Business / Corporate | FOCUS Jul 12, 2020
Competition between streaming services heating up in Japan amid pandemic
Online subscription-based streaming of films and television programs has seen an uptick in Japan in recent years, and with the coronavirus pandemic keeping more people at home, that trend appears to be intensifying. The growth in the market is led by foreign companies globalizing operations ...
Our Lives | BLACK EYE Jun 10, 2020
'No justice, no peace': The sentiment that resonates in America, Japan and all over the world
by Baye McNeil
The mainstream Japanese media continues to mess up on issues of race. It's time for a new generation of talking heads.
National Jun 10, 2020
Japan broadcaster NHK under fire over flawed video on anti-racism movement
by Magdalena Osumi
Public broadcaster NHK has apologized for its attempt to educate viewers on the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, after its video on anti-racism demonstrations came under fire for lacking context on racial injustice and the police brutality that had spurred such ...
National Apr 13, 2020
Yuta Tomikawa, a main anchor of TV Asahi Corp.'s "Hodo Station" evening news program, has been infected with the novel coronavirus, the broadcaster said Sunday. Tomikawa, who has been hospitalized in Tokyo, did not have a fever, cough or sense of fatigue as of Sunday, ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Apr 28, 2016
Sekai Shogeki Story; Chimpanzee Ai ga Oshiete Kureta; Aoki
by Philip Brasor
Unidentified flying objects are a topic of great concern to people who have too much time on their hands. A retired sheriff from Colorado who has spent the past 25 years looking into UFOs is the subject of a report on the variety show ...
National Nov 15, 2014
Citing need for 'cleanliness,' Nippon TV retracts woman's job offer for working at Ginza night club
A college student is suing Nippon Television Network Corp. after the broadcaster terminated its offer of an announcer's job because she had worked part-time at a night club in Tokyo's Ginza district. In the suit filed with the Tokyo District Court, Rina Sasazaki, 22, is ...
National / Media | MEDIA MIX Sep 14, 2013
Travel shows warp true globalization
by Philip Brasor
Now that Tokyo has been given the honor of hosting the 2020 Olympic Games, the city, as well as all of Japan, will spend the next seven years "internationalizing" (kokusai-ka), a term that becomes fashionable again every few years when something like this happens. ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Jun 2, 2013
Fun with frugality plus competitive money saving; CM of the week: Parinko
On the variety show "Shiawase Bonbi Garu" ("Happy Poor Girls"; Nippon TV, Tues., 10 p.m.), celebrities look at how much fun it is to live the impoverished life. The women who are the subjects of the show grew up during the recession, so saving ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF May 19, 2013
Private tutor as crime solver; inner workings of the human body, dramatized; CM of the week: Acom
These days a college education doesn't get you as far as it used to, though it comes in handy for solving crimes, apparently. The hero of the two-hour suspense drama "Katei Kyoshi ga Toku" ("Private Tutor Solves the Case"; TBS, Mon., 9 p.m.) is ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF May 12, 2013
Womens fashion fail-off; celebs discuss transgender issues; CM of the week: Boss
Everybody on TV knows their place and what's expected of them, so the "women's pride battle" on the variety show "London Hearts" (TV Asahi, Tues., 9 p.m.) needs to be qualified. What kind of women? Pride in what? The subtitle of this week's contest is, ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF May 5, 2013
Two documentaries on the rougher side of sports; CM of the week: Bandai Namco's Gundam games
The life of a pro athlete can be grueling, but 37-year-old soccer player Dan Ito has a perverse determination to make his even more so.