Yuji Yoshitomi is a correspondent for Japan’s weekly tabloid magazines from Japan’s third largest city Osaka, and the author of “Osaka Bankrupts,” an expose of political corruption and fiscal waste in the municipality. Although his book was well-received and widely reported in the local media when it was published last year, however, it was largely ignored by the national media. Yoshitomi fears that Japan’s overwhelmingly Tokyo based media have little interest in regional politics: “In the eyes of the Tokyo- media – and it’s the same for TV, newspapers or weekly magazines – the only news from Osaka worth taking up is about the Hanshin Tigers baseball team or murder cases.”
As a writer for weekly magazines, he has experienced their ambivalent relationship with Japan’s more respectable media. The latter are often amongst the weeklies’ targets, but newspapers and TV journalists use the magazines as an outlet for stories they can’t publish themselves. “There are gaps where [newspapers and TV] can’t report,” says Yoshitomi. “It’s the weekly magazines who fill those.”
But he also warns that the weekly magazines are losing their freedom to cover the stories other media won’t touch. Weekly magazine editors face rocketing libel payments, political pressure, even physical violence and the threat of arrest. In 2004, infamous scandal magazine, “Uwasa no Shinso” (“The Truth Behind the Rumours”) folded after a series of libel cases and a violent assault on its editor. On July 4th this year, the publisher of scandal magazine, “Kami no Bakudan” (“Paper Bomb”), was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment for criminal defamation. Freelance journalists say that a proposed anti-conspiracy law could further intimidate editors and restrict reporting.
While Yoshitomi is frank about what he calls the weeklies’ sometimes “sloppy” reporting, he stresses that scandal magazines and tabloids have an important role to play in the media – especially when large media organizations are vulnerable to pressure from the powerful. “If you want to understand about Japan, it’s not enough just to read the newspapers and watch TV,” he says. “You need newspapers, TV and weekly magazines.”
Japan Media Review: As a weekly magazine writer what kind of stories do you cover?
Yuji Yoshitomi: Basically, as far as weekly magazine reporting on Osaka goes, it is mainly “incidents.” In the eyes of the Tokyo media – and it’s the same for TV, newspapers or weekly magazines – the only news from Osaka worth picking up is about the Hanshin Tigers baseball team or murder cases. They have no interest in politics.
For example, when I wrote my book “Osaka Bankrupts,” it was a big issue in Osaka last year. Newspapers and TV were reporting on the Osaka government every day. In Tokyo, it was reported only briefly –Tokyo people didn’t know about the fuss in Osaka.
Tokyo weekly magazines don’t carry stories about Osaka politics. If they did, I don’t think people would read them. Osaka people know all about Tokyo from Osaka newspapers and TV, but the opposite is not true; Tokyo newspapers and TV don’t report about Osaka.
JMR: Why aren’t there any Kansai-based weekly magazines?
YY: I wonder why? There used to be one, but it didn’t sell. It seems that Osaka news by itself doesn’t sell. Unless it is some big Osaka murder case or scandal, people are not interested. Even people living in Osaka, they want news from Tokyo first.
JMR: How distinct are the Osaka and Tokyo media?
YY: Twenty years ago the tone was quite different between Tokyo and Osaka [newspaper editions]. Now, virtually all the Osaka newspapers have the same stance as the Tokyo papers. If there is an incident in Osaka, the papers will use more space and report it widely, but the political stance is the same whether it is Tokyo or Osaka.
JMR: What about other media?
YY: What’s interesting is that TV is different. For example, although Asahi Television is based in Tokyo, a company in the same business group, Asahi Broadcasting Corporation, is based here [in Osaka]. It is part of the same Asahi group, but they don’t broadcast the same thing.
The programs made in Tokyo are broadcast here, but there are Osaka-made “information programs” [news and entertainment shows] too. They are pretty extreme – they can freely broadcast things that can’t be said in Tokyo.
JMR: What kind of things?
YY: In Japan the imperial family issue is pretty much a taboo topic. It’s a delicate issue and the Tokyo media are very careful to be respectful. The Osaka media, on the other hand, are friendly to the imperial family, but they will be frank, too.
