Marathon explosion scene (Aaron Tang/Wikimedia Commons)

The media has had a hard time reporting the search for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing since the explosions killed three and injured about 100 Monday. CNN and the Associated Press battled with NBC News on Twitter Wednesday morning, each news site claiming that authorities had either found a suspect or hadn’t. The New York Post reported on Monday that 12 people had been killed, citing a federal law enforcement source. In light of the media’s confusion, the Dart Center re-posted a compilation of advice they solicited from several journalists following the shootings in Tucson in 2012.

Editors, freelancers, broadcasters and international reporters shared different anecdotal lessons from covering various tragedies like the Oklahoma and Madrid bombings. Here are some highlights:

Scott Wallace, freelance journalist: “Above all, forget trying to ‘scoop’ your colleagues on this story.”

Steven Gorelick, professor of media studies at Hunter College: “Be very careful about the experts you select as sources. These kinds of high-profile stories are magnets for everyone from legitimate scholars and practitioners to self-proclaimed ‘profilers.’”

Lena Jakobsseon, TV producer: “Chasing victims’ family members down the street seems like a far more reasonable idea if CNN and MSNBC and FOX and all the nets are doing it, too, and you’re about to get yelled at if you don’t get that video. But you always have at least a few seconds to stop and listen to what your gut is telling you. Ratings come and go. The impact on your integrity, and on the people you’re covering — that stays.”

Read the whole compilation here.

By Gerry Storch

What a thrill … I score by landing an article on the primo Internet scholarly journalism review, www.ojr.org … a bunch of guys write in to tell me how stupid I am … I guess I’ve finally made it!!!

They told me I was stupid because I contended 1) the nation’s newspapers, which are failing, should go all-Net, 2) concentrate on what hopefully they do best, local news, and, most importantly, 3) stop giving it away for free with their web sites and start charging big-time.

What galvanized me into trying an encore was quite the incisive article by Chris Anderson in the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 Weekend Journal section of the Wall Street Journal. He writes about the proliferation of “free” goods and services online … and devastatingly tears apart this so-called business model, saying it’s about to come crashing down.

Since Mr. Anderson didn’t mention much about newspapers, here I am. This whole absurd concept on how information wants to and has to remain “free” needs more airing.

If the typical desk potato blogger ever summons the energy to go do some reading in the local library (doubtful), he will find he is not charged admission at the door. It’s free to go in.

But of course it really isn’t free, is it … we just pay in a different way … through our taxes.

Did I use small enough words?

One of my posters correctly pointed out that Google, which I had poked some fun at as the biggest cheerleader for the “free” concept, backs it up by giving its services away … its search engine et al … to all of us for free. But Google gives some things away for free and charges for others because if it didn’t, it would probably GO OUT OF BUSINESS. Just like newspapers are. Google doesn’t give its stock away for free; in fact, it unblushingly charges what the market will bear. As of this writing, it’s about $338 per share.

The little town I live in has two pretty top-grade art museums. The Naples Museum of Art charges for admission, the von Liebig does not.

The one that charges does what I think newspapers should do: it creates an excellent, unique product … proclaims it proudly … values it highly … and sets a significant, not-cheap price. It’s $12 during tourist season.

The one that doesn’t charge … if it doesn’t have to, fine. But if it started failing financially and had to start charging, would I criticize? I would not. If it has to charge to survive, it has to charge to survive.

Another poster wondered if I had flunked Economics 101 way back when. Let’s put it to the test and activate that course. If a business is struggling and needs to generate more money (put your thinking caps on), it often will (fill in the blanks) r—- its p—–.

That’s right, it will raise its prices. Sure, it might try a discount coupon deal but that’s a desperation move. Most of the time, it will take the quick and dirty route and raise its prices.

Now we come back to Mr. Anderson. What he says about the Internet free-model biz world’s biggest names is an eye-opener.

Facebook? “An amazingly ineffective advertising platform … applications get less than $1 per 1,000 views.”

Using Google ads to finance your web site? “Will not pay you even minimum wage for the time you spend writing it.”

Google itself? “Venture capital has dried up … (it) is killing products rather than buying them.”

Yahoo? “Can barely support itself.”

YouTube? “Still struggling to match its popularity with revenues.”

Digg? “For all its millions of users, still doesn’t make a dime.”

And what of Twitter, said to be the future of newsgathering … at a limit of 140 characters, this would have to be the ultimate dumbing down of intellectual effort …”After taking over the world, or at least the geeky side of it, it now finds itself having to actually make enough money to cover its bandwidth bills. … The revenue officer has his work cut out for him.”

What all these ventures relied on … and it’s hard to say this with a straight face … was accumulating enough of a horde of mooches and freeloaders so you could sell the business to somebody else. But now, in this economic climate, “the exit doors are closed.”

Does Mr. Anderson have any credentials to impress the OJR reading/posting community? Well, he’s editor in chief of Wired Magazine. That good enough?

Did he give me his insights for free? He did not. I paid for them via my subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Had I plucked the issue off the newsstand, it would have set me back a hefty $2.

Mr. Anderson sees a role for “free” but only in conjunction with “paid.” The WSJ is probably the most prominent example as it is experimenting with blending free and paid content on its web site.

To me, the most important word in that sentence is “paid.” Newspaper publishers often fancy themselves as daring and swashbuckling, but in truth they are a tremulous lot. They have been cowed by a vituperative, vociferous band of bloggers into shying away from even considering establishing online subscriptions … so that, of course, these very same bloggers can continue to get something for free.

Meanwhile, the carnage continues … the sad, sad news of more and more journalists losing their jobs, with little if any hope of finding another.

Time to get a backbone … time to say the online version of your newspaper is worth something and that it is to be measured in the real world by paying for it.

But hey, it’s only a suggestion.

I also hope people will start checking out my online community journalism resource 92067 Rancho Santa Fe Free Press at http://www.92067freepress.com.

We’re hoping to serve as an example of the site sophistication now achievable with no resources due to the development of hosting resources.

We’re going strong on content but need to diversify, so any submissions from OJR visitors to our site is welcome. E-mail at 92067freepress@gmail.com

What is for sure though is that Japan’s freelance journalists include a select group of resourceful and determined investigative reporters. Delving into topics that that major media organizations can’t, or won’t, touch they fight a continual battle against obstructive officialdom, the threat of legal action, even physical attack.

Every month a group of writers, editors, journalists and artists meets in Ochanomizu, central Tokyo. The “Shuppan Network” union has 200 members and is the only labor union in Japan specifically for freelance writers and editors. Among their members are a number of freelance investigative reporters like Kenichi Kita. Kita says that some of Japan’s best-known investigative reporters are the ones who work outside of the major media corporations, but that overall Japan has too little investigative reporting. “If you look at the media in total, there is definitely not enough,” he says.

