Category Archives: Media

Media watch: Koike again refuses to acknowledge Korean massacre

Posted on August 28, 2024 by philipbrasor

Sept. 1 marks the 101st anniversary of the Great Kanto Earthquake, and for the eighth year in a row, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike will not send a message of condolence to a group that holds a memorial ceremony for the … Continue reading →

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Media watch: NHK critiques atomic bombing through dramatic proxy

Posted on August 25, 2024 by philipbrasor

Last week I interviewed a Japanese journalist for an industry publication about Japanese content sales overseas, in particular Japanese TV dramas. I brought up the current NHK morning drama series, or “asadora,” which is aired every weekday for 15 minutes … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Japan’s selective history on display again with new UNESCO World Heritage site

Posted on August 2, 2024 by philipbrasor

On July 27, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee agreed to register the Sado Island Gold Mines off the coast of Niigata Prefecture as a World Heritage Site, the 26th for Japan. Sado was at one time the largest gold mine … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Korean and Japanese groups set to excavate disaster site with or without the government’s permission

Posted on July 22, 2024 by philipbrasor

In February 2022, we posted a piece about the 1942 Chosei coal mine disaster in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which killed 183 workers, 136 of them Koreans who had been brought to Japan. A local group was formed in 1991 and … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Ministry throws cold water on local government’s registration of same sex couple

Posted on July 14, 2024 by philipbrasor

In May, a same sex couple made news when the city of Omura in Nagasaki Prefecture allowed them to be indicated as the equivalent of a common law couple in their resident certificate, or juminhyo. It is the first time … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Will the new bills make their own existence unnecessary?

Posted on July 1, 2024 by philipbrasor

On July 3, the Bank of Japan will start circulating new paper currency, which is something it does every 20 years or so. The ostensible reason is to check counterfeiting, a Sisyphean task since the fact that the bank has … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Residential streets finally recognized as war zones by the police

Posted on June 4, 2024 by philipbrasor

Last month, the National Police Agency announced it would halve vehicular speed limits on so-called seikatsu doro, meaning residential streets. In particular, the new limits would cover roads that pass through residential neighborhoods and which don’t have center lines or … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Japan contends with the consequences of a sellers’ job market

Posted on May 30, 2024 by philipbrasor

A front page story in the May 25 print edition of the Asahi Shimbun reported that the overwhelming recruitment rate for new graduates continued this spring, with 98.1 percent of people graduating from universities in 2024 securing work, the highest … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Five years in, how does Naruhito stack up to his father?

Posted on April 22, 2024 by philipbrasor

On March 22, Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako visited victims of the New Year’s Day earthquake that struck the Noto Peninsula on the Japan Sea coast. It was the couple’s second visit to a disaster area since Naruhito ascended to … Continue reading →

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Media watch: Mainstream press again decides Koike’s possibly fraudulent c.v. isn’t news

Posted on April 15, 2024 by philipbrasor

Back in 2020, shortly before Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike ran for a second term, a journalist named Taeko Ishii came out with a book about Koike called Jotei (Empress) that became an instant best-seller. Ishii included an interview with a … Continue reading →

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