. This is due not only to a lack of social cues and anonymity but also because there is power balance between two groups, one with a positive attitude towards religion and the other with a negative attitude. Their different pre-understandings of religion make the discussion difficult. It is important to analyze moments of pre-understanding of discussants in order to better understand the dynamics. We present an approach for such analysis based on Paul Ricoeur’s theory for “Threefold Mimesis.” This is a trial for successful communication among people from different cultures and societies via the internet. It could be a step forward in achieving the global information ethics that Charles Ess claims. This is because differences in the pre-understanding of a topic are an essential problem there