Kita writes on Japan’s controversial consumer-loan companies for the weekly magazines. He says that the weekly magazines rely heavily on freelancers. The best known writers, like Kita, will have their own bylines – other articles will be compiled from the research of a team of reporters and be published anonymously. Freelancers contribute to chaotic mix of scandal, entertainment news, political analysis, gossip and rumor, but also hard-hitting investigative reporting. Kita contrasts that with the bland output of Japan’s broadsheets. “It’s a fact that about half the articles in newspapers are based on announcements of some kind,” he says.

Freelancer investigative reporters, however, face formidable obstacles. Reporter Yu Terasawa is well known for an ongoing court case against Japan’s press club system. For 17 years he has been covering police corruption cases, but as a freelance he has been systematically denied access to the official information distributed through Japan’s press clubs. “It is obvious that official institutions should treat all journalists equally – but they don’t,” says Terasawa. His most recent suit against the government over the press clubs is now being deliberated on by Japan’s Supreme Court.

Without the protection of a major media organization, freelance journalists can also be easy targets for intimidation. Terasawa had his phone tapped by one of Japan’s controversial consumer loan companies, Takefuji Corporation, after he wrote articles critical of the company. Takefuji’s president was eventually sentenced to a suspended prison term. Another freelance investigative reporter, Katsuhisa Miyake, was sued by the same company in 2003 and ordered to pay 110 million yen (935,000 US dollars). That potentially bankrupting ruling was overturned, but Miyake’s counter-suit to seek compensation from Takefuji is still in progress.

Many freelance journalists point to an alarming trend where companies target individual journalists through the courts. The amount awarded in libel cases have ballooned. “I have been threatened by companies,” says one established weekly magazine freelancer and author, who requested that his name not be used. “I am trying to keep a low profile. There are rumors that some Japanese companies are hiring private detectives to investigate reporters who write about them.”

If freelancers are sued for libel or have problems with their employers, there is little support available. Very few freelancers join a union. According to Shuppan Network member Reiko Kado, that might be because most freelancers have deliberately opted out of Japan’s group-orientated work environment. “A lot of Japanese freelancers just don’t want to be in any kind of organization,” she says. “They are lone wolves.”

There is little training available for aspiring freelance investigative reporters, either. “Probably, many young people who could make good investigative reporters end up in other jobs,” says Yu Terasawa. Japan has few journalism schools and training is almost exclusively on the job. Newspapers can teach their new staff the ins and outs of the newsman’s job, but other cub investigative reporters tend to be on their own. “The weekly magazines don’t have the money or the time to train investigative reporters,” says Terasawa.

Yet, despite the obstacles, there have been a number of major scandals broken by freelance journalists and weekly magazines. Mostly recently, Japan’s consumer loan companies have been a cause-celebre for investigative journalists. A steady stream of revelations about the companies’ unscrupulous tactics has emerged and the government has moved to regulate the industry more strictly.

A number of well known freelancers have carved out reputations for themselves covering other topics neglected by newspapers and TV. Weekly magazine investigative reporter Mika Yanagihara started writing about car accidents 15 years ago. Now she covers police accident investigations and the insurance industry. Other articles have also detailed what she describes as an alarming number of suspicious suicides and accidents where no autopsy was performed. She has published 25 books and has several ongoing magazine series – one of her books was even turned into a TV drama.

But why can’t the newspapers with their vast resources pursue these issues, too? And why is so much investigative reporting left up to the weekly magazines and freelancers? “The newspapers won’t take one incident and investigate it [over time],” says Yanagihara. “They just report when there is news.” Newspaper journalists tend to get shifted around the company from department to department, she says, and from regional bureau to bureau, too. “Even if an individual journalist wants to pursue a story, it’s too difficult.”

She also suspects that advertising income is an issue when magazines consider stories about, for example, major automobile manufacturers. Although that’s not to say there aren’t problems with the weekly magazines as well. “I was once told by an editor, ‘sorry, we have an insurance ad this week, so we can’t take your article.’”

Shunsuke Yamaoka is another one of Japan’s best-known freelance investigative reporters. His articles on corporate scandals run in the weekly magazines, but he was in the news himself when his house suffered an arson attack last year. “They called me before I wrote the article to warn me off,” says Yamaoka. “I know who did it.” After the attack, which burnt out his entrance hall and melted his air-conditioner, Yamaoka had to leave his apartment. “The other people living in the apartment block were scared and forced me to move out.”

The attack didn’t stop Yamaoka’s work though, and he is now running a highly successful subscriber-based news website. “I am probably the first freelance journalist in Japan to make money out of their own news website,” says Yamaoka. He first set up the website in October 2004, and in May this year, when the site was receiving 50,000 hits a day, he decided to start charging money. All the content is written by Yamaoka, mostly about corporate scandals. A year’s subscription costs 9000 yen (76 US dollars) and he already has 1100 subscribers — with 100 new people signing on a month. Yamaoka has already made enough money to set up an office and hire a member of part-time staff.

“To put it simply, I am writing the stories that the newspapers won’t publish,” says Yamaoka. He explains that the newspapers and TV will only start to report on a story when the police have already made an arrest. “If the journalists are just going to wait for the police, what’s the point in having journalists?” asks Yamaoka pointedly. The website has a notice on its front page appealing for “whistle-blowers and information (cases with public benefit only)” along with Yamaoka’s fax number. He says that useful tips come in regularly.

One third of the articles are about stock-exchange listed companies. Yamaoka suspects that many of the subscribers are investors hoping to get unreported stock-related information. “If it was only regular news then I doubt anyone would pay a subscription for it,” he says. The listed company-related articles get about twice as many hits as those on politics.

His new job isn’t without its worries, however. “Of course, there are risks: [the companies] might sue me,” says Yamaoka. “Sometimes I get strange telephone calls.” He is no stranger to the courts having been sued 15 times during his 18 year long career in journalism (and won 12 times). “It’s tough now because I have to pay for all the legal fees myself.” He has several ongoing cases.

So what does the future hold for Japan’s freelancers? Perhaps it’s not all bad news. The Internet has enabled journalists like Yamaoka, as well as a huge number of amateur and professional bloggers, to reach readers directly. Japan has also seen the launch of several citizen journalism websites, most recently a local version of South Korea’s hugely successful OhmyNews. In 2001, Japan’s Freedom of Information Act came into force, making it much easier for freelancers – or indeed anyone – to access official information.

For investigative journalists the official walls that obstruct their research – and a fully free press in Japan – are certainly still standing strong. But then again, perhaps a few cracks have begun to show?

