{"id":15541,"date":"2019-02-02T08:02:26","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T18:02:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15541"},"modified":"2021-04-27T09:16:35","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T16:16:35","slug":"debito-in-shingetsu-news-agency-the-japan-times-becomes-servant-to-the-elite-feb-2-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15541","title":{"rendered":"Debito’s first article in Shingetsu News Agency: “The Japan Times Becomes Servant to the Elite” (Feb 2, 2019) (FULL TEXT)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0A couple of days ago I commented on an article<\/a> in the Japan Times by a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomat and TV pundit Miyake Kunihiko<\/a> (or “Kuni”, for gaijin ingratiation) who has a weekly JT space for his musings. \u00a0A pedigreed elite trained in international “Gaijin Handling”, Miyake clumsily talks about Japan’s race relations and multiethnic future by critiquing tennis champ Osaka Naomi’s “Japaneseness”.<\/p>\n

My JT comment helped draw readers to the article, and I’ve just written my first feature piece for the Shingetsu News Agency<\/a> (the only independent English-language media left in Japan not toeing a Japanese government line<\/a>) about what Miyake’s article indicates in terms of the decline in the JT’s analytical abilities, as it swings rightward<\/a> to knuckle under to revisionist pressure on Japanese media<\/a> and curry favor with Japan’s elites. \u00a0It also cites other research from Reuters<\/a> and the Asia-Pacific Journal (Japan Focus<\/a>). \u00a0Full text follows for the record. \u00a0Debito Arudou, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

The Japan Times Becomes Servant to the Elite<\/strong>
\nBy Debito Arudou<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shingetsu News Agency, February 2, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Courtesy http:\/\/shingetsunewsagency.com\/2019\/02\/02\/the-japan-times-becomes-servant-to-the-elite\/<\/a> (full text reproduced with permission)<\/p>\n

SNA (Honolulu) \u2014 On January 28, the Japan Times published an opinion piece titled, \u201cHow Japanese is Naomi Osaka<\/a>?\u201d Author Kunihiko Miyake \u201cfelt something odd\u201d about how the multiethnic tennis champ could ever \u201crepresent Japan.\u201d Miyake\u2019s article is indicative of how the quality of analysis has slipped under the Japan Times\u2019 new ownership, and suggests how the purposes of the organization have changed…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To start with Miyake and his most recent article, he questions just how \u201cJapanese\u201d Naomi Osaka is: \u201cYes, she is [the first Japanese to be ranked World No. 1 in tennis]. But not quite so, is she?\u201d He goes on to pick over her Haitian-American-Japanese background, noting that she \u201ccalls America home\u201d and plays for Japan because of \u201cmore financial support.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

His insinuation is that foreigners such as Osaka are motivated to come to Japan for the money, not because they actually like the place and want to contribute.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Miyake\u2019s column then veers off topic to snipe at \u201cstereotypical comments on Osaka\u2019s victory\u201d made by \u201cexpat pundits living in Japan\u201d who \u201ccriticize xenophobia and discrimination in Japanese society.\u201d He is suffused with righteous indignation after his own not-entirely-logical detour.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He concludes that discrimination and xenophobia are \u201cquite common everywhere.\u201d He asks: What about discrimination in the Middle East, Europe, and even the United States? The \u201cwhataboutism\u201d is indeed strong in this one, as well as the \u201cforeigners can\u2019t criticize Japan\u201d sentiment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Miyake then declares that \u201cJapan is learning lessons as well,\u201d noting how it is becoming a multiracial and multicultural society\u2014to the point where sometimes \u201cJapanese nationals are minorities.\u201d But he still can\u2019t help adding that tinge of fear of being outnumbered.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Miyake\u2019s heart does seem to be in the right place when he opines that foreigners and biracial Japanese \u201care not rare anymore\u201d and that Japan will have to learn \u201chow to get along well with foreign newcomers.\u201d But again, he\u2019s implying, even after generations of international marriages and children born here, that Japan\u2019s multiculturality and multiethnicity is a recent development.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The only thing that is new is the fact that one of Japan\u2019s multiethnic citizens has become a world champion. So now it matters.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Miyake returns to Naomi Osaka to graciously pronounce her as \u201cvery Japanese,\u201d citing her behavior, such as having the \u201cJapanese characteristics\u201d of \u201cmodesty, politeness, honesty, and humility.\u201d (Never mind that her opponent in the champion match, Petra Kvitova, was similarly polite and gracious in defeat. Does it logically follow that Kvitova and anyone else who is polite must be Japanese as well?)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Miyake makes a good point towards the end, where he rightly asserts that, \u201cIt\u2019s time for Japan to allow dual citizenship.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

