04.05.05
Movie Company Scoops Up Outstanding Shares in Fuji TV

From UCLA Asia Media: A top stakeholder in Fuji Television Network upped its shares to more than 7 percent on April 4, apparently answering the company’s call to stave off a Livedoor Co. takeover. Toho Co., a major movie distributor and producer in Japan, bought 1.4 percent of the outstanding shares in Fuji TV to become the TV network’s third-largest investor. Livedoor, an Internet service provider, recently achieved its hostile takeover bid for Nippon Broadcasting System Inc., which, like Fuji TV, is a major asset of the Fujisankei media group.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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04.03.05
NHK Replaces Entire Board of Directors

From Daily Yomiuri: On April 1, NHK President Genichi Hashimoto declared a new board of directors for the public broadcaster following an emergency session he called with the station’s management committee. According to Hashimoto, the quickness and unusual method of the replacement showed that the broadcaster was “caked with mud.” A number of scandals involving NHK employees caused many subscribers to stop paying their viewing fees. The new board of directors consists of all new faces, which indicates an attempt to rebuild viewers’ trust. All the board members under former NHK President Katsuji Ebisawa are now gone. In addition, Hashimoto appointed Toyohiko Harada, chief of NHK’s Nagoya bureau, who had reportedly distanced himself from Ebisawa. Critics say that replacing members of the board does not represent a total transformation of the public broadcaster. As Hashimoto pointed out, the pressing issue that some viewers pay the fee while others refuse still remains to be solved.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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04.01.05
Asahi Censors Ad Accusing Paper of ‘Checkbook Journalism’

From The Japan Times: A partly blacked-out, quarter-page advertisement for a new weekly issue of Shukan Bunshun was published in the March 31 issue of The Asahi Shimbun. The magazine issue’s main story accused Asahi of “checkbook journalism” for accepting money from consumer loan company Takefuji Corp. to publish a year-long series of articles. Shukan Bunshun’s original headline read “People call it black journalism, 50 million yen that Asahi Shimbun received from Takefuji in ‘backdoor ad fee,’” and ran in many other major dailies. The ad in Asahi appeared without the phrase “People call it black journalism.” The newspaper says it does publish ads that defame its articles only when it considers them to be appropriate. Asahi’s advertising department requested that Shukan Bunshun change the headline, but the magazine declined, which resulted in the blacked-out passage by Asahi’s ad agency. Asahi admitted that it used 50 million yen ($460,000) from Takefuji for a series of articles in its weekly magazine, Shukan Asahi, from 2000 to 2001 without revealing the sponsor. But the newspaper claimed the Shukan Bunshun’s accusations were baseless. In response, Shukan Bunshun said, “The attitude of rejecting reports of facts that are unfavorable to the company could lead to the suppression of the freedom of speech and expression.”
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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03.31.05
Livedoor, NBS Meet; 3 NBS Board Members Quit

From Kyodo News via Japan Today: Nippon Broadcasting Systems (NBS) reported that three board members have left the company for “personal reasons.” Some critics are speculating that they may have quit in response to Internet service provider Livedoor Co. gaining a controlling stake in the company, according to Kyodo News.
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The Yomiuri Shimbun reported Wednesay that Livedoor President Takafumi Horie and NBS President Akinobu Kamebuchi met Tuesday for the first official talks since Livedoor purchased a controlling stake in NBS on Feb. 8. The meeting was reportedly held at the request of Livedoor. Sources also said that NBS, though it agreed to the meeting, would like to continue its relationship with Fujisankei Communications Group.
–By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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03.29.05
Rail Company and Bank Plan All-In-One IC Card

From The Japan Times: East Japan Railway Co. and Mizuho Bank announced a joint venture Monday, an integrated circuit (IC) card with debit and credit features that also doubles as a train ticket. The two companies said the new Mizuho Suica card can be linked to Mizuho savings accounts and used at View Altte ATMs in Japan Railway East stations. Train fares can be purchased and added like a debit card. IC tag technology is growing swiftly in popularity in Japan and has previously been introduced in food quality control, crime prevention, ticket sales and identification cards.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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03.26.05
Companies Join Blogosphere to Promote Products