Abe, however, was in the center of a raging storm last year when Asahi Shimbun revealed in several articles that then-deputy chief cabinet secretary and Shoichi Nakagawa, another LDP member and now agriculture, forestry and fisheries minister, pressured NHK, Japan’s public television network, to censor a documentary program about a people’s tribunal set up to judge the use of sex slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. Most of the victims were Koreans, Chinese, Filipino and Indonesians.

Following the report, an NHK producer also conceded in tears that they were made to remove key footage, including survivors’ heart-wrenching testimony, from the program that was aired in January 2001.

Rumiko Nishino, co-chairperson of VAWW -NET Japan (Violence Against Women in War), a Tokyo-based women’s group, said, “NHK’s top officials prescreened a program on the NHK educational channel with a very low rating. Prescreening itself is an anomaly. Then, they ordered their staff members twice to change the content. So it was a program full of patches.”

VAWW-NET Japan was one of the citizens groups that organized the Women’s International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery, which was held in December 2000. It was supported by NGOs around the world, Nishino said. The group filed a defamation lawsuit against NHK after the documentary on the tribunal was broadcast.

NHK officials, Abe and Nakagawa repeatedly denied the allegation, however. Following the report and a series of embezzlement scandals within NHK, Katsuji Ebisawa, its president, resigned to “take responsibility” and save face for the network, one of the world’s largest.

While Abe was given much time to deny the allegation on TV and discredit the tribunal, those who organized the nonbinding trial were not invited. Citizens groups like VAWW-Net Japan are held in low esteem in a country where people tend to give credit to a large organization.

“So, even Mr. Abe distorted the fact of the tribunal and gave incorrect information about it on TV, journalists who didn’t know the event failed to point that out,” Nishino said.

For instance, Abe said the tribunal had no defense team. The tribunal asked then-Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to have a defense counsel attend the court. Since Mori never responded, amici curia (an impartial adviser to a court of law in a particular case) explained the Japanese government’s position and point of views, she said.

Critics said the media failed to pursue the truth concerning the NHK documentary program. They now devoted massive favorable coverage to Abe.

Abe’s father, Shintaro Abe, was a foreign minister and his grandfather was former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi, who was arrested as a suspected Class A war criminal, but later went free. Abe became popular by taking a strong stance against North Korea, especially over the issue of abduction of Japanese by North Korean spies.

“LDP members started making a fuss, complaining NHK was making a biased program and the network changed its content. That’s the only problem. But that’s the only thing that the media apparently agreed never to make the issue of,” said Kenichi Asano, a journalism professor at Doshisha University in Kyoto.

The media shifted the attention away from the LDP members’ pressure by focusing more on a nasty battle between Asahi and NHK. While major papers also criticized Asahi’s coverage, magazines made personal attacks on an Asahi reporter who wrote about the issue, some calling him an “ultraleft reporter.”

The issue took another turn in late July 2005, when influential monthly magazine Gendai published the transcription of the Asahi reporter’s tape of the conversations with Abe, Nakagawa and Takeshi Matsuo, then-executive director in charge of broadcasting at NHK. The article was embarrassing to them since it showed they repeatedly lied about the allegation of censorship, critics said. And it is considered to be clear evidence supporting the allegation, as Matsuo said in the tape that he had met with the two and later changed the content of the program.

The Gendai article infuriated the LDP, which decided not to talk to Asahi Shimbun anymore. While there was not much criticism about the party’s move, Asahi became isolated. In addition, when another Asahi reporter in Nagano made up a story in late August, public trust in the paper dwindled.

That ethical breach, however, was apparently made use of by Asahi leadership to end the dispute over the article on the issue of the NHK documentary, said Asano.

Asahi Shimbun ran articles on Oct. 1 concluding that the article regarding the NHK documentary program included “uncertain” information, and apologized for the tape’s leakage leaked outside the paper.

“You cannot write an investigative report if you are required absolute proof. You can do that without it,” said Asano of Doshisha University. “Asahi’s responsibility makes up 99 percent of the issue. However, absolutely no solidarity among news organizations also led the paper into a difficult situation.”

“Asahi Shimbun, which became popular as a major news organization, kneeled in total surrender to Mr. Abe, and when the LDP stopped Asahi from covering the party, the paper accepted it,” said Yasushi Kawasaki, a former NHK political reporter. “Other news organizations as well go along with Abe, who will most surely become prime minister. Journalism is as good as dead. I’m not joking.”

Nishino said the media play a central role in defending democracy. “However, the Japanese media caved in to authority,” she added.

Minoru Morita, a Tokyo-based political analyst, agreed, “Without doubt, it is the fact that the two pressured NHK. However, Asahi as well as other media caved in and no longer talked about it. Japan’s greatest crisis today is the nonexistence of journalism. Decent information is not disseminated through the media. Those who look like journalists but curry favor with authority are rampant.”

According to Morita, after World War II, the mass media deeply reflected on their responsibilities for being a propaganda machine of the Japanese Imperial Army, and thought they should become more independent like their Western counterparts.

“They kept the spirit about 10 to 15 years after the war. News organizations, however, hired more of those submissive to authority. And they are now in the management class, while younger employees lay their critical thinking to sleep or stifle it and also surrender to authority. It is a very serious situation,” he explained.

Hiroyuki Shinoda, the editor of monthly magazine Tsukuru, which covers the media industry, said the NHK issue is the epitome of self-censorship of major news organizations. When they find their news material “too controversial” to authority figures, they change the content by themselves.

“Since around the 1980s, the media have started to lose consciousness of playing a watchdog role of government and to have less confrontation with it,” he said. “The media have become too big (and powerful), and they have very little spirit that they investigate state power thoroughly in a body.”

Kawasaki asserted Japanese leaders like Mr. Koizumi and Mr. Abe are detached from the freedom of speech.

“One good example is that when one right-wing member set the house of LDP member Koichi Kato fire because of his firm and repeated opposition to Koizumi’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine, both of them did not condemn the attack on the spot,” he said. “It was a rational argument.”

The prime minister also eliminated LDP members opposed to his postal privation plans by not giving them party endorsement during the 2005 House of Representatives elections, he added.

Kawasaki was forced out of a career track at NHK after his coverage of the faction of the late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was pulled off the air due to pressure from the LDP. He recalled the network’s disgraced executive, Ebisawa, was a political reporter covering the LDP and became a politician as if he were a member of an LDP faction he covered.

Since Ebisawa became the president, he let more political intervention into NHK coverage than ever, while NHK’s political desk has exerted more influence over the news organization, critics said.

Moreover, Japan Internet News CEO Ken Takeuchi, who was an Asahi Newspaper editorial board member, argued kisha club systems also contribute to the major media’s self-censorship.

