By Philip Brasor
Media person of the year: Sachiyo Nomura The feud between Satchi and actress Mitsuyo Asaka deserves some kind of recognition for dominating the tabloid press in the spring and summer. Beyond that, however, the smug-expressioned, overly made-up and garishly dressed Mrs. Hanshin Tigers (formerly Mrs. Yakult Swallows) epitomized all that's shallow and pointless about Japanese TV: the unblinking deference to celebrity, regardless of how it was obtained; the transience of behind-the-scenes loyalties, which are more central to one's success than originality or talent; the authority of bogus "personality"; and, above all, the casual acquisition and disposal of manufactured images.
What's still amazing about the Satchi saga is not that she lied about her educational and social background -- specifically her claim that she graduated from Columbia University -- but that anyone actually believed it in the first place. Even Stanford grads aren't that insufferably snooty.