Tag - media-mix

 
 

MEDIA MIX

Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 19, 2014
Can a solo career help a mascot stand out?
Several weeks ago Fuji TV's morning news show sent a reporter to the Gunma Prefecture "antenna shop" located across the street from the Kabukiza theater in Tokyo's Ginza district. The store, which sells products made in Gunma, pays ¥64 million a year in rent for the small two-floor space, and an independent...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 12, 2014
Loss of after-school program in Osaka will hurt poor kids
In February, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was castigated by local media for keeping public schools open during a snowstorm. One of his reasons for not closing schools was that many parents relied on them not only to look after their kids during the day, but also to feed them. The U.S. Department of...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 5, 2014
Fallout from the tax rise may hit in surprising ways
Prior to the consumption tax increase last Tuesday, from 5 percent to 8 percent, Japanese consumers were spending to beat the band. The local business magazine Economist (not to be confused with the English language newsweekly) reports that ¥4 trillion was spent on goods and services in recent months...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 29, 2014
Fashion takes a baby step in right direction
The fashion industry has been criticized for promoting impossible body images by pressuring models, directly or indirectly, to remain as skinny as possible. Nevertheless, so-called plus-size models have become well-represented in the industry over the past 30 years. In the beginning, it was a necessary...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 22, 2014
Waiting for the death-penalty debate that never comes
The media breathlessly cover murder trials and profile suspects who face the death penalty, but once a sentence is handed down, they fall back.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 15, 2014
Olympics highlight the need for foreign blue-collar laborers
In a recent column, Tokyo Shimbun sportswriter Masaru Ogawa called on past and future Olympic athletes to come forward and talk about what he sees as the biggest problem facing the Tokyo 2020 Games: lack of construction workers. Next year, work on venues will start in earnest, but Japan is already burdened...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 8, 2014
Media complicit in normalizing xenophobia
Since Japanese reporters are averse to characterizing domestic right-wing positions as being extreme, those positions come across as being normal, even sensible.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 1, 2014
Trite TV drama about children's home misses a chance to edify and entertain
Groups including the National Council for Children's Group Homes and Jikei Hospital in Kumamoto have accused NTV of 'violating human rights' and displaying 'prejudice against the children as well as the staff who are working in these childcare institutions.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 22, 2014
Japan takes baby steps toward a proper debate about animal rights
On Jan. 10, convenience store chain Family Mart started selling a new bentō (boxed lunch) with a heavy-duty name to complement its hefty ¥600 price: Famima Premium Koroge Wagyu-iri Hamburger Bento, which "contains" high-quality Japanese ground beef. For an added touch of extravagance, it also came...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 15, 2014
Samuragochi scandal shows that tin-eared classical music fans can be suckers for stories
What makes Mamoru Samuragochi's story interesting is not that he got away with his subterfuge for so long, but that the media, the public and even professional musicians accepted the story as being proof of his value as an artist.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 8, 2014
NHK drama takes a wild stab at a dying art
The hero of 'Uzumasa Limelight' has made his living for half a century as a kirare-yaku in sword-fighting movies. Kirare-yaku have a specific role: Their job is to die on screen.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 1, 2014
Paternity testing opens up a world of hurt for families — and family courts
The paternity test procedure can now cost as little as ¥30,000, which means it's affordable to anyone. Recently, an increasing number of Japanese men have been carrying out DNA testing on their children, usually because they suspect their wives of cheating.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 25, 2014
Nuke issue could restore power to the regions
The LDP fears that if Morihiro Hosokawa successfully taps anti-nuclear sentiment among Tokyoites and wins the gubernatorial election, the movement could spread to areas across the country that host nuclear plants.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 18, 2014
Akie Abe opines but knows her place in his story
It's no secret that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's most valuable public relations resource at the moment is his wife, Akie, whose candor contrasts vividly with the demure demeanor of most Japanese leaders' wives. The weekly magazine Aera has suggested that Akie's press ubiquity has been strategic in nature,...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 11, 2014
Dire quake forecasts fail to stir a numb public
Is there a level of fear above which the mind reflexively retreats from imagining the worst? The Great East Japan Earthquake was often described as being 'beyond imagination,' and the art and science of projecting future catastrophes has had to adjust accordingly.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 4, 2014
Slippery slope to Yasukuni, Nago oiled by lucre
As with the Yasukuni story, most of the commentary on Okinawa base relocation deal focused on its contentious nature, but also like the Yasukuni story, the main impetus behind the actions reported was economic.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 28, 2013
Names of 2013 we're unlikely to forget
Social media continues to undermine the influence of the more traditional kind exemplified by television and print publications, so my choices of most notable public phenomena of 2013 are qualified by the notion that maybe people aren't paying as much attention to them as I might think.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 21, 2013
A confused future for our baby boomers
No generation in the history of mankind is more reviled than that of the baby boomers, who grew up during the age of mass media. Raised on TV and glossy magazines, they connected to a world their parents knew almost nothing about, and with that experience turned from youthful explorers of expanded possibilities...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 14, 2013
TPP offers early test of how far secrets law will cow Japan's media
Journalist Toshihiro Yamanaka characterizes the TPP talks as 'the most secretive trade negotiations to take place since the end of the 19th century,' an observation supported by classified documents recently released by WikiLeaks showing how the U.S. is pressuring all countries involved in TPP to make sure details of the talks are kept from the public.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 7, 2013
Emperor's apparent liberal leanings jar with Japan's right wing
Whereas liberals tend to be fond of the Emperor because he appeals to their own progressive leanings, genuine right-wingers have no use for the kind of open-mindedness the Emperor occasionally demonstrates.

Longform

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