“When LDP leaders say, ‘We are not going to make the issue of one’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine this time,’ that creates the atmosphere in which reporters can no longer ask related questions,” explained Takeuchi, whose company launched Japan’s first serious alternative online newspaper, Jan Jan (Japan Alternative News for Justices and New Cultures) three years ago. “Once different kinds of media get in, there would be more different kinds of questions, and angles of their questions would be different.”

Under the system, there are “collusive relations” between the media and authority figures, stressed Takeuchi, who abolished a kisha club system when serving as mayor of Kamakura near Tokyo.

Since those who are at the kisha club systems depend much on authority figures for information, most of the coverage of the LDP presidential race is focused on its candidates, not on the public. The LDP also failed to invite the public to their debate, Takeuchi said.

“As an open political party, they have to involve the public in their debate,” he said. “However, since their debate is preoccupied with party logic, the scope of debate is inevitably limited.”

Since most of the public cannot vote for the intra-party race, critics asked why in the world the mass media excessively cover it to begin with. The largest opposition Democratic Party of Japan also holds a presidential race this month, however, the coverage of the DPJ race is “less than 10 percent of the LDP coverage,” Morita said.

NHK, Mainichi Shimbun, Asahi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun all agreed that since the victory of the ruling party race is expected to win the prime ministership, it is natural that they should cover it. Yomiuri Shimbun declined to comment.

“Not only opposition parties, but the ruling coalition was not covered. All they got is just Mr. Abe,” Kawasaki emphasized. “He was all over.”

The public relations department at Yomiuri Shimbun decline to comment when asked about criticism that the media failed to raise the issue of censorship concerning the NHK program, though many experts, journalist and viewers believed NHK did change the content of the program due to political pressure.

The paper said in its editorial when Ebisawa quit last year, “… the subject of the program should be questioned in connection with the Broadcast Law, which obliges the broadcaster to be neutral and fair.”

The public relations department at Sankei Shimbun said in its statement, “The reason we could not help being critical of Asahi Shimbun is that it is a matter affecting the whole news media … The court was questioned concerning its fairness and neutrality as it mainly consists of female judges and prosecutors but lacks a defense team.”

Nishino of VAWW-Net Japan said the tribunal had amici curiae.

“Since NHK is a public broadcasting system, whether the content of the program is appropriate or not is an essential problem,” the Sankei statement referred to the documentary about wartime sex slavery.

According to the president’s office of major economic daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the paper does not respond to questions about such specific topics, unless they refer to one of its own articles.

While critics said Asahi Shimbun closed the curtain on the NHK problem, leaving the truth vague, the paper’s public relations department responded by saying it devoted two pages to its own views and findings of an independent group, and President Kotaro Akiyama also held a news conference. So they disagreed with the criticism.

The public relations department at NHK responded in its statement by saying, “There is no (evidence) that the content of the program was changed due to political pressure.”

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.

The object of freelance journalist Katsuhisa Miyake’s concern is a conspiracy bill now being debated in the Japanese Diet. He believes that the law, which would make conspiracy to commit any of 619 different crimes an offence, could used to obstruct the work of investigative journalists in Japan.

Miyake has reason to be wary. In 2003 he was sued by Takefuji over articles he wrote on the consumer loan company for weekly magazines. He lost and was ordered to pay 110 million yen [935,000 dollars]. It was several years before Miyake could overturn the ruling on appeal. “It was preposterous. I couldn’t pay it. I would have gone bankrupt.”

He fears that the law could make it easier for large companies and politicians to intimidate investigative journalists through the threat of arrest. “Even the Diet representatives themselves who are debating the conspiracy bill don’t know what it is for,” he says, arguing that its main aim is simply to increase police power. “If the police or prosecutors decide to arrest someone, this law will make it extremely easy for them to do so.”

The bill was first introduced to the Japanese Diet in 2003 to ratify Japan’s signing of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. “It is Japan’s duty to ratify the treaty,” stresses Judicial Affairs Committee member and vocal supporter of the bill, Katsuei Hirasawa. He says that the law would be a powerful tool to fight against organized crime in Japan and abroad. Having spent over 25 years working in Japan’s Police Agency, he also believes that a conspiracy law is needed to strengthen police powers and protect the rights of victims. “[Opponents to the law] are saying you should crack down on crime after it has happened. It is too late then.”

Despite the backing of a large Diet majority from Prime Minister Koizumi‘s landslide victory in last September’s election, the bill has been twice rejected and revised. Now it has been postponed until the next Diet session. The delay and revisions were prompted by strenuous objections by lawyers, the Japanese press and opposition parties.

Lawyer and opponent of the bill Yuichi Kaido says that the concept of conspiracy is largely absent from Japanese law, restricted to only the most serious crimes. Unlike in the United States or the United Kingdom, where conspiracy laws have a long history, he says, Japanese law is closer to French or German law. Police can typically only make arrests after a crime has actually happened. “Japanese people can’t understand the concept of issuing punishment even though no crime has yet been committed,” he says.

The original draft of the bill made members of any “group” subject to arrest for conspiracy. Critics expressed concern that the law could be used against NGOs or unions. Although the bill has since been revised to apply specifically to groups with a criminal purpose, Kaido argues that the definition is still too vague. “It is the police who will decide whether or not a group is a criminal group,” he says. He is also concerned that once a member of an otherwise innocent organization was arrested, the group would be de facto classified as criminal.

Kaido notes that government officials have said little about how evidence of conspiracy will be collected. Wire-tapping, heavy-handed interrogation and tip-offs are likely tools for the police, he argues. Even conspiracy members who later change their minds will still be subject to arrest; only conspiracy members who go the police will be treated leniently.

The threat of arrest is a powerful tool for intimidation because once arrested, suspects have few rights, says Kaido. “For 23 days they can interrogate a suspect day and night. In a very serious case the interrogation can continue for 10 or 12 hours every day,” he says. Bail is rarely granted. “Almost everyone confesses to the Japanese police.” Until recently, interrogations were unrecorded, and even now prosecutors can decide when or when not to record. There are also persistent allegations of torture, says Kaido. “If you look at the totality of criminal cases, torture is very rare—but it is also rare for people to deny the charges. Among those cases, torture is not uncommon.”

Former National Police Agency official Hirasawa emphatically rejects the Japan Federation of Bar Associations’ arguments. “[Their] opposition to the bill is absolutely groundless and mistaken. They haven’t studied the bill,” he says. “They are just doing their best to protect the human rights of offenders. They have no interest in the rights of victims.”

To the charge that the law could be used to intimidate NGOs, unions or journalists, he says only groups whose purpose was crime would be targeted. “Why would the law to apply to journalists? It would be inconceivable for journalists to be targeted by the law; they are not a criminal group. If their purpose was reporting, the law wouldn’t apply.”