His reasoning, however, is askew. It\u2019s not because dual passports would save Naomi Osaka (and thousands of other multiethnic Japanese children) the emotional pain of sacrificing part of their identity to fit into an artificial binary, but rather because \u201cJapan will lose one of their greatest tennis players.\u201d In other words, it\u2019s for the good of the nation, the kokutai, through which Japanese can feel communal superiority.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Broader Picture of Japan Times Changes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This half-baked column is indicative of something much larger\u2014a decline in analytical prowess due to the editorial changes at the Japan Times in recent years.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Japan Times came under new ownership in June 2017 by the media group News2u Holdings, a PR company. In an unexpected editorial shift, last November the Japan Times announced that it would henceforth be rewording the \u201cpotentially misleading\u201d (and internationally-recognized) terms \u201cComfort Women\u201d\u2014which is already a direct translation of the official euphemism of ianfu\u2014as \u201cwomen who worked in wartime brothels, including those who did so against their will, to provide sex to Japanese soldiers.\u201d Likewise, the term \u201cforced laborers\u201d would now be rendered merely as \u201cwartime laborers,\u201d following the new government policy.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Aside from journalistic concerns about cramming a wordy term into concise articles, it wasn\u2019t hard for media observers to understand this as a response to government pressure, already manifest in Japanese media and world history textbooks, to portray Japan\u2019s past in a more exculpatory light.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reuters has since reported<\/a> that the executive editor of the Japan Times, Hiroyasu Mizuno, was recorded at a meeting with staff as saying, \u201cI want to get rid of criticism that Japan Times is anti-Japanese.\u201d Another executive added that this would increase advertising revenues from Japanese companies and institutions.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reuters added that the Japan Times \u201chad already increased government ad sales and scored an exclusive interview with [Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe after dropping a column by Jeff Kingston, director of Asia studies at Temple University Japan, who had been writing weekly on what he saw as the Abe administration\u2019s historical revisionism.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Symbolizing this shift, Shingetsu News Agency last December drew attention to a photo of News2u Publisher and Chair Minako Kambara Suematsu literally cozying up to Prime Minister Abe at a public event.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Reuters concluded by pointing out a remarkable coincidence: Late last year, the ultraconservative think tank Japan Institute for National Fundamentals zeroed in on the Japan Times, demanding they refer to plaintiffs in a controversial Korean court ruling on the Comfort Women as \u201cwartime Korean workers,\u201d thereby leaving out the nuance of forced labor or sexual slavery. Two weeks later, the Japan Times changed its wording.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The academic venue Asia-Pacific Journal (Japan Focus)<\/a> has also published a detailed article by David McNeill and Justin McCurry<\/a> depicting internal tensions within the Japan Times, with petitions for change, staff being yanked from their beat, editorial refusals to cover certain news stories, and connections to far-right groups decrying the \u201cpoor quality of Japan\u2019s English-language media, the gateway through which foreign nationals access information about the country.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fear and Favor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In sum, the Japan Times is clearly bowing to the years of pressure from the Abe administration, the longest-lasting and furthest-right political administration in Japan\u2019s postwar era. As a media outlet, the Japan Times has long been seen as means of \u201ccommunicating Japan to the world\u201d (i.e. not a forum for discussion about Japan\u2019s domestic problems), and those in charge want that message to be favorable.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I myself have been a contributing writer for the Japan Times since 2002, writing as the \u201cJust Be Cause<\/a>\u201d column since 2008. My specialty is human rights issues towards non-Japanese residents. In other words, I cover domestic problems.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 2017 and the arrival of the new team, I have felt a palpable editorial chill come over my submissions, and my column went from a monthly to a \u201cpitch-an-idea-for-us-to-approve\u201d status. Now I\u2019m lucky if I get an article published every few months.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In fairness, the Japan Times did recently publish my annual top ten list of human rights issues, where I put the Japan Times editorial issues as the #3 concern of 2018<\/a>, but clearly my writing used to be published at this newspaper in a much more hard-hitting fashion.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, my column of July 6, 2015<\/a>, noted how the Fujisankei Communications Group acquisition of news outlet Japan Today had shifted the English-language media landscape rightward politically, with articles becoming more assiduous in pointing out non-Japanese misbehavior, yet muted in its criticism of Japan.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This was after the English-language arms of Japan\u2019s major newspapers, including the Daily Yomiuri (eventually relaunched as The Japan News), the Daily Mainichi, and the Asahi Evening News, had relegated their foreign staff away from investigative journalism into mere translation duties.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The chair of NHK, Katsuto Momii, even went so far as to state publicly in 2016<\/a> that his network would not report on contentious subjects until the government has \u201can official stance\u201d on them\u2014meaning that NHK is willfully acting as a government mouthpiece.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Back then, I had concluded<\/a> that the Japan Times is \u201cthe only sustainable venue left\u201d with investigative non-Japanese and independently-thinking Japanese writers who are \u201cbravely critiquing current government policy without fretting about patriotism or positively promoting Japan\u2019s image abroad.\u201d I\u2019m not confident anymore that this remains the case.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

