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April 30, 2024
 

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MEDIA MIX

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 5, 2000
Celebrate the elderly when they stop saving
On Sept. 15, the country "celebrated" Respect for the Aged Day, when we honor our elders, who pass their wisdom and experience down to us so that our lives and those of our children will be happier and more fulfilling. Of course, nothing is farther from the truth. We in the industrialized world seem to be allergic to the elderly. We talk about how we have to take care of them and how they are a wasted resource but, generally speaking, we would prefer they stay at home knitting or playing checkers and not remind us of our own impending mortality.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 21, 2000
Japan insurance market just a phone call away
For the past several years, the insurance industry has been battered on two fronts by bad publicity. On the one hand, the collapse of almost all the major life insurance companies has been blamed on poor investment choices and even poorer management, while on the other, the spate of recent murder-for-insurance cases points up how easy it is to manipulate the system for illegal purposes.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 7, 2000
Educational TV: PTA knows best?
The Data Watching section of the Sept. 7 issue of Dime contains the results of various unrelated surveys regarding the current state of parent-child relationships. In addition to questionnaire answers about corporal punishment and what constitutes bad behavior, there is a list compiled by the Japan PTA in 1999 of the 10 TV shows parents want their children to watch, as well as the 10 shows they don't want their children to watch.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2000
Frugality boom highlights fun and fulfillment of the simple life
As explained in this column several months ago, Japanese TV often adapts successful programming ideas from abroad. Still, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a local version of "Survivor." Reality-based programming is already available in Japan. Years ago, "Denpa Shonen" moved beyond such simplistic ideas as sticking cameras in communal housing and throwing strangers together on a desert island.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2000
Support the economy -- take a vacation
If all you knew about Japan was what you saw on Japanese TV, you might think the Japanese are the most well-traveled citizens in the world. No other broadcast culture offers as many travel programs in which happy-go-lucky celebrity guides see the sights, interact freely with the natives and, most importantly, sample the local cuisine.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2000
Okinawa seen through the summit prism
It's a common belief that the annual G-7 or G-8 summits accomplish little more than allowing the leaders of the industrialized world to get together and make a show of global unity. Consequently, the only thing you can count on in the post-summit analyses is that they will dwell on what wasn't discussed, which, in the case of the recent Okinawa wing-ding, was the promise made at last year's summit to forgive Third World debt.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 20, 2000
Coverup just makes the scandal worse
The Yukijirushi (Snow Brand) contaminated-milk scandal was the product of corporate arrogance aggravated by a bunker mentality. President Tetsuro Ishikawa's apologies meant little after he admitted he had no idea what goes on in his plants. Having helmed the number one dairy products company for several decades and never experienced a year without a profit, the executive couldn't comprehend that something could actually go wrong.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 6, 2000
Law inhibits election coverage and debate
Prior to the Lower House elections June 25, commentators both here and abroad complained that the parties weren't putting forth concrete proposals, but instead only vague assurances that they would rebuild the economy and return Japan to its former glory as the world's last bastion of civility.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2000
Marriage guide for men begs the question, 'Et tu, Brutus?'
In the cultural wars secular liberalism continues its slow, laborious march toward victory (two steps forward, one step back), but one bastion of male-centered tradition remains inviolate: the marriage proposal. Men do the asking, and women wait for them to ask. The vector indicated by this dynamic mimics the sex act itself, with the coin of sexual access being the engagement ring, preferably one with a diamond.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 1, 2000
Who wants to say he's a millionaire?
Everybody knows that the popular quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" was dumbed-down after it was exported from England to the U.S. Some advertisers, in fact, were very angry because they thought the level of difficulty made it too easy for contestants to go all the way.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 18, 2000
You too could be the target market of a new drug
Every time I visit the United States, I am increasingly alarmed at the number of TV commercials for prescription drugs, which is something I never saw when I was a child. As a matter of fact, between 1994 and 1998, drug manufacturers increased their spending on direct-to-consumer advertising in the U.S. seven-fold.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2000
Kaigo hoken throws spotlight on life in 'nursing care hell'
A few weeks ago I submitted a proposal for an April Fool's story to a local publication. The piece would have been a news report about Japanese airline companies taking advantage of "Japan's rapidly aging society" by offering "nursing care miles" to frequent flyers in order to attract middle-aged travelers. The joke was supposed to coincide with the start of the new kaigo hoken (nursing care insurance) system that, coincidentally, went into effect April 1.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 6, 2000
Commercial success -- and cultural
In advertising, success doesn't always mean the same thing to everyone involved. For the client, it means increased sales of his product, while for the copywriter it means cultural impact, and though there's nothing that says these two successes can't coincide, there's also nothing that says they have to.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Oct 7, 1999
Punk of a nation in mosh pit of controversy and 'silliness'
In the middle of August, Polydor Records announced it would not release a recently finished album by veteran rock singer Kiyoshiro Imawano because it contained a punk version of "Kimigayo," Japan's newly certified national anthem. Imawano called the decision "silly," an opinion that took on extra layers of meaning last week when TV Asahi's "News Station" invited him on the show to sing the song.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 30, 1999
Iron stomachs and chefs give it their all
Japan has produced a fair number of marathon stars. It's an achievement that probably has less to do with genetically bound physical attributes than with culturally bound psychological ones. The "gambaru" mentality that governs so many endeavors in Japan, especially in the world of sports, is central to being a good marathon runner.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Sep 15, 1999
Young at heart, but never free of Johnny
On Aug. 30, former idol singer and tell-all autobiographer Hiromi Go staged an unannounced live show from the back of a tractor trailer parked near the Hachiko intersection in Shibuya. The five-minute performance, which featured four other dancers, stopped traffic and clogged up the area as pedestrians rushed to catch a glimpse of Go's hairless, flabless torso.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 5, 1999
Emperors, journalists, critics and other influential people
Several weeks ago Time Magazine's Tokyo bureau asked Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi to nominate someone for the magazine's series of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and Obuchi chose Emperor Showa.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 15, 1999
Free of corporate connections, Kinyobi targets toxic offenders
As a buzzword, "dioxin" has quickly come to represent all that's wrong with Japan's mish-mash of contradictory and ineffective environmental policies.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 1, 1999
'Liberation' of birth control proves a bitter pill to swallow
On Aug. 16, the Health and Welfare Ministry announced that it had finally approved the low-dosage birth control pill, which will likely become available through prescription in the fall. Oral contraceptives for women have been available in the West for close to 40 years, but in Japan they've always been viewed with a distrustful eye by the authorities.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 17, 1999
Regular publicity necessary for healthy marketing
To: Buena Vista Prunes, Inc. Attn: Mr. John Murray, vice president in charge of communications From: Takeshi Ebihara Tokyo Senden Services Re: Public relations progress and proposals
When will Japan intervene to support the yen?
Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki has reiterated the government's readiness to take an appropriate action as the yen continues to slide against the U.S. dollar.
'So hot you can't breathe': Extreme heat hits the Philippines
A pedestrian cools himself with a folding hand fan as he waits for a ride along a road in Manila on Wednesday, as extreme heat hit the Philippines.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
Yen rebounds strongly after first slide past ¥160 since 1990
The yen dropped to ¥160.245 per dollar on Monday before heading into the other direction to ¥155.01 amid speculation of an intervention by Japanese currency authorities.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

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