He also argues that Japanese police have far less power than their foreign equivalents and have to be sure of a conviction before making arrests. “In Japan, 99.97 percent of people are found guilty in court after they are arrested,” he points out. “Take a look at America, Britain, Europe – it is 60 or 70 percent at most. You can easily see that foreign police are making more wrongful arrests.”

Opposition party, the Social Democratic Party of Japan is against the conspiracy bill. “There is no need to destroy Japan’s system of criminal law and create a conspiracy law,” says leader and former lawyer Mizuho Fukushima. She compares the anti-conspiracy bill to the science fiction film “Minority Report” in which Tom Cruise’s character is arrested for a crime he has yet to commit. “It won’t really be to fight against organized crime groups,” she says. “There is a high probability that it will be used against NGOs, unions, and infringe on various kinds of freedom of expression.”

She fears the law could be used to stifle opposition to right-wing projects, including reform of the peace constitution, a new education law to promote patriotism and expansion of the U.S. military bases in Japan. “The right to freedom of expression to protest against the [Iraq] war is being severely curtailed,” Fukushima says, pointing to the arrest of the “Tachikawa three,” peace activists who were arrested for distributing anti-war leaflets to the mail boxes of a Self Defense Forces housing unit. “This law could be a tool to further suppress anti-war freedom of speech,” she says.

Earlier in June, several hundred people gathered in Hibiya Park in Tokyo to demonstrate against the bill. The meeting, where Diet member Fukushima also spoke, was held a stone’s throw from the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency. The gathering included trade union representatives, peace activists and consumer groups.

Freelance journalist Hitomi Nishimura was at the meeting to represent “Opinion Makers Against the Conspiracy Law,” a group of journalists, writers, broadcasters and bloggers. The group has produced a DVD, a series of downloadable movies and an anti-conspiracy law blog that gets 1,500 hits a day.

“Journalists who report on those in power won’t be able to do their jobs,” says Nishimura. She suggests that without the support of large media organizations, the threat of arrest would be enough deter freelance journalists from investigating the powerful. If they are arrested, the loss of weeks of pay, whether or not charges are brought, could be disastrous. And the same applies to small magazine publishers. Last July the publisher of a scandal magazine, “Kami no Bakudan,” was arrested and charged with defamation. The magazine had published a series of articles on Aruze Corporation, a pachinko gambling machine maker. The publisher was released more than 6 months later. The magazine alleges ties between the company and the local police.

Another member of the group, freelancer Yu Terasawa says that he has particular reason to be worried about the law. “I write about illegal police activities,” he says. “If I tried to get incriminating internal documents through an intermediary, I could be arrested for conspiracy to theft.” Unlike even a defamation prosecution, the police could take action before an article was researched, never mind published. He points out that there is no independent police watch-dog in Japan, and he fears that the law would make it even easier for the police to impede investigation by freelance reporters.

Economics journalist Ryuji Shinohara notes a vast difference in the position of freelance journalists and those working for large media organizations. “Politicians are more afraid of freelancers who earn 3 million yen a year than big media journalists who earn 30 million,” he says. Japan’s press club system means that mainstream media journalists can’t rock the boat because they risk the very real threat of being denied access to sources. He argues that it is up to Japan’s freelancers to provide independent reporting – something that would be made even more difficult by the conspiracy law. “The main newspapers have their own influence with the police. It’s the small publishers and freelancers who will have problems.”

Ironically, even when “Opinion Makers Against the Conspiracy Law” attempted to attend Diet deliberations on the conspiracy bill they bumped up against all too familiar obstructions. On arriving at the Diet Judicial Affairs Committee, they were unable to get press seats, as those were reserved for the press club members.

Despite the bill’s postponement, given the strength of the ruling coalition majority, commentators expect it to pass sooner or later. If that happens, freelance journalists as well as NGOs and activists will have a nervous wait to see how the new law is applied. Many argue that they have little reason to trust the authorities. A recent editorial in the Asahi Shimbun echoed their concerns: “We cannot deny that distrust of police and the court system underlies the public’s anxieties regarding the conspiracy bill.

“Itsumitemo Haran Banjo,” a national program of the Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV), focuses on celebrity profiles, looking back on a star’s past. The title translates to: “Whenever you see it, it’s a roller-coaster life.” The program has featured a number of politicians as guests, according to the network.

Prime Minister Koizumi’s LDP had a landslide victory in the general election for the House of Representatives last September. Katayama was one of the party’s first-time female candidates who was extensively covered by the media. After the race, former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa attributed the victory to media coverage – what critics called a “feeding frenzy” – during his appearance on a national political talk show. Such major media as NTV still follow Katayama, a former bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry, who apparently distances herself from other fresh-faced politicians.

The NTV talk show emphasized Katayama’s intelligence and lauded her victory as “outstanding.” It was a de facto victory even before election day. The LDP placed her at the top of the list of proportional representation candidates.

In a society in which many people try to maintain smooth relations and avoid confrontations, a talk show host of a program seldom throws hard questions to a guest, nodding in agreement with the TV personality.

Moreover, in a voice-over narration, the program dwelled on Katayama’s “beauty,” explaining Katayama was once Miss University of Tokyo and Miss Finance Ministry. She was described as a “beautiful fighter who possesses unparalleled brain power,” and as a “Madonna of Reform.” (“Madonna” in Japanese means “an admirable, beautiful lady.”) She did not appear embarrassed by such comments and remained impassive. While Americans
would find these remarks frivolous or even sexist, many Japanese viewers regard them as compliments.

In addition, Norio Fukutome, the program’s soft-spoken host, compared Katayama with a certain former British prime minister and asked her, “It is a matter of time until you will become the Japanese [Margaret] Thatcher, isn’t it?”

While opposition party members believed the program was unfair in Katayama’s case, more politicians from both ruling and opposition parties seem to believe that getting their faces on a TV program – whether it is a serious political talk show, tabloid program or even quiz show – is very important. They can cash in through appearing on a TV show since the exposure makes them better known to many Japanese, probably the world’s most avid TV watchers.

Yukio Hatoyama, who is now a secretary general of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), appeared on a tabloid TV program with a couple of comedians last year, in which Mr. Hatoyama invited them to his palatial residence in a well-heeled community in Tokyo. Mr. Hatoyama was not only playing with them, including throwing a football, but also trying to sell his wife’s cookbooks on the air.

Meanwhile, more TV celebrities, including some comedians, are becoming commentators or even anchors on television, voicing their opinions on a broad range of issues from entertainment and gruesome crimes to education and politics. What’s more troubling, experts said, many of them appear in commercials as well.

