Historian and professor Toshihiro "Toshi" Minohara may live in Japan, but he has his feet in two countries: He spent his childhood in America and his adult life in Japan.

After graduating from college in the United States, Minohara returned to Japan for a master's degree in history. Now, as a professor at Japan's prestigious Kobe University, he teaches history and politics, specializing in international diplomacy during World War II.

When Japan passed a law similar to the American Freedom of Information Act, Minohara used it to research Japanese code breaking during World War II. He and another researcher discovered that Japan actually intercepted and decoded several American messages immediately before entering the war. One message, decoded days before the Pearl Harbor attacks, revealed American preparations for a peace plan.

Minohara criticizes the Japanese media for using the new "Freedom of Information Act" legislation to report only scandals.

Last winter, Minohara became one of the media's "scandals" when he developed a controversial class at Kobe University that would have covered a taboo topic: Japan's self-defense military force. Antiwar demonstrators quickly turned out to protest the class, and negative news reports helped convince the university to cancel the class.

"Leftist groups went on a rampage," Newsweek reported. "They raided the dean's office, besieged the law school and ... demanded the class be canceled."

Minohara spoke recently with Japan Media Review about his experiences with and thoughts on the media in Japan. This is an edited excerpt of that interview.

Q: What was your experience with the media like when the controversy erupted over the class on the military?

A: This was something that made last year very miserable for me because what happened was that after Japan's loss in World War II, pacificism has been dominant in Japan and war is completely wrong and for a lot of people war, all kinds, all forms of war, whether self-defense or not, is just something that is an evil.

So a lot of these universities in Japan, they don't have any program that deals with military studies or national security issues, and I thought that was very unhealthy.

Now that Japan's military is playing a bigger role -- sending troops, having a hand in peace -- it's important that the Japanese public is aware of the military, that they have at least basic information, what they're doing and see how the system works. I call that civilian awareness. That doesn't exist in Japan because that's taboo. You don't learn that stuff. The military's all evil.

At that time I had an offer from Japan's self-defense forces in my prefecture asking me whether I'd be interested in some kind of a seminar, and I said yes. It was a simulation exercise and my students would mix with the self-defense force officers and would simulate a situation where -- what was it? It was when Taiwan declared its independence, and what would Japan do?

It was really a very good exercise. But then you have these leftists who felt that this was bringing the military to universities. And they don't even like the fact that an officer would be on campus. To them that's complete taboo.

We had all these protests -- fairly large by standards now. It was just about 30 or 40 students, but Japan hasn't had a protest like that in the past 20, 25, 30 years.

"We had all these protests. It was just about 30 or 40 students, but Japan hasn't had a protest like that in the past 20, 25, 30 years."

It was interesting because there were media that were left-wing that completely attacked us. What they do is they talk to you and they say "we support you" and all that and "we'd like to know more about it," and they sympathize with you and then the article comes out and it's just totally attacking you.  But Newsweek was pretty supportive, the international media was very supportive. To them they could not understand what the big deal was.

Q: Did you feel like Japanese media covered a pro side to the course at all or was it all negative?

A: I would say most of it was negative, a few were neutral. The Japanese media, I think, is third rate, especially when it deals with politics.

Q: Why do you think that?

A: Because I think a lot of these writers have their own ideology and that really taints their view. Before they even do an interview they already have their view.

It's unfortunate when you can't believe what you read in papers. And they're very good at taking things out of context as well. I mean what I said was that -- it's true, the quote is right, but it's taken out of context, it has a completely different meaning, the opposite meaning in most cases. I've had very negative experiences with media in that regard.

Q: You can get news on the Internet or on a cell phone now. Do you think those media are changing the traditional media?

A: I think information's a lot more accessible now. And at the same time it makes it harder to discern if it's correct or not, whether or not you can believe it. I mean, certain facts you can believe, like the yen is 120 today, but when it gets into issues like politics or domestic issues or international relations then you're not so sure.

And then you have a lot of these so-called "experts" that they put on TV -- the commentaries -- and I have background information or knowledge so I know that the guy's wrong, but you realize, how about the vast majority of the regular public without that expertise? I mean they just believe.

Q: So you think those people in the media become the opinion makers?