From The Yomiuri Shimbun: Japanese companies like Nissan and toymaker Sanrio are blogging to promote their products in a casual, accessible style. Nissan’s temporary blog project promoting a new car became a marketing tool after it received more hits than expected. And Sanrio’s famous cartoon character Hello Kitty has even connected with fans on a blog. Tokyo-based eNatural’s blogging service caters to corporations and has seen a spike in interest in business blogs over the past few months, said eNatural President Shinya Saito. Blogs are also said to be helpful to small companies because they are simple to maintain, cut Web site costs and provide in-house communication. Company blogs have made use of features like the track back function, which directs people to information of interest on other blogs.
— By Japan Media Review Managing Editor Shellie Branco
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03.25.05
Softbank Company Steps In to Help Fuji TV

From The Japan Times: An affiliate of Softbank Corp. turned into a white knight for Nippon Broadcasting and Fuji TV by buying the largest stake in the broadcaster on March 24, putting a hold on a controversial takeover by Internet portal Livedoor. Only a day before, Livedoor had enjoyed a small victory when the Tokyo High Court stopped NBS from issuing share warrants to Fuji TV in order to fend off a takeover. “In order to strengthen ties among partners, NBS will lend its Fuji TV shares to Softbank Investment,” the three corporations said in a joint statement. Softbank Investment’s chief executive officer, Yoshitaka Kitao, was firm in saying Softbank Corp. was not involved in the deal. The companies said they would put 20 billion yen into investments in media content startups.
–By Japan Media Review Managing Editor Shellie Branco
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03.21.05
Popular Cell Phone Novels Connect Authors, Readers

From AP via The San Francisco Examiner: Several mobile Web sites are catering to the next emerging mobile culture in Japan: literature on cell phones. Hundreds of novels, including classics, best sellers and new works written only for cell phone users, are available online. Readers can read a few lines of a book at a time, which are downloaded in short segments. Bandai Networks Co. Ltd., a mobile service provider, launched a mobile e-book service in 2003 and carries 150 books with some 50,000 subscribers on its Web site “Bunko Yomihodai” (“All You Can Read Paperbacks”). Readers can search books by author, title or genre on the site as well as post reviews and send fan mail or ideas to authors through their cell phones. A recent marketing survey by Bandai reported more than half of readers are female and most reading is done at home. A novel titled “Deep Love,” originally posted on a minor mobile site, became popular through word of mouth among young readers. That resulted in a film and TV show deals, as well as a comic book and printed novel that sold about 2.6 million copies. An executive producer at Starts Publishing Corp., which published “Deep Love,” points out that cell phone publishing has formed a new kind of entertainment because of its interactive nature.
–By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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03.19.05
NHK Cell Phone Site Posts False Disaster News

From Mainichi Daily News: Public broadcaster NHK accidentally posted false disaster information during a system test on a news site accessed by thousands of cell phone users. For some 20 hours between March 18 and 19, users accessing the site’s tsunami information section could see postings on mock train accidents, such as “[Japan Rail] line tracks in all parts of the Metropolitan area are on fire,” and “Shinjuku station has collapsed.” The broadcaster failed to terminate its test system, leaving the information displayed on the site. While NHK took action after receiving a user’s query 13 minutes after the last test, many people could still access the information until noon the following day. An NHK representative apologized for the mistake, saying the broadcaster would try to avoid another accident.
–By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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03.16.05
NHK Budget Passes Despite Outcry Over Scandals

From The Asahi Shimbun: The Japanese legislature passed scandal-plagued NHK’s 2005 budget despite opposition from three political parties and the broadcaster’s worries that more of its subscribers could flee. NHK stands to lose billions of yen if up to 700,000 viewers refuse to pay mandatory fees by month’s end, as the broadcaster has projected. The number of nonpayers increased by more than 150,000 over February, according to figures from NHK executive Sosuke Nakayama. Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan), the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Communist Party dismissed NHK’s explanation of a scandal over a documentary allegedly altered over political pressure. The broadcaster’s slow handling of the situation brought more trouble, as did another scandal in which NHK employees misused viewer funds. While in the past it was standard for the parties to unanimously approve NHK’s budget, only the powerful Liberal Democratic Party pushed the budget through. NHK plans to cut salaries and production costs to handle its financial troubles.
–By Japan Media Review Managing Editor Shellie Branco
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03.15.05
Fuji TV, Livedoor Spat a Historical Power Play in Making

