This excellent book lays bare the mechanisms of the information cartels in Japan that prop up the state, insulate the elite from sustained critical oversight and rob the polity of the journalistic integrity necessary for the maintenance of democracy. It's a daunting agenda, and it is a tribute to author Laurie Anne Freeman that she carries it off and in the process makes a significant contribution to our understanding of contemporary Japan.
Readers will certainly cast a more scrutinizing and skeptical eye on the pablum served up by the mass media after learning about how sources co-opt journalists and how the business of media has undermined the practice of journalism.
The transformation of the media into co-conspirators in the dumbing down of public debate and the stifling of independent thinking is a powerful indictment, persuasively argued here. These are serious charges based on the author's extensive interviews, research and observations while affiliated with the Asahi newspaper and on grants from the Japan Foundation and Abe Fellowship.