Tag - media-mix

 
 

MEDIA MIX

JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 11, 2003
Bailing the banks while letting the debtors die
Reportedly, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has decided to address suicide, which has becomes something of an epidemic over the past decade as the economy continues its skid into the void.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
May 4, 2003
The Great Sasuke faces up to political reality
Two recent news items prompted an interesting digression in Asahi Shimbun's unattributed "Tensei Jingo" column April 23. Making initially veiled references to Lower House lawmaker Kenshiro Matsunami's alleged links with underworld figures and the election last month of professional wrestler the Great...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 27, 2003
Life is one big show -- at least for Mino
On April 18, TV Asahi premiered a new quiz show called "Thumbs Up," hosted by Monta Mino. Until this show, Asahi was the only commercial network that hadn't hired Mino to helm a regular series, which means the gruff emcee is now approaching omnipresence. He hosts eight prime-time programs a week in addition...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 20, 2003
Looting the media for the best frontline news
Every Japanese TV network has female anchors, but Nippon TV seems to use more women in their news shows than any other. It was also the only commercial Japanese network to have a female "embed" reporting from Iraq. Since there weren't too many embedded women reporters in the first place, she naturally...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 13, 2003
Matsui, Matsui . . . and a little more Matsui
Because of coverage of the invasion of Iraq, it feels as if we're being spared the all-Matsui-all-the-time media blitz we were promised last fall when the former Yomiuri Giants slugger, Hideki Matsui, signed with the New York Yankees. We aren't. Matsui madness is everywhere, but because the war has engaged...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 6, 2003
Selfishness and greed motor the American Dream
Watching the war in Iraq from the vantage point of Japan, you don't get as much of the propaganda-like white noise that accompanies the coverage if you're watching it from the United States or the Middle East. But that doesn't mean you get less information.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 30, 2003
War in Iraq puts Ishihara on the defensive
When Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara finally announced March 7 his intention to run for re-election, some people in the media speculated that it was the end of the colorful politician-novelist's aspirations for national office.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 23, 2003
Japan's dumb leaders fail to exercise tongues
In the weeks leading up to the invasion of Iraq, it was common for reporters throughout the world to sample public opinion about it. As journalism, man-on-the-street interviews are more or less a sideshow, since, depending on the country, they offer little of substance in terms of information. Americans,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 16, 2003
'Bogus' theme parks becoming the last resort
On Jan. 23, Tokyo Disneyland held a preview event for the media in anticipation of the park's 20th anniversary, which will be celebrated April 15. About 1,400 celebrity guests showed up trailed by 50 camera crews, all from domestic television stations, which means that most of them were from outside...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 9, 2003
Yayori Matsui's legacy lives on -- as intended
Last weekend, a memorial gathering was held in Waseda for Yayori Matsui, the former Asahi Shimbun reporter and women's rights advocate, who died in December from liver cancer at the age of 68. A proper funeral service had been held two months earlier at the Shibuya church founded by Matsui's minister...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Mar 2, 2003
In pursuit of 'reality,' TV sinks to new depths
Last week, a judge ruled in favor of NHK in the public broadcaster's libel suit against Kodansha. The publisher's monthly magazine Gendai ran an article in Oct. 2000 that said NHK persuaded fishermen in Indonesia to re-create a method for catching fish involving explosives for a news report. The court...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 23, 2003
You can be yourself, but not be understood
Identity has as much to do with socialization as it does with the circumstances surrounding one's birth. But since gender is considered an absolute, it has become the test of a society's willingness to allow its members to identify themselves. Except for hermaphrodites, humans are either male or female,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 16, 2003
Don't be too quick to jump on the bondwagon
Two weeks ago, post offices and financial institutions began taking orders for new Japanese government bonds targeted exclusively at individuals and set to go on sale March 10. Post offices immediately booked sales for all 50 billion yen worth of bonds they were entrusted with, and the remaining 280...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 9, 2003
Yasukuni issue going to the dogs in Japan
When Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was in Moscow last month to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he found he had a little time on his hands. According to reports in several weeklies, Koizumi originally planned to spend one day in the Siberian city of Khabarovsk talking to North Korean leader...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Feb 2, 2003
Can 007 fire up the Japanese on N. Korea?
As North Korea's threatening bluster continues to make international headlines, it seems almost bizarre that Japan, which would be in direct physical peril if a conflict erupted on the Korean Peninsula, has its mind on something else, namely Japanese citizens abducted by North Korean agents. Though important,...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 26, 2003
It's time Japan woke up to refugee problem
The Foreign Ministry's lack of a coherent policy with regard to North Korea was obvious back in autumn, when public opinion forced the government to renege on its promise to Pyongyang that the five Japanese abductees would return to the communist nation after a two-week visit to Japan. The five are now...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 19, 2003
Amateurish TV? Well let it be, just let it be
The Jan. 16 issue of Shukan Bunshun carries an article that lists and describes the 10 worst TV specials broadcast during the New Year's holidays. Coming up with a Worst 10 is not difficult, since practically any special broadcast during the New Year's break could qualify for a list of the 10 Worst Programs...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 12, 2003
It's no joke scripting a sitcom in Japan
When the six cast members of the hit American comedy series "Friends" recently agreed to a 10th season, no one was really surprised, even though the six had implied that the present season would be their last.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Jan 5, 2003
You saw it! The gongs and goofs of 2002
Media Personalities of the Year: Koichi Tanaka and Tama-chan
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 22, 2002
Trial judge completes the vicious circle in curry-poisoning case
Exactly four years ago in this column, I wrote that, egged on by the media, which had already tried and convicted Masumi Hayashi for murder in the Wakayama Curry Poisoning Incident even before she was arrested, "the police . . . proudly announced that they have enough circumstantial evidence to convince...

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