From The Asahi Shimbun: Fuji Television Network’s “scorched earth” strategy — dumping company assets to become a less attractive acquisition for Internet portal Livedoor Co. — may be a sign of the Net gaining dominance over other media, according to Asahi’s “Vox Populi, Vox Dei” column. A court ruling stopped takeover target Nippon Broadcasting from issuing equity warrants to shareholder Fuji, but Fuji’s board of directors plans to raise its stock price as one strategy to shield itself from a takeover, according to an article in The Japan Times. It’s a generational power struggle between Livedoor and the established broadcaster, following a historical pattern of media power plays, “Vox Populi” notes. Newspapers, once the most powerful medium, lost their dominance and became relatively equal in influence to TV after World War II. The Internet may do the same to TV’s reach, although consumers will decide upon such an outcome according to the services the two media offer. It’s still up in the air whether the outcome will revolutionize entire industries.
–By Japan Media Review Managing Editor Shellie Branco
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03.10.05
Japanese Companies Compete Over Powerline Internet

From Reuters: Three Japanese electronics manufacturers are competing with an alliance of 50 global companies to provide high speed Internet through electricity power lines in homes. Through their own SECA powerline alliance, Sony, Mitsubishi and Matsushita (Panasonic) have developed an alternative network that is three times faster and more stable than wireless Internet. Competing alliance HomePlug, which includes Japanese company Sharp, uses a standard that is not compatible with SECA and only uses 14 Megabits per second compared to SECA’s 170 Mbps. HomePlug is said to be building a faster product. Sony is also part of the HomePlug alliance, but didn’t comment on whether it would be part of both. SECA’s introduction to the market now depends on government approval, said Panasonic researcher Ingo Chmielewski at the CeBIT electronics trade fair.
–By Japan Media Review Managing Editor Shellie Branco
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03.10.05
Former NHK Producer Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement

From The Japan Times: A former NHK chief producer pled guilty for stealing 19 million yen ($182,000) from the public broadcaster between 2000 and 2001. According to prosecutors at the Tokyo District Court trial on March 9, former employee Katsumi Isono embezzled money from the broadcaster by claiming to pay for fake program scripts written by entertainment company president Hisayuki Uehara, who also pled guilty as an accessory to the crime. Prosecutors said Isono fabricated the scam to finance an extra-marital relationship, while Uehara used his share to cover financial problems. In addition, Isono, fired earlier this month, has been prosecuted in three other cases for taking 38.9 million yen ($373,000) total from NHK. The company’s own investigation found that Isono had committed fraud equalling 100 million yen ($960,000). “I loved my job in the broadcasting business,” Isono said in court. “But I lost everything because I lacked consciousness of norms.” He acknowledged that the fraud damaged viewers’ trust in NHK. A series of frauds within the broadcaster has led hundreds of thousands of viewers to refuse payment of their mandatory viewer fees.
–By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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03.09.05
Internet Drastically Alters Job Hunting

From Japan Today via Kyodo News: According to the Japan Business Federation, more than 60 percent of major companies accept online applications, and more companies now offer initial exams via the Internet. More students use specialized job-hunting Web sites as more than more than 80 percent of companies have contracts with those sites. Six thousand companies offer information on Recnavi, one of 10 job-search sites run by Recruit Co., to which the popularity of the Internet has brought more applicants. For instance, Fujitsu, a world-wide information technology corporation, has received 80,000 applicants, three times more than before, and Shiseido Co., a cosmetics company, has received 40,000 applications, 10 times more than usual. The online process has shown downsides, however. “Information obtained by using the five senses is several times more valuable than Internet information,” said an official from Tokio Marine and Nichido Fire Insurance Co. An official at the Japan Business Federation echoed, “Really good personnel cannot be hired with employment dependent on information technology.”
–By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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03.08.05
Fuji TV Wins Management Control

From The Asahi Shimbun: Fuji Television Network announced today the company had secured more than 36 percent of Nippon Broadcasting Systems stock, giving it the sought-after veto power the company needed to keep Livedoor Co. at bay. The companies now await a court decision to be announced sometime this week filed by Livedoor. The Internet service provider requested that a judge stop Nippon Broadcasting from issuing additional stock shares, which would reduce Livedoor’s stake from 45 percent to less than 20 percent. If the judge agrees with Livedoor’s arguments, no more shares will be issued and Fuji TV and Livedoor will have equal shares in Nippon Broadcasting, effectively neutralizing each other’s voting rights. Senior Livedoor officials said they plan to continue buying stock in Nippon Broadcasting until they reach their goal of 50 percent ownership. Even if Livedoor achieves its goal, Fuji TV will still wield veto power because it owns more than 33 percent of the overall stock. Livedoor has been engaged in a public fight over Nippon Broadcasting with Fuji TV since February when the online company made a surprise after-hours bid for NBS shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
–By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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03.05.05
Blogs Blossom in Japan With Cash Rewards

