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May 15, 2024
 

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MEDIA MIX

Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 31, 2019
Road rage coverage reveals gulf in awareness of traffic rules in Japan
For the past several weeks, media organizations in Japan have been obsessed with a road rage incident that happened in Ibaraki Prefecture on Aug. 10, when a 43-year-old man forcibly stopped another driver on the Joban Expressway and assaulted him as he sat in his car.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 24, 2019
Scrutinizing Shinjiro Koizumi's political prospects in the wake of his marriage announcement
A lot of people seem to be convinced that Shinjiro Koizumi will someday be prime minister of Japan. He's got everything going for him — pedigree, good looks, proper manners. His youth is a plus rather than a minus, probably because he's developed an understanding of his place in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and how to leverage it. The announcement of his engagement to popular newscaster Christel Takigawa on Aug. 7 in front of the Prime Minister's Office was, as the Asahi Shimbun pointed out, the kind of "theater" his father, Junichiro, was noted for when he was prime minister.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 17, 2019
Outrage over Aichi Triennale exhibition ignites debate over freedom of expression in art
Three days after it opened on Aug. 1, a section of the Aichi Triennale 2019 arts festival, which is taking place in and around the city of Nagoya, was closed due to controversy over one of its exhibits and an anonymous threat.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 10, 2019
Japan-South Korea trade spat gains little traction among youth on social media
The diplomatic rift between Tokyo and Seoul widened earlier this month after Japan removed South Korea from its "whitelist" of preferred trading partners. The apparent reason given for the move is national security: Japan says some strategic materials it sells to South Korea are making their way to third countries. Seoul, however, believes Tokyo is punishing it for a South Korean Supreme Court decision that found in favor of citizens who said they were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II, when the peninsula was a colony of Japan.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Aug 3, 2019
News outlets in Japan less afraid to tackle entertainment issues
Ever since Johnny Kitagawa died on July 9, the media has been filled with sentimental tributes to the pop idol impresario, mostly by the young men whose careers he cultivated, but also by those with a stake in Japan's hermetic show biz world.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 27, 2019
Aligning 'access journalism' and press freedom
On July 19, NHK's morning information program, "Asaichi," featured a very special guest. Hiroshi Kume is one of the most important figures in the history of Japanese media, initially as a popular announcer in the 1970s and early '80s, but mainly as the anchor of TV Asahi's ground-breaking news show "News Station" from 1985 to 2004. Before "News Station," Japanese TV news was dry and a bit intimidating. Kume not only brought it down to earth, he broadened its scope by injecting commentary that made reports relevant to viewers. The reason his appearance was so surprising is that NHK arguably represents everything about TV he doesn't like.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 20, 2019
Citizen campaigns seek to increase voter turnout in Upper House election
Thanks to Japan's fairness guidelines, NHK offers free air time to all political parties participating in national and regional elections, a service that earlier this month resulted in the leader of the Party to Protect Citizens From NHK, which advocates the elimination of NHK's mandatory viewing fees, appearing on the broadcaster and calling for its destruction.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 13, 2019
Asylum-seekers in Japan are stuck in bureaucratic limbo
At the end of June, a Nigerian man in his 40s died at an immigration detention center in Nagasaki. According to a support group, the man had been on a hunger strike to protest his lengthy confinement, which had continued for more than three years. The detention center has yet to reveal the cause of his death.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jul 6, 2019
Japan faces an uphill battle to reduce plastic consumption
Anyone following recent coverage of the worldwide plastic waste crisis may note a contradiction in the reporting on Japan's place in the discussion. On the one hand, Japan boasts a very high plastic recycling rate owing to local governments' sorting rules, which are some of the strictest in the world. Many countries would benefit from studying Japan's garbage collection and processing practices. On the other hand, the amount of microplastic waste in the seas immediately surrounding Japan is as much as 27 times greater as the amount in the world's oceans on average.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 29, 2019
Japanese politics finds ways to target youth
The Liberal Democratic Party's campaigns to encourage younger generations to take an interest in politics stirs media criticism.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 22, 2019
2020 Tokyo Olympics puts spotlight on animal welfare
The International Olympic Committee sets procurement standards for materials used in conjunction with the games. One of these standards is sustainability, which was first established for the 2012 London Olympics. In terms of meals supplied to athletes and others, ingredients must be produced and harvested using methods that have no negative environmental impact. Seafood should be caught within legal quotas. Fruit and vegetables must not be grown on deforested land.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 15, 2019
Combating an unfounded fear of Japan's recluses
Although the term "hikikomori," which describes people who shun social contact and seek extreme degrees of isolation, has been in common use for several decades, it has taken on a more sinister cast recently as the media has come to view it as a social problem. In the wake of two incidents that have been linked to hikikomori — the stabbings of children and adults at a school bus stop in Kawasaki that resulted in two deaths, and the murder in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, of a middle aged man by his father — the word has suddenly become synonymous with "potential criminal."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 8, 2019
Documentary juxtaposes both sides of contentious debate on 'comfort women'
On May 30, three people held a news conference in Tokyo to speak out against a documentary titled "Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue," which focuses on the rhetorical battle over the women who sexually serviced Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. The participants included Nobukatsu Fujioka, vice chairman of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, which wants history textbooks to reflect the view that the government at the time did not force these women to work in authorized front-line brothels and that they were, in fact, professional prostitutes. This view is disputed by South Korea, where many comfort women were from, as well as by many Japanese scholars.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jun 1, 2019
