In the late 1990s, I did piece work for a public relations company, translating achievement reports into English for its non-Japanese clients. The reports outlined how and where the company had secured mentions of its clients' products in various media, and included equivalent advertising value amounts for each mention.

Most were in print media, but real achievement was measured by how often the company could secure free PR on TV programs, since the presumed advertising value was multiple times what it would be in a magazine or newspaper. TV coverage was more difficult to obtain, requiring close contacts in the broadcast industry and a flair for salesmanship. Contacts and imagination are still important for PR people, but gaining TV coverage isn't as difficult as it used to be. What's become difficult is distinguishing the commercials from the content.

Japanese media have always been tolerant of such overlap. Most travel-and food-oriented shows are predicated on promoting small businesses such as hotels and restaurants; and major corporate sponsors could always count on occasional PR features on variety shows. The coverage was invariably positive, but the only place where the ethical line got fuzzy was on news programs, which tended to go light on the dangers of smoking or studies of automotive safety so as not to offend, respectively, Japan Tobacco, once a major advertiser, or Toyota, until recently one of the biggest ever.