From The Asahi Shimbun: Blogging is a rapidly growing trend in Japan. According to new surveys, 93.7 percent of Japanese Internet users were not aware of blogs as of February 2004, but by November of the same year, 60 percent had heard of blogs. Now the number of bloggers in Japan is estimated at 1 million. While most bloggers write their personal journals for fun and not for pay, blog-hosting firm Ameba Blog rewards its most popular blog sites with cash prizes. Known by the nickname “Kazuma,” a 32-year-old blogger who published the true story of his controlling wife earned 1.34 million yen ($12,800) in awards in four months. Shin Suda, creative director at Cyber Agent, an Internet advertising firm that launched Ameba Blog, explained that the late-comer blog-hosting company needed unique features so they came up with a monetary prize system that “lets bloggers compete among themselves.” Ameba Books, an affiliated firm specializing in publishing online content in book format, decided to print Kazuma’s popular online diary. The book has sold more than 50,000 copies so far. “The Internet and books are very different formats with different audiences,” said Suda. “It’s very tiresome to read long transcripts on the computer, whereas it’s very nice to have a solid book by your side you can turn to whenever you want.”
–By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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03.02.05
Commentary: Political Interference Threatens NHK

From The Asahi Shimbun: NHK’s attitude toward its recent scandals might encourage political interference, which could ultimately infringe on the freedoms of speech and press, says Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) Lower House member Yoko Komiyama. A former NHK announcer, Komiyama still believes that viewer-funded NHK is the only broadcast station that can produce quality programming without bowing to outside pressures. But the station’s embezzlement scandal and controversy surrounding its Dec. 19 on-air apology illustrate NHK’s problem is deeply rooted, she says. Komiyama suggests NHK’s managing committee should be changed drastically to function better. She also fears that if NHK fails to make any fundamental reforms, politicians might step in, because “politics is always looking for a chance to regulate the media.”
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.26.05
Net Entrepreneur Bucks Old Media Power Structure

From Yahoo Asia News via AP: Takafumi Horie, president of Livedoor Co. Ltd., an Internet service provider that maintains news and blogging sites, has altered the traditional media structure in Japan with his ambition to take over radio station Nippon Broadcasting System Inc. Horie, 32, now has a 38 percent stake in Nippon Broadcasting. If he ups his stakes, he could earn the privilege to affect management decisions at major TV company Fuji Television Network Inc. In Japan, where takeovers are uncommon, owning more than one-third of a company’s stock gives an investor a controlling interest. In response, Fuji TV and Nippon Broadcasting made an atypical arrangement to issue new shares for the radio station that Fuji TV would purchase to give it a 70 percent stake, reducing Livedoor’s share to 16 percent. Horie, who requested a court order from Tokyo District Court to halt the issuing of new Nippon Broadcasting shares, has appeared on many TV talk shows, but not on Fuji TV. Although politicians have described Horie as a greedy entrepreneur, Tatsuo Inamasu, a professor who specializes in media culture at Hosei University, says, “It’s great someone like this has appeared on the scene and dealt a big punch to an old-boys network.” Late last year, Horie revealed his intentions to the AP, saying, “Buying a media company is what we’re really after, and reshaping the Japanese mass media is our story.”
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.24.05
Viewers Call for NHK Fee System Reform

From The Asahi Shimbun: Scholars and citizen groups are requesting that NHK change its fee system after some 400,000 households declined to make their payments by the end of January. After the disclosure of a series of scandals involving NHK employees’ misuse of funds, many viewers started refusing to pay their fees, but the fairness of the fee system itself has been in question for some time. Takaaki Hattori, a media law professor at Rikkyo University, acknowledged there is no good alternative to public TV viewer fees, including pay TV or taxation. Hattori pointed out that NHK should re-examine its policies, such as “the distance it maintains from the political establishment, as it moves toward a streamlining path that would include a reduction in the number of channels it operates.” A citizen group, led by Satoshi Daigo, a finance professor at the University of Tokyo, said that until NHK puts a provision that prevents any disclosure to politicians about programming before airing, the group will continue withholding payment of viewer fees. While TV owners at home and in offices are required by the Broadcast Law to sign contracts with NHK, those who do not sign or decline to pay the fees are not penalized. The percentage of households that signed contracts has fallen since 1995, NHK officials said. By 2003, one out of every five households did not sign a contract. Media producer Yoshihiko Muraki suggested the viewer fee system should become voluntary for those who want to watch NHK.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.22.05
Community Security System Will Track Children Electronically