Lassalle Ishi, whose real name is Akio Ishii, was an anchorman for Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) until March, while he also appeared in ALICO Japan commercials. ALICO Japan is a branch office of American Life Insurance Company of Wilmington, Del. During the TBS news program, Ishii predicted a possible face-off between first lady Laura Bush and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 U.S. presidential election. He added, “They are very beautiful, aren’t they?”

Japan Internet News CEO Ken Takeuchi, who was an Asahi Newspaper editorial board member and also served as mayor of Kamakura near Tokyo, said television networks already relinquished journalism.

“News programs were turned into entertainment programs with TV celebrities (as commentators) for news,” said Takeuchi, whose company launched Japan’s first serious alternative online newspaper, Jan Jan (Japan Alternative News for Justice and New Cultures) three years ago.

TV celebrities “make comments on various topics. But how can they be so sure? They have no hands-on experience or studies on a specific issue like social ones,” said Nobuhiko Suto, a former member of the House of Representative from DPJ, who was a political science professor at Tokai University. “Then they change their opinions in order to have mass appeal. So considering how we can form sound public opinion, they have a destructive impact.”

Apparently responding to mounting criticism of media coverage, “News 23,” the major nightly news program of TBS, hosted a public debate during the show. A couple of comedians were even invited to such a supposedly serious discussion, along with two newly elected LDP lawmakers, including Katayama. Critics and opposition members were not invited.

Takaaki Hattori, a media law professor at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, agreed that politics is treated as material for entertainment programs these days and such programs have had political implications. But that lighter brand of coverage, including recent reports on several proposed laws such as an amendment to the Fundamental Law of Education, could help make more people aware and ignite debates, he said.

The ruling bloc of the LDP and New Komeito attempted to pass the proposed laws without much debate, opposition members said. But they are likely to be postponed.

“Since the media have an impact on the public, what issues they cover and how they cover them makes a big difference,” said Hattori.

The emergence of celebrity commentators aggravates a long-standing problem in the nation’s journalism, critics said. The mainstream media have long been criticized for their symbiotic relationship with authority figures through the press club system. By hiring celebrities, the media “more often fail to raise issues and become unable to search for the truth and to have balanced coverage, which means they are easily manipulated by those in power,” said Kenichi Asano, a professor of journalism at Doshisha University in Kyoto.

Journalists, as well as many in the public, however, are not aware of such criticism in a country where a deeply rooted journalistic tradition like that of the United States does not exist. The media also lack self-criticism, experts pointed out.

Takeuchi of Japan Internet News added that the mainstream media “got into a situation where they place ratings above anything else, which means they make advertisements the highest priority.”

Other critics echo Takeuchi’s concerns. Minoru Morita, a long-time political analyst in Tokyo, said since Koizumi took office five years ago, advertising giants have exerted more influence over media coverage than ever.

Those who work for the major media “are telling me that an advertising giant, namely Dentsu Inc., has become more powerful than ever and that they are scared of the company rather than the prime minister’s office. They said the company will immediately cancel advertisements [if something happens],” said Morita. “The advertising giant has flexed its political muscle.”

Yasuhiro Nakasone is a former Japanese prime minister who served from 1982 to 1987 and had amicable relations with late U.S. President Ronald Reagan. He was considered to be relatively skilled in media management.

The 88-year-old former premier, looking back on politics and journalism when he was a prime minister, said, “Nowadays, both politicians and journalists lack substance. They are apt to focus on shallow events that have little significance.”

In an era when television has enormous influence over politics, Nakasone said a politician’s image on TV is important, to some extent, but not one of the most important qualifications.

“We can compare a politician to a tree. A tree has flowers and branches, but its most essential part is its trunk. ‘Perfomance’ may be represented by the leaves and flowers, but it is the trunk that produces them,” he said emphatically.

“So, as long as one is preoccupied by leaves and flowers, I would say that further growth as a politician is necessary. Appearing on tabloid TV shows rarely leads to greatness.”

Nakasone added the public would also shy away from such politicians.

“When it comes to the prime minister, people focus on the trunk and roots, not just the leaves and the flowers. The public already has the ability to distinguish between the substance and ‘performance’ of politicians, at least to a certain degree. It is the media – its commercialism—that caricatures politics. Politicians must be wary of this and not allow themselves to succumb to this commercialism.”

While both Nakasone and Koizumi have similarities in their effective use of the media, the key difference between the periods of the two leaders in terms of media coverage is whether or not there are some people in the media who are critical of a prime minister, said Morita.

“While more journalists supported Mr. Nakasone [when he was a prime minister], there were still those who criticized what he did. So there was always a lot of tension between reporters and politicians and also among reporters,” recalled Morita. However, those who cover Koizumi “are competing to flatter him. It is ugly journalism. There is no one in the media who is critical of what Mr. Koizumi has done. Critics in the media were purged.”

Morita, the author of “All-Round Criticism of Koizumi Politics,” is no exception. He was a regular TV commentator for national news programs. His
appearances on TV have dwindled since Koizumi took office. TV staff members confided to him the pressure from the Prime Minister’s office.

“One TV staff member said to me apologetically, ‘Mr. Morita, I like you. But if I continued to work with you, my job would be on the line. I have a family to feed,’” Morita said.

This show-house in a northern Tokyo suburb is one of several ongoing trials of earthquake warning technology in Japan. Set up by JEITA, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Association, it uses information received over the Internet from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) and their nationwide network of earthquake sensors. JMA’s computers analyze data on the first swift-traveling tremors that arrive from the epicenter of a major earthquake to predict where and with what strength the earthquake will strike.

The system can then produce a warning of a few seconds to as long as half a minute, which should be enough time to take minimum precautions to prevent serious injury, says Shinya Tsukada of the Seismological and Volcanological Department of JMA. “You can’t pack up your belongings and run away, but at least you might be able to get under the table.” In March, a JMA-hosted study group of researchers, business representatives and officials from public organizations, issued an interim report regarding the progress of such research and ways that it might be used.

Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone areas of the globe–20 percent of the world’s magnitude 6 and greater earthquakes occur here. Each year, there are more than a thousand earthquakes powerful enough to feel, and major disasters are frighteningly common. In 1995, Japan experienced its most destructive quake of the post-war period, the Great Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, which killed 6,435 people in and around the city of Kobe in central Japan. In October 2004, a large earthquake killed 51 people in the northern Japan prefecture of Niigata.

While virtually no part of Japan is safe from the risk of a major quake, particular attention is focused on the prospect of a major earthquake either in Tokyo, or in the Tokai area west of the capital. A recent government study simulated the consequences of a 7.3 magnitude quake under the north part of Tokyo Bay, a disaster smaller than the 1923 Tokyo earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people, but similar in size to the Kobe earthquake. The study estimated 11,000 deaths and economic damage reaching $955 billion (112 trillion yen) — 850,000 houses were destroyed outright and as many as 7 million people were forced to abandon their homes.

