Won't #479 - "kisha club" journalism

During the most critical times of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, one could not trust any of the media outlets for reliable information. On the foreign side, there was alarmist reporting and a zeal for whipping up the greatest drama. On the Japanese side, there is a long history of "journalism" which is about telling the population what the bureaucracy and government wants them to hear rather than the truth. All countries have components of the kisha club in their press club gatherings, but the Japanese press is, by far, the most cooperative when it comes to doing what those who they report on want them to do rather than telling people the truth that they need to hear. I relied on individuals peppered throughout the country with Geiger counters who posted daily on Twitter and gave up on all news reporting worldwide because I knew one side was doing its best to scaremonger and the other to downplay the danger.

In the West, there are so many people and so much competition among media outlets, that the possibility of withholding important news is far smaller than it is in Japan. I won't miss the fact that the media outlets cannot be trusted to share important information relating to the safety and well-being of the population.

Won't Miss #445 - banal imperial family news

A recent headline asserted that the Emperor played tennis for the first time since his heart bypass operation. This is what passes for news in Japan when it comes to the royal family because the mainstream press is strictly controlled in regards to what they can say about them. They cannot criticize them (like how wasteful the imperial system is and how it does nothing for Japan) and they cannot talk about juicy scandalous things (like the troubled life of Princess Masako as an unhappy bird in a gilded cage). Banal bits of mundane information are offered up as if they have significance. I wouldn't be surprised if one day we'll read about how he had a bowel movement after several days of constipation.

The way in which the life of the imperial family is talked about in Japan demonstrates their status as an anachronism. They serve no real role in Japanese society, not even as a model of Japanese culture or character because they can only be seen and spoken of in a limited and pointless fashion. I won't miss this sort of news and what it means on a deeper level, and that is that any potential that they have as social or cultural leaders is smothered by a desire to protect and control their image and perceptions of their power.