So how does one become a regular Japan Times columnist nowadays? Let\u2019s check back in with Kunihiko Miyake.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since April 16, 2018, Miyake\u2019s musings have been appearing weekly. No doubt his solid pedigree got his foot in the door. A prominent television pundit, Miyake\u2019s tagline indicates he is \u201cPresident of the Foreign Policy Institute and Researcher at the Canon Institute for Global Studies.\u201d He is also a former diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Tokyo University Law graduate.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This fulfills the Japan Times\u2019 apparent need at the current juncture to cozy up to Japan\u2019s elites.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The downside is that Miyake\u2019s column is evidence of the blindness of Japan\u2019s brahmins. He is essentially a person trained in international \u201cgaijin handling\u201d trying to make insightful comments on Japan\u2019s current race relations and multiethnic future. Bring back Jeff Kingston!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Japan Times is clearly trading quality journalistic insight for elite access, privilege, and funding. By hewing to a government-approved line, its quality as a news and analytical source will therefore continue to decline.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

ENDS<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

As Michael Penn at SNA notes, “I’m pleased to note that Debito Arudou has contributed his first article to the Shingetsu News Agency. Aside from being a strong article, it’s another step toward getting a wider range of writers taking advantage of our progressive news media platform.<\/em>” \u00a0Other writers and investigators, please feel free to pitch something to SNA as well. \u00a0Debito Arudou Ph.D.<\/p>\n

===============================<\/p>\n

Do you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0Please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>.\u00a0 Or even click on an ad below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of days ago I commented on an article in the Japan Times by a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomat and TV pundit Miyake Kunihiko (or “Kuni”, for gaijin ingratiation) who has a weekly JT space for his musings. \u00a0A pedigreed elite trained in international “Gaijin Handling”, Miyake clumsily talks about Japan’s race relations and multiethnic future by critiquing tennis champ Osaka Naomi’s “Japaneseness”. \u00a0<\/p>\n

My JT comment helped draw attention to the article, and I’ve just written my first feature piece for the Shingetsu News Agency (the only independent English-language media left in Japan not toeing a Japanese government line) about what Miyake’s article indicates in terms of the decline in the JT’s analytical abilities, as it swings rightward to knuckle under to revisionist pressure on Japanese media and curry favor with Japan’s elites. \u00a0It also cites other research from Reuters and the Asia-Pacific Journal (Japan Focus). \u00a0Here’s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

The Japan Times Becomes Servant to the Elite
\nBy Debito Arudou, Shingetsu News Agency, February 2, 2019
\nOn January 28, the Japan Times published an opinion piece titled, \u201cHow Japanese is Naomi Osaka?\u201d Author Kunihiko Miyake \u201cfelt something odd\u201d about how the multiethnic tennis champ could ever \u201crepresent Japan.\u201d Miyake\u2019s article is indicative of how the quality of analysis has slipped under the Japan Times\u2019 new ownership, and suggests how the purposes of the organization have changed…<\/p>\n

[Miyake’s] half-baked column is indicative of something much larger\u2014a decline in analytical prowess due to the editorial changes at the Japan Times in recent years.<\/p>\n

The Japan Times came under new ownership in June 2017 by the media group News2u Holdings, a PR company. In an unexpected editorial shift, last November the Japan Times announced that it would henceforth be rewording the \u201cpotentially misleading\u201d (and internationally-recognized) terms \u201cComfort Women\u201d\u2014which is already a direct translation of the official euphemism of ianfu\u2014as \u201cwomen who worked in wartime brothels, including those who did so against their will, to provide sex to Japanese soldiers.\u201d Likewise, the term \u201cforced laborers\u201d would now be rendered merely as \u201cwartime laborers,\u201d following the new government policy.<\/p>\n

Aside from journalistic concerns about cramming a wordy term into concise articles, it wasn\u2019t hard for media observers to understand this as a response to government pressure, already manifest in Japanese media and world history textbooks, to portray Japan\u2019s past in a more exculpatory light…<\/p>\n

Full article now at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15541.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,54,18,43,36,22,52,5,12,26,4,14,13,60,11,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-pinprick-protests","category-academia","category-bad-business-practices","category-bad-social-science","category-cultural-issue","category-hate-speech","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-ironies-hypocrisies","category-japanese-government","category-japanese-politics","category-media","category-nj-voices-ignored","category-problematic-foreign-treatment","category-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15541"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16618,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541\/revisions\/16618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}