As researchers struggle to produce reliable results from long- and medium-term earthquake prediction systems, recent attention has concentrated on short-term warning systems such as the JMA’s. By using its own network of 200 sensor stations and several hundred set up by other research bodies, the agency can calculate the epicenter of a large quake in as little as two seconds. Although the idea of earthquake warning systems is not particularly new–there are systems in use in California and in Mexico–the system now being developed in Japan promises to be a nationwide network and make use of a range of Internet and mobile communications technology.

Since 2004, the JMA has been transmitting information about imminent earthquakes to select companies, schools and public bodies in a number of trials. A crucial factor is the distance between the epicenter of the earthquake and the area that receives the warning, said Tsukada. “In a really big earthquake, the system may not be useful for people directly above the epicenter, but it may help people further away.”

That principle was clearly demonstrated by two major earthquakes that occurred after the JMA started testing their system. In October 2004, the Niigata area of central Japan was hit by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake. Although the JMA’s system pinpointed the earthquake within seconds, the worst-hit areas were directly above the epicenter, and there was no time to issue a warning. Then, in August of last year, an earthquake hit the northern Japanese prefecture of Miyagi. This time, because the epicenter was 60 miles away in the ocean, the system was able to provide a 16-second warning before tremors reached the heavily populated city of Sendai. The earthquake measured an upper-5 on the Japanese scale of earthquake intensity in Sendai, enough to topple furniture and cause moderate damage to buildings.

“People’s attitudes changed completely after the Miyagi earthquake,” said Tsukada. “They realized that we can really use this technology.” In Tokyo at the time, Tsukada received an automatic cell phone text-message from the system when the earthquake was detected, and then felt the weakened tremors a minute later.

Yukio Fujinawa is the managing director of Real-Time Earthquake Information Consortium (REIC), an NGO that is looking at how information from the JMA’s warning system can be put to practical use. “There are two basic uses for the information,” he said, “one is to stop machines, etc., the other is to warn people.”

Setting up automatic systems to stop assembly lines, halt elevators or alert doctors about to start medical operations, is relatively simple, he said. Reaching a consensus on the second use, how or whether to alert the general public is more difficult. One problem is false alarms; out of 400 alerts since the testing began two years ago, approximately 30 have been mistakes. Another is the possibility of panic. REIC’s Fujinawa suggests a solution could be to introduce the technology gradually. He proposes installing systems in schools and teaching children how to respond to the warnings from a young age. REIC estimates the cost at around $17,000 (2 million yen) for each of Japan’s 55,000 elementary and middle schools.

Warnings might also be issued through the media, much the same way that earthquake reports are broadcast at present. Every year, an automated system passes reports of 200 to 300 earthquakes to the Japanese media, and they are normally broadcast within 2 minutes of the earthquake occurring. Alternatively, Japan’s extensive network of public announcement speaker systems could be put to use. According to REIC, two-thirds of local governments already have suitable systems in place.

One company, the Tokyo start-up 3Soft Ltd., is now developing the world’s first portable home earthquake warning system. They have named it “Digital Catfish,” after the catfish’s legendary tendency to show strange behavior immediately before earthquakes. The PDA-sized receiver picks up wireless earthquake warning transmissions and relays them to smaller speakers placed around a home, or to other safety devices such as those in the JEITA show-house. 3Soft officials hope to price a home-use system at less than $850 (100,000 yen), although they say it is unlikely that the government will allow individual households to buy the product in the near future.

“It’s still not clear whether or not the average household will be able to use our device,” said CEO Hiroyuki Iue, adding that their first customers will probably be businesses or public organizations. Beginning in June, organizations will start applying to the JMA for permission to use the earthquake warning data. 3Soft hopes to start selling the device later this year.

Researchers are also looking at how mobile technology could be used to transmit earthquake warnings. Cell phones already play an important role in the immediate aftermath of earthquakes — though not without problems. “When an earthquake happens cell phones become difficult to use,” said Akira Matsuki, a senior manager at Japanese carrier NTT DoCoMo. “In previous large earthquakes the usage has exceeded capacity by several times to tens of times.” Setting up cell phone capacity to cope with the spikes in usage following a major earthquake or other disaster is prohibitively expensive. Instead, Japan’s major carriers have set up mobile-Internet bulletin board systems to let users leave messages that can be accessed by concerned friends and relatives.

“No matter where you are, if you have a mobile [phone], even though there may be restrictions on voice calls, you still have access to the Internet,” said Matthew Nicholson, Media Relations manager at Vodafone K.K. The systems also link to each other so that messages can be picked up across different carriers. Vodafone’s system has been put into action four times since it was initiated in April last year. Following the Miyagi earthquake in August, 23,000 people checked messages on the site.

A long-term, and somewhat more difficult challenge, is to enable cell phones to relay JMA earthquake warning messages. According to NTT DoCoMo’s Matsuki, developing such a system could both help convey warnings of a coming quake and help cope with the flood of messages afterwards. “We are examining using existing mobile phone technology to send large numbers of messages to users simultaneously,” said Matsuki.

Although he said he couldn’t divulge details of the research, Matsuki noted that a system is unlikely to use present e-mail messages, which take too long to open and read. He also pointed to the need for a standardized system across carriers, and careful consideration of the consequences of the technology. For instance, what would happen if drivers on a freeway decided to stop suddenly when they received an earthquake warning?

The government’s study group on the emergency warning system is due to produce its final report some time between September and December this year. The report is expected to include a road map for implementing earthquake-warning technology. But until consensus is reached on how exactly to use the information, however, it looks like the warning service will only be available to select groups chosen by the authorities. Debate among study group members continues. According to participants, some have raised the question of whether it is fair only to provide warnings of impending catastrophes to those who pay, others have questioned the responsibility of issuing warnings that might be false alarms or could potentially cause mass panic.

“The technology is ready,” said the JMA’s Tsukada. “The argument now is about how to give the information to the public.”

Last July, Professor Ueno was chosen by a citizens’ group in the Greater Tokyo district of Kokubunji as the first speaker in a series of lectures on human rights; the events were to be sponsored by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
But according to the group, Tokyo officials objected to the choice of Ueno because she might use the phrase “gender-free” – a poorly defined term originally intended to mean free from sexual bias. The citizen’s group refused to find another speaker and instead cancelled the series of events.

Ueno lambasted what she termed a repression of free speech: “I have strong objections to any official agencies banning the use of any words in public, unless they are discriminatory expressions or hate speech.” She also claimed that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s (TMG) move was part of a pattern of similar actions. “I am afraid it may be part of an ongoing backlash by neo-nationalists.”

