Fika, Dala horses, and Falun red villas. A study of Swedishness in the linguistic and semiotic landscapes of the Japanese town of Tōbetsu

This dissertation examines Swedishness and its various manifestations in the linguistic and semiotic landscapes of the Japanese town of Tōbetsu. Tōbetsu is home to the so-called Swedish village, Sweden Hills, to which many of these manifestations of Swedishness are connected in some way. The study shows that most of the town’s Swedishness is artificial and aimed for the Japanese.

The research material consists of a collection of photographs and selected toponyms from Tōbetsu. The material is analyzed using multimodal social semiotic analysis in order to examine how different linguistic and semiotic signs construct Swedishness within Tōbetsu’s linguistic and semiotic landscapes.

Based on the research findings, the town’s Swedishness is primarily created and materialized through semiotic signs with connection to Swedishness. In contrast, the Swedish language has a rather limited visibility and significance in constructing the town’s Swedishness, even though it does appear to some extent in the linguistic landscapes. The town’s visible Swedishness is linked to various commercial, marketing, tourism, and authenticity-building purposes and is primarily directed at Japanese-speaking population.

The thesis defense will be held in Swedish.