From The Yomiuri Shimbun via Asia News Network: Integrated circuit tags, normally used to track food products in Japan, will now be tested in protecting children from violent crimes. Tokyo-based NTT Data Corp. announced they are conducting a trial of the devices on 300 schoolchildren in the Aoba Ward, Yokohama between April and July. The new safety system’s design enables children to contact their parents, security companies and local residents through cell phone e-mails sent by the IC tag at the push of a button. When a child signals distress, a radio signal will notify a nearby volunteer with an e-mail containing information such as the student’s name and physical description. The devices, 6 centimeters long, 3 centimeters wide and 1 centimeter thick, emit radio waves that will be picked up by the 30 receivers set up for the trial. The handheld devices have a 15-meter range. Parents will also be able to freely track children located within the network of receivers on the Internet.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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02.22.05
Cell Phone Will Adopt Popular Smart Card For Train Fares

From Associated Press via CNN: NTT DoCoMo, Sony Corp. and East Japan Railway announced that cell phone users will be able to pay for train tickets with their handsets instead of the popular Suica smart cards starting January 2006. The Suica electronic system, used by about 10 million Japanese to buy train fares without using coins, contains Sony’s IC chip technology, known as FeliCa. DoCoMo has already sold more than 2 million FeliCa handsets that can be used to make payments in some stores. But the well-accepted Suica service introduced three years ago will not debut on the handsets yet as there have been compatibility problems with the phones. The three companies will experiment with the new service in March with FeliCa Networks Inc., hoping to gain 1 million users next year. In the future the Suica-equipped cell phones can be used for online shopping and ticket reservations in addition to payments at restaurants and convenience stores. The combination of Suica and cell phones is expected to enhance IC chip usage in Japan, where more people use cell phones than anywhere in the world for Internet-related features, such as e-mail, news and restaurant guides.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.21.05
Community FM Radio Broadcasts GSDF’s Voice From Iraq

From The Asahi Shimbun: Yoshioki Jin, a rice dealer in Sapporo, Hokkaido, has attracted listeners to his radio program that airs a 10-minute conversation with members of the Ground Self-Defense Force dispatched to Iraq. The program, started last June, broadcasts through Radio Karos Sapporo, a community FM-radio station. The interest in the show is high, particularly in Sapporo where 350 locals were sent to the Iraqi city of Samawah out of a total of 460 GSDF members in the country as of early summer 2004. Jin, who joined the Defense Academy in his youth and believes GSDF activities should be limited to reconstruction aid, was determined to “report on the real voices” from Iraq and “put a face” to the anonymous 350 people dispatched to Iraq last spring. An example of the weekly conversations includes one with a GSDF member speaking of a sense of accomplishment after the national assembly election in Iraq in January. Even after members of the Hokkaido unit came back last September, Jin’s radio program maintained its popularity, and 24 other FM stations in Hokkaido and Tohoku decided to broadcast it. “There are definitely more people out there who are determined to find out things for themselves and give serious thought to the Iraq issue,” Jin said.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.18.05
Internet and TV Ads Show Strong Growth in 2004

From The Japan Times: According to Dentsu Inc., advertising spending in Japan increased in 2004, particularly in TV and Internet advertising, the first growth in four years. Total ad expenditures increased 3 percent from the previous year to 5.86 trillion yen ($55.6 billion), 62.8 percent of which consisted of media advertising. Dentsu associated the rise in TV and Internet advertising to a recovery from the recession, bringing greater demand for advertisements. TV ad spending showed a 4.9 percent increase, while newspaper advertising added 0.6 percent for the first increase in four years. Web advertising enjoyed a 53.3 percent growth due to the popularity of broadband services among Internet users. The Internet became the fourth-largest medium for advertisements after TV, newspapers and magazines, surpassing radio.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.17.05
Toshiba Technology Allows Remote PC Access From Wireless Phone