“Gender-free” is an imported English phrase that has been used in Japan since the mid-1990s. Some progressive teachers and local education authorities have used the phrase to promote liberal sex education, and the mixed listing of boys and girls on school roll calls. The latter is contentious in Japan where traditionally boys’ names are read out first.

Originally a near synonym to gender equality, it has become highly controversial. Ueno accused conservatives of deliberately hijacking the phrase and distorting its meaning. She noted that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has a special body set up to oppose gender-free education. The “Extreme Sex-Education Gender-Free Education Survey Project Team” was set up in March last year and is chaired by Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary. The grandson of Nobusuke Kishi, a class A war criminal and later prime minister, Abe is widely predicted by political commentators to be the next premier.

The project team’s Web page criticizes “out of control education” that “denies differences between the sexes.” It cites examples of older elementary school pupils forced to stay overnight in the same room, and includes photos of anatomically correct dolls the site says were used in Tokyo schools “to teach sex acts.” A fax number is given at the bottom of the page with request: “Everyone, please send us examples of inappropriate education taking place near you.” The project team says it has produced a 100-page report put together from 3,500 messages it has received.

In Tokyo, the phrase “gender-free” has been officially banned by the Metropolitan Board of Education since August 2004 and cannot be used by instructors in schools. “The phrase gender-free is not properly defined, so it is likely to cause confusion,” explained the board’s Shinichi Egami. He added that the board could not support Ueno as a speaker for the Kokubunji lectures in case she used the phrase. “We can’t support a lecture that conflicts with the policy of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.”

The term gender-free is also criticized in the Office of Gender Equality’s recent revision to the “Basic Plan for Gender Equality.” The document includes examples of “extreme” education similar to those on the LDP’s Web site. Professor Ueno suggests there is a clash between progressives and conservatives in the party, pointing out that the current Minister for Gender Equality, Kuniko Inoguchi, is known as a progressive advocate of gender equality, while her deputy, Eriko Yamatani, is a much more conservative politician.

Sophia University Professor Inoguchi herself hinted at conflict within the LDP when she spoke at a briefing for foreign journalists this January. She first praised reform of Japan’s economic structure, then went on: “Now it is time for social structure. This is more complicated, more delicate; I have to listen to many traditional voices. And if you go too far, you lose everything.”

One of the loudest traditional voices is Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, ex-novelist and a right-wing firebrand. He is known abroad also for his 1989 book “The Japan that Can Say No,” co-written with then Sony Chairman Akio Morita. In a 2001 interview with women’s magazine Shukan Josei he described “old women” as “the worst evil and malignant being that civilization has produced,” adding that “it is said that old women who live after their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin.”

On Jan. 27, six women’s groups presented a petition with more than 1,800 signatures to both Ishihara and the Metropolitan Bureau of Education protesting the cancellation of Ueno’s speech. But speaking at his regular press briefing, the governor denied that Ueno was censored. “The city government has no recollection of making such a rule,” he said. He also criticized the phrase gender-free. “The phrase itself is sloppy and vague. We are Japanese, so we don’t use English.”

Ueno, however, is adamant that the Tokyo government’s actions amounted to censorship. “If it were any private organization, it is perfectly all right to have any particular criteria to choose a speaker,” she said. “But the TMG is a public body supported by tax payers . . . [this] is a political intervention by power, which is to be called censorship.”

Lawrence Repeta, a professor at Omiya Law School, compared Ueno’s case to more than 200 teachers in Japan who have been disciplined for refusing to stand for the flag and sing Japan’s national anthem during graduation ceremonies. “The government is forcing them to stand even though it conflicts with [the teachers’] personal beliefs and causes them personal anguish,” said Repeta. “This is worse than censorship. It is a form of behavior control.”

Authorities have also targeted NGO activists. In February 2004, three anti-war activists were arrested and imprisoned for 75 days after distributing pamphlets at a residential complex for Self-Defense Force personnel in the Tokyo suburb of Tachikawa. Amnesty International took up their case, calling them “prisoners of conscience.” Eventually the charges against them were rejected by the Tokyo High Court.

The fringes of the Japanese press are feeling the heat too. In July last year, the editor of a small Kobe scandal magazine, Kami no Bakudan (Paper Bomb), was arrested. After being charged with defamation against Aruze Corp., a manufacturer of Pachinko gambling machines, editor Toshiyasu Matsuoka was held in custody for 6 months and released on bail Jan. 20.

These apparent attacks on free speech coincide with a rightward shift in the Japanese political climate. Koizumi’s controversial visits to the Yasukuni shrine, which honors 14 class A war criminals along with Japan’s other war dead, have angered Japan’s neighbors. Tokyo Gov. Ishihara and Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe have also been to pay their respects at the shrine, and Foreign Minister Taro Aso recently called for the Japanese emperor to visit. Relations with Korea and China have been further strained by the publication of revisionist history textbooks that gloss over Japan’s wartime actions in Asia.
Yet even a political shift shouldn’t change constitutional rights, stressed Repeta. “Maybe you have political leaders who are very nationalistic, and they are popular, they are elected . . . but that doesn’t change the constitution,” he said. “The constitution guarantees freedom of expression, and it guarantees the freedom to hold personal beliefs to all people.”

The gender-free censorship controversy comes at a time when gender issues are already in the spotlight. In the government’s revision to the 2000 Basic Plan for Gender Equality, work-place equality was a prominent topic — the lack of which is being blamed for Japan’s extremely low birthrate and shrinking population. If the baby bust continues, the UN has predicted there could 20 million fewer people in Japan by 2050.

Japanese women are being forced to choose between starting a family and pursuing their careers — and many plump for the latter. Although Japan has a law saying that firms are obliged to give one year of maternity leave, according to the Gender Equality Bureau, 70 percent of women are effectively forced to resign from work when they get pregnant. Barely 1 in 5 women take maternity leave, and despite being legally entitled to paternity leave, virtually no men (0.56 percent) take time off.

Many women report being told to quit or being bullied into leaving when they become pregnant. One young mother, Miyako (who asked that we not her last name), took maternity leave from her job at a trading company shortly before her son was born, but she doesn’t know yet if she will go back to work or not. “My boss told me, ‘Your position might not still be available when you come back.’” Despite that, she says that her company is relatively considerate to female employees. She said she has heard of expectant mothers made ill by the stress at other companies.

The controversy over the term “gender-free” seems to have become a distraction from the real issues of discrimination Japanese women face. If so, perhaps some of the controversy could be avoided by a change in terminology. Professor Ueno herself has said that despite Tokyo officials’ fears, she doesn’t generally use the term gender-free because it is not in currency outside Japan. “I have an alternative suggestion,” said Ueno, “to substitute the words ‘gender free’ with ‘gender equality’. What’s wrong with that?”