Lawmaker Hodaka Maruyama's 'war' gaffe puts spotlight on disputed isles
Diet lawmaker Hodaka Maruyama was kicked out of opposition party Nippon Ishin no Kai last month over remarks he made during an exchange excursion to one of the Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Hokkaido that Japan claims as its own. Other opposition parties have demanded he resign and the ruling coalition has submitted a rebuke of his behavior to the Diet. He has apologized but refuses to step down, claiming the right of free speech.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 25, 2019
News outlets debate the ethics behind prenatal testing
Last month, the Diet enacted legislation to pay ¥3.2 million to each person who was sterilized as part of the Eugenic Protection Law passed in 1948. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also said he will apologize to the roughly 25,000 victims on behalf of the state. Many of them feel the amount of money is insufficient — lawsuits demanding more are ongoing — and that the apology is too little too late. The wording of the compensation bill is also problematic, since it isn't specific about the government's responsibility.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 18, 2019
TBS drama misses an opportunity to shine a light on genuine workplace issues
The most common gripe I hear from white-collar employees at Japanese companies is about the fluid meaning of "quitting time." The feeling is that even if a worker has finished their tasks for the day, it is considered bad form to leave the office before their colleagues or supervisors do. There are, of course, no established rules that dictate such conduct, and I hesitate to call it a custom but even after three decades of debate over the question of unnecessary overtime and lost productivity in the Japanese workplace, there is still great hesitancy on the part of employees to go home "on time."
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 11, 2019
JR Hokkaido confronts the harsh realities of financing rail lines in depopulated areas
Privatization of public enterprises is a core tenet of neoliberalism, and probably the most representative domestic development in this regard was the privatization of Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1987. The resulting rail companies, distinguished primarily by region, have demonstrated differing degrees of success. In some cases, especially for new shinkansen lines, they rely on input from the government, which assumed the JNR debt, but the inevitable rationalization that accompanies privatization has affected the domestic rail industry in startling ways, given how central rail culture is to Japanese life.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 4, 2019
Talking trash: The sport of collecting as much waste as possible
Thanks to Netflix, many are familiar with Japanese clutter-buster Marie Kondo and her soothing remedies for the melancholy brought on by conspicuous consumption. Kondo is already a superstar in Japan, where closet sizes barely keep up with snowballing affluence, but she wasn't the first in her field, nor necessarily the most influential. She reportedly now lives in Southern California but occasionally comes back to Japan to oversee her publishing and mentoring empire. A few weeks ago, NHK took advantage of KonMari mania with a show about the ecstasy of organizing, but mainly had to settle for her local acolytes.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 27, 2019
Keeping up appearances in the workplace in Japan
Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc., which employs about 17,000 people, announced earlier this month it would allow office workers to come to work in jeans and sneakers. Factory workers in the company will still be required to wear uniforms and sales staff will still be expected to don business suits as per regulations in the existing dress code but, for everyone else (about 3,700 workers), the choice of clothing is optional — or, optional up to a point. Polo shirts are OK and women are able to wear sleeveless tops, but the new regulations prohibit shorts, T-shirts, sandals or ripped jeans. In fact, the company released photographic examples of what it calls sawayaka (refreshing) style, a play on the beverage maker's advertising catch copy, which still incorporates suit jackets.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2019
NHK docudrama reveals telephone scam tactics
Thai police last month raided a residence in Pattaya where an alleged telephone swindling operation was taking place. They discovered 15 Japanese nationals suspected of calling retired people in Japan and fooling them into purchasing electronic money. Japanese police say they will arrest the suspects after they are deported.
Japanese stripper bids to have her porn movies taken off internet
Plaintiff Miyuki Ariga (left) speaks at a news conference along with her lawyer, Yoshitomo Morohashi, after filing a lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Monday.
Yen’s fragility raises specter of a new currency war in Asia
Suspected intervention to drag the yen off a 34-year low against the dollar is already seen as unlikely to have a lasting effect if Japan continues alone.
Online booking for Mount Fuji climb to open on May 20
Visitors climb the slopes of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest peak at 3,776 meters. From May 20, climbers will have access to a new online booking system for Mount Fuji's most popular Yoshida trail in Yamanashi Prefecture.
In Japan, 68,000 people over 65 projected to die alone at home this year
As Japan grapples with its population's rapid aging, supporting people who live and age alone is looming larger on the policy agenda.
Ex-METI bureaucrat given 10-year sentence for drugging and raping women
The Tokyo District Court on Monday sentenced a former industry ministry bureaucrat to 10 years in prison for drugging six women with sleeping pills and then raping or groping them in 2022.
Ishin struggles to set itself apart from other parties
Nippon Ishin no Kai Secretary-General Fumitake Fujita (right) speaks beside Yui Kanazawa, the party's candidate in the Tokyo 15th district by-election on April 28. Nippon Ishin lost in this by-election as well as another in Nagasaki held on the same day.
In a rare event, the Northern Lights show up in Hokkaido
The Northern Lights in Nayoro, Hokkaido, on Saturday
Is black the new green for Japan’s flagging tea farmers?
George Guttridge-Smith brews tea at Kyoto Obubu Tea Farm in Wazuka, Kyoto Prefecture, where he serves as head of international development.
Japan's logistics firms seek partnerships to cope with driver shortage
Japan Post CEO Tetsuya Senda (right) and his Seino Transportation counterpart Satoshi Takahashi announce their companies' agreement on joint long-haul truck operations, in Tokyo on Thursday.
How the discovery of a giant sword in Nara offers clues into ancient Japan
Archaeologists say a 1,600-year-old wooden coffin at the Tomio Maruyama tumulus in the city of Nara was kept in good condition probably because it was protected by a layer of clay and copper ions that had seeped out of the mirrors that were buried together.

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