From Mobile Pipeline News: New software from Toshiba will enable users to log on to their Windows desktop from a cell phone, according to the Associated Press. Subscribers to Japanese wireless company KDDI’s 3G service will have access to Toshiba’s Ubiquitous Viewer software beginning in March. Once the program is installed on both the phone and computer, users can remotely send and receive e-mail and reboot their PC.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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02.17.05
NTT DoCoMo Ditches Money-Losing PHS Business

From Yahoo Asia News via Reuters: Japan’s largest mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo, will terminate its unprofitable personal handyphone system (PHS) service in two to three years to concentrate on the mobile phone business, reported Nihon Keizai Shimbun. PHS is a simpler and cheaper wireless phone service that operates within a smaller area than a traditional cell phone. DoCoMo started the PHS business in 1998, but as mainstream cell phone services became less expensive and expanded their functions, the company lost PHS subscribers. More than 1 million users subscribed to NTT DoCoMo’s PHS service as of January 2005, though the company lost 230,000 subscribers from the previous year. The company’s financial loss from the PHS service was 35.5 billion yen ($336 million) in the year ended March 2004, reported the business daily. NTT DoCoMo, the second-largest PHS service provider, will no longer accept new subscribers for PHS starting in April, which leaves No.1 Willcom Inc. as the only PHS provider for nationwide service. DoCoMo expects to lose 60 billion yen ($569 million) as it shuts down the PHS operation over the next month.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Keiko Mori
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02.11.05
Critics Question NHK’s Mission

From AsiaMedia: In light of the recent string of scandals at NHK, critics are beginning to doubt the public broadcaster’s effectiveness and purpose. Established in 1950 under the Broadcast Law and funded by mandatory public viewer fees, NHK was intended to improve the nation’s broadcast technology and offer “high-quality broadcast programs for the public welfare,” while remaining politically neutral. Former NHK foreign correspondent Steve Herman said NHK was integral to establishing the level and range of media coverage in Japan today, but that its purpose is now “obsolete.” Privatization of the station would improve its image and regain lost public trust, Herman said. NHK’s Los Angeles bureau chief, Takachi Ichinose, said NHK’s mission is still important as Japan’s sole public broadcaster.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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02.08.05
Group Urges Subscribers Not to Pay NHK Fees

From Japan Today: A newly formed group calling for political neutrality at NHK is urging subscribers to withhold viewing fees unless the station stops informing politicians about programming content before broadcasting. The group of academics and citizens said members will refuse to pay their fees unless NHK meets their demands by March 7. NHK said they have “urged such people to stop the actions,” which they call “extremely regrettable.” The viewers’ group formed in the aftermath of the recent scandal in which an NHK producer announced the broadcaster had edited a 2001 program on Japan’s wartime sex slavery after being pressured by two Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers. The group is also asking that the program be rebroadcast in its original form and a clause be added to NHK’s charter outlining a policy of political neutrality. NHK said it will examine the request and “respond sincerely.”
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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02.08.05
ISP Collects More Shares in Nippon Broadcasting

From Mainichi Shimbun: Internet service provider Livedoor boosted its stake in Nippon Broadcasting System Corp. by more than 9 million shares to 35 percent, company officials announced Feb. 8. Industry observers anticipate a future clash over Nippon Broadcasting as Fuji TV already bid to take over the radio station last month. Livedoor officials also announced they will seek funds to buy a company by issuing 80 billion yen ($756 million) in euro-based bonds. Company sources said Livedoor will use that money to further increase its stake in Nippon Broadcasting.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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Monthly Pressnet Bulletin
Media Attack Foreign Ministry’s Secrecy Surrounding Tsunami Victims

From the February Pressnet Bulletin: The Foreign Ministry has come under attack from the country’s media for its continuing refusal to release the names of Japanese victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. The ministry said it is not obligated to report Japanese deaths abroad or release victims’ identities and in this case does not have the families’ consent to do so. Normally, when a Japanese citizen dies abroad, police or hospital officials will release the victim’s name, age and gender, and the Foreign Ministry will gain family consent before revealing an identity to the media. The Foreign Ministry released just the number of dead and missing Japanese until media pressure caused them to publicize the tsunami victims’ ages and genders. One media official complained they cannot confirm any information and added, “We also fear that the families might be being used by the ministry as a way to conceal information.” Media officials want to be allowed to exercise discretion in publishing the victims’ names on their own, Pressnet added.
— By Japan Media Review Associate Editor Erica Ogg
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