動員

• Reading: どういん
• Romaji: dōin
• Kanji breakdown: 動 (dō) — move, set in motion; 員 (in) — member, personnel
• Pronunciation: /doːin/

Meaning

Mobilisation; rallying; turnout. The act of assembling and organising people or resources for a collective purpose.

A compound of 動 (move, set in motion) and 員 (member, personnel). 動員 spans contexts from military mobilisation (総動員, full national mobilisation) to civilian usage such as concert audience turnout (観客動員数 — number of audience members mobilised) or political canvassing. The word is neutral in itself; the negative or positive connotation depends entirely on context.

Examples

1. コンサートは初日だけで一万人の観客動員を記録した。 The concert recorded an audience turnout of ten thousand on the opening day alone.
2. 政府は非常事態に際し自衛隊を動員することを決定した。 The government decided to mobilise the Self-Defence Forces in the event of an emergency.
3. 選挙前に大規模な支持者動員が各政党によって行われた。 Large-scale mobilisation of supporters was carried out by each political party before the election.

Usage Guide

Context: military, politics, entertainment, emergency management

Tone: neutral

Origin & History

Compound of 動 (dō) — to move, set in motion, and 員 (in) — member, personnel. The military sense became dominant in the Meiji era as Japan built a modern conscript army; civilian senses developed alongside and remain in common use today.

Cultural Context

Era: Meiji–Modern

Generation: Adults

Social background: General