Fukushima News Reports from Japan? Brief Explanation of Japanese News Sources and Why Some are More Sensationalist Than Others

Recently there is lots of reporting about how "if there is another massive earthquake, even a small one like a 5 or 6, the spent rod fuel pool at Fukushima could collapse and destroy the country and cause 40 million people to be evacuated from Japan." I seriously think people need to relax and get a bit more realistic. Worrying about this is worrying about something that is conjecture or speculation...

There's lots of things to worry about, folks, but the support system of the spent fuel rods pool building wasn't destroyed by a 9.0 earthquake, the sixth biggest earthquake in history, the plant and the building was damaged by a tsunami. A 9.0 earthquake is about 8000 times more powerful than a 6.0 earthquake. If the steel structure at Fukushima stood up to a 9.0 quake - and has since been reinforced - then I wonder what the chances are of a 6.0 quake destroying it? 


What are the chances of another 9.0 quake? An event that happens about once in one-thousand years? 


The walls of the building were damaged by an explosion, for sure. But the current state of having no walls around the spent fuel pools building is because the walls that were damaged by the explosion have been removed on purpose. They were removed because a new covering wall is in the process of being constructed and damaged walls are not stable.


The construction of the new walls started yesterday.


The last four paragraphs above are facts. That is what "news" is supposed to be; facts. Let me say an opinion, that, it is possible, that the world will end because of Fukushima. In fact, I'd give the odds of that happening, perhaps, a bit higher percent than the odds of life on this world getting extinguished by a massive asteroid blasting the earth to smithereens in the next year; or the sign of the Apocalypse when the Beirut river runs red with blood; or the sun suddenly exploding; or me winning the year-end lottery (and not giving a toss about any of this anyhow while I'm sipping wine on a yacht in the Carribbean). 


Folks, serious people in Japan are not following this story about Fukushima being the end of Japan or life on this planet as we know it. It's certainly not because the government is suppressing the story, either. I reckon people have their reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that the news services that are reporting this doomsday scenario are not credible news sources regardless of how many times they are repeated in the western press.

I love this headline!

I don't believe anything the press says anyway, but my reasons for not paying too much attention to this story about Fukushima, "ending life on the earth as we know it," is that there's many other things that are much more likely to kill me and I don't spend all day worrying about those either and, two, if it is the end of the earth, there's not another place I could move to that I know of. Is there?


But allow me to explain to the foreign audience the why's and what-fors as to why, in Japan's case, you need to consider the source about any news you hear... I'd like to just to put things in perspective for foreigners about Japan's news media....


In Japan, the TV networks are all affiliated with old school newspapers, so that explains editorial issues. Here are the five biggest news sources in Japan along with their political and business policy/slant. They are:


Sankei Shimbun (The most right wing of the major news sources. Pro-American, Anti-Chinese.)


Nikkei Shimbun (Pro business, pro market similar to Wall Street Journal. Affiliated with TV Tokyo)


Mainichi Shimbun (Liberal, often sensationalist)


Yomiuri Shimbun (Conservative. Most read newspaper in Japan. Populist positions. Affiliated with Nippon Television.)


Asahi Shimbun (The most left wing of the major news sources. Affiliated with TV Asahi)


Today, if we are talking about sensationalist reporting on Fukushima, then I'd like to talk about - must talk about - TV Asahi.

Asahi Newspaper

The news source that is reporting and running with this "Fukushima could be the end of the earth" scenario is TV Asahi. As stated, TV Asahi is affiliated with Asahi Shimbun but is a different company. Asahi news is Japan's oldest and second most circulated newspaper. Asahi Shimbun (newspaper) is second in circulation with about 8 million, but TