For a group of Japanese researchers, the phenomenon of humor is no laughing matter.
For three decades, the Japan Society for Laughter and Humor Studies based in Osaka, western Japan, has been probing what it calls the “mysteries” of the human laugh, going so far as to publish a peer-reviewed academic journal.
Members of the society are not limited to academic specialists but include monks and traditional Japanese “kyogen” comedic performers among others.
“Laughter research is not a subject that can be mastered by a single expert,” Hiroshi Inoue, 88, professor emeritus at Kansai University, the first president of the society and now an advisor, said at the JSLHS’s 30th-anniversary convention held in August at the university’s Suita campus in Osaka Prefecture.
“The society was started with citizen participation in mind in the belief that both the experiences of citizens and the research of academics are necessary,” Inoue said.
Growing up in a merchant family in Osaka, associated in recent times with the traditional style of Japanese comedy known as “manzai” featuring a “straight man” (tsukkomi) and the “funny man” (boke), humor was in the air Inoue breathed. It made him want to know how important laughter is for human relationships and health.
JSLHS was established in July 1994 as an outgrowth of a research group on laughter that had been formed centering on Inoue by a group of doctors, members of the media and others.
From the outset, the group has been open to anyone with an interest in laughter, and has recruited members, currently numbering around 550, without regard to qualifications.
JSLHS promotes interdisciplinary exchanges across various fields, including medicine, health, philosophy and psychology. But aside from conducting comprehensive research on laughter and humor, the organization also aims to promote its cultural expression.
Annual membership fees are 10,000 yen ($67) for adults and 5,000 yen for students, and members’ occupations range from university faculty to those in the medical, welfare and performing arts fields.
At the commemorative conference in August, monks and “kyogen” performers presented research. In addition to health and medicine, they discussed the relationship of laughter to diverse topics such as child rearing, education and sex.
The society’s annual journal includes papers on such themes as “Nonsense in Rakugo,” “Laughter and Infants” and “Do Animals Laugh?”
Inoue vividly recalled the experience that determined the direction his research would take — the time he saw his 4-month-old grandchild smile. “The phenomenon of newborns smiling without stimulation from the outside world must be evidence that laughter is built in as an instinct even before birth,” he said.
Katsumi Tobino, 69, a specially appointed professor at Ritsumeikan University and the current JSLHS president, said the mystery of laughter is unlikely ever to be solved.
“Laughter is something that is very close to our hearts and the deepest part that makes us human, but when we ask ourselves what it is, it is not easily defined,” he said. “Rather, it is a question that has no answer that continues on forever.”
In addition to the society’s journal, it regularly publishes a newspaper that reports on the activities of its 16 chapters nationwide.
Inoue, who also touts the health benefits of laughter to “awaken our true selves and regenerate life on a daily basis,” has said that because it is integral to all aspects of life it requires “deep and broad exploration, not deep and narrow organization” — a reason why JSLHS holds monthly “open lectures” on the theme of laughter.
Although they continue to vigorously pursue their activities, the society’s membership has dropped since the pandemic.
“No other academic society accepts anyone, regardless of their qualifications, under the banner of laughter. We want to keep this spark alive, reconsidering its significance and role to develop the culture of laughter in society,” Tobino said.
Aside from what JSLHS organizes, there are various laughter-related cultural events that take place in Japan, mostly around Aug. 8. The day’s designation as the “Day of Laughter” is based on the Japanese reading of “ha (8)” and “ha (8)” imitating the sound of laughter (“ha-ha”).
In the case of Hokkaido, where Aug. 8 is likewise designated as local residents’ day of laughter, various events to promote health through laughter are held on the initiatives of municipalities across the northern main island during the week of Aug. 8-14.
In the western city of Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, a “laughing ritual” will be held on Dec. 1 this year.
In the annual event, parishioners of a local Shinto shrine in formal Japanese hakama attire burst out in hearty laughter to express their gratitude to the gods for the year’s harvest and hope for a bountiful crop next year.