A: They do influence opinion, that's the thing, but my other concern would be that a vast majority of the younger generation of Japanese are not interested in politics, they probably watch TV, they watch these stupid shows, they don't watch the news, they like entertainment. I see that as a very serious problem. 

One more thing before I forget. The media in the United States is not perfect as well. I mean, watching the History Channel? I mean, I like that channel. I was talking to an archivist the other day and he was telling me how they pronounce a lot of names and places incorrectly, a lot of their stuff is incorrect and I was watching it the other day and he was absolutely right. They were getting all the names wrong ... completely wrong.

These small things are very important when you're dealing with history. So that kind of struck me as, I mean, it's not that difficult to check, and then you wonder the credibility of the other stuff that you don't have any knowledge about and then so you may think, hmm, that's interesting, but it could be completely wrong.

Q: Do you think there is a place for the alternative online news sources that are developing in Japan? Do you think they'll become a stable part of the media landscape?

"I would have a lot of trouble citing from one of these alternative media, it's just they really haven't established their reputation and credibility, it will take time."

A: I think they will because I think that as technology improves I'm sure we'll have our little pads, you know, where we can read the paper, a small, tablet kind of thing, or, you know, I think it will just be a lot more convenient. There's a lot of opportunity to develop in that area, you know, it's better than carrying around a newspaper.

Q: Do you see them as doing a better job than the big five newspapers?

A: See, that part would be very difficult because you'd think they would be understaffed and they'd probably rely on most of their information from the big five newspapers or other, international news sources. So I think Japanese papers have a lot of problems, but I'd still trust Nikkei over some unknown Internet source. It's the brand name.

Q: So where do you get your news?

A: Newspaper more than the Internet. I subscribe to Asahi, I read Nikkei, I read Newsweek.

Q: All in paper format?

A: I like paper form. You can scribble on it and all that. I probably prefer a lot of things on paper.

Q: How do you see the relationship between Japanese media and the government? What role do you think the Japanese media play in relation to the government? Are they watchdogs? Or are they propaganda machines?

A: No, I don't think they're just propaganda, I mean, papers are independent and so forth; I think that's watchdog. Right now the big story is the Japanese government -- the Douro Koudan (the planning and building department) -- how wasteful they are in making the freeways and so forth and all their slush fund and so forth and the papers do a good job of reporting that.

They used the "Freedom of Information" act -- that's how they find their data and then they publish it, front page, you know, and then the government acts on it. And that's all good, but I always wonder about -- who checks on the papers, is my question. 

I think the papers have to be a little bit more responsible. It goes back to North Korea. All of these papers -- especially Asahi -- back in the '60s and '70s when the abductions were rampant, would always write, "No, these people are daydreaming, there's no way that North Korea would do that," and this was written as a fact.

Now, finally, all the truth comes out and they're saying, "OK, we're sorry," but, you know, what happens to that irresponsible reporting?

Nobody checked up on the papers, I mean, they could write whatever they want. They swayed public opinion.

Q: Do you think it's going to change in the future?

A: I think the Japanese media still has a long way to go, that's what I think. One thing is the language -- no one really competes with the Japanese media. If you have no competition there's no incentive to change.

Q: Do you see these alternative news sources as providing competition for the major papers?

A: I don't think so, because I would have a lot of trouble citing from one of these alternative media, it's just they really haven't established their reputation and credibility, it will take time.

"I think a lot of these writers have their own ideology and that really taints their view. Before they even do an interview they already have their view."

Q: So they're probably not affecting the development of the media in Japan?

A: I'm sure eventually they will. When these alternative media have established themselves for about 10 years.

Q: Was there anything else you'd like to comment on?

A: You know one thing, I think in the U.S. I think cable has really established itself whereas in Japan most people still don't have cable. Therefore you are limited to the channels that you watch, and so you have relatively few broadcast corporations controlling information and so that's another form of media that I think will change within the next few years. You'll see more people watching cable.

Q: What ideally would you like to see happen to newspapers, journalists, to the media in general in Japan? What would be the ideal?

A: I would like to see more developed articles, not just the facts, not just these very small articles. The Japanese newspaper is really thin, have you noticed that?  It's just that one section. It's just really thin. You get the Sunday paper in the States, it's that much, you know?

Please send your essays on Japanese media to editor@japanmediareview.com