{"id":16347,"date":"2020-12-12T15:12:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-12T23:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16347"},"modified":"2020-12-21T15:12:21","modified_gmt":"2020-12-21T23:12:21","slug":"full-text-of-my-first-sna-column-is-now-archived-on-debito-org-the-japan-times-becomes-servant-to-the-elite-feb-2-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=16347","title":{"rendered":"Full text of my first SNA column is now archived on Debito.org: “The Japan Times Becomes Servant to the Elite” (Feb 2, 2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. \u00a0It’s been nearly two years since I wrote my first feature piece for the Shingetsu News Agency<\/a><\/strong> (the only independent English-language media left in Japan not toeing a Japanese government line; please subscribe) about the editorial swing over at The Japan Times. \u00a0That text has been behind a paywall ever since. \u00a0With the acknowledgment of SNA, I am now reprinting my columns in full on Debito.org after one year has passed since publication. \u00a0Here’s an excerpt, followed by a link to the full article in the Debito.org original timeline. \u00a0Debito Arudou, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

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

The Japan Times Becomes Servant to the Elite<\/strong>
\nBy Debito Arudou, Shingetsu News Agency, February 2, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 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…<\/em><\/strong><\/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.<\/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

Full article text now archived at https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15541<\/a><\/p>\n

======================
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The Japan Times Becomes Servant to the Elite
\nBy Debito Arudou, Shingetsu News Agency, February 2, 2019<\/p>\n

Excerpt: On 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…
\nFull article text now archived 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":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-reprints"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16347","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=16347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16348,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16347\/revisions\/16348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}