It started with entertainment news. Most entertainment journalists are based in Tokyo. If they report anything too extreme, they will get pressure from the big production companies. But if they come to Osaka, they can say what they want in the Osaka media.
After that, political journalists and commentators in the Osaka media started freely saying things which they can’t say in the Tokyo media. At the moment, if you are looking for a clear difference between the Tokyo and Osaka media – it’s the TV stations, and the information programs.
JMR: Are there fewer taboo topics in the Osaka media?
YY: No, that’s not the case. There are several major taboo topics in Japan; organized crime gangs, North Korea, the Burakumin [Japan’s social class of former outcastes] and Soka Gakkai [an influential and controversial Buddhist sect]. As far as these taboos are concerned, there isn’t much difference between Osaka and Tokyo. The Osaka media might say things slightly more clearly, but it doesn’t really apply to the major taboo topics.
Historically there have been more Burakumin communities in the Osaka area [than in Tokyo]. The Osaka media know that, so they are more nervous about reporting the issue than Tokyo. On the other hand, Tokyo is more nervous about reporting the imperial family issue.
JMR: What sort of role do the weekly magazines play in the Japanese media?
YY: The newspapers don’t report 100 percent of the situation in Japan. Take the issue of the imperial family. The imperial household journalists knew that the Crown Prince and Masako were planning to get married, but they didn’t report it because of pressure from the Imperial Household Agency. The story was first reported by foreign media. And the information had been passed on by the weekly magazines.
The things that newspapers and TV want to say, but can’t say, get said by the weekly magazines. The things the weekly magazines can’t say, they used to pass on to “Uwasa no Shinso” [a now-defunct scandal magazine]. But Uwasa no Shinso has folded; that’s a shame.
JMR: Why did Uwasa no Shinso fold? Was it because the media became freer and its role disappeared?
YY: It’s the opposite. The Japanese media isn’t getting freer at all. The reason Uwasa no Shinso folded was because the editor didn’t have freedom [to write].
JMR: Aren’t the Japanese media freer to write about taboo topics these days?
YY: It has got easier to write about those taboo topics, but it is much harder to write about political scandals. People who have power can use the authority of the police. These are the days when the editor of a publishing company like Rokusaisha can be arrested without anyone minding. It’s a time when it is extremely difficult to write about scandals concerning those in power – politicians and bureaucrats.
JMR: Why doesn’t a replacement for Uwasa no Shinso appear?
YY: For one thing, producing a magazine is expensive and very risky. Even if you produce it, you don’t know if it will sell or not. And even if it does sell, you can get taken to court. Libel payments are getting larger recently. Before they were less than 1 million yen or thereabouts. Now they are close to 10 million yen [about US$85,000].
The Japanese people need a magazine like Uwasa no Shinso, but there are too many risks now. No one will produce magazine like that.
JMR: What kind of relationship is there between the newspapers and weekly magazines?
YY: The relationship is bad. The reporters on the spot are friendly, but the companies don’t get on. That’s because the weekly magazines’ targets aren’t just people in authority, politicians, the presidents of big companies. They also target newspapers and TV – mainstream media.
JMR: Aren’t the weekly magazines themselves often criticized for inaccurate reporting?
YY: It’s not the TV and newspapers that say the weekly magazines write lies. It’s the politicians. Though it is true there’s a sloppy side to weekly magazine reporting. Say there is an incident in Osaka. The only weekly magazines who have Osaka correspondents are Friday and Flash. [The weekly magazine reporters] can’t cover enough ground and the reporting is sloppy.
Newspapers and TV have an extremely wide range of targets for reporting: sports, politics, the imperial family, incidents. But there are gaps where they can’t report. It’s the weekly magazines who fill those gaps. There are many examples where politicians have resigned because of weekly magazine scoops.
Each medium only tells part of the story. There is no medium that covers the whole picture. As a journalist, you need to read the left wing Asahi, the right wing Yomiuri, and after that the weekly magazines. If you want to understand about Japan, it’s not enough just to read the newspapers and watch TV. You need newspapers, weekly magazines and TV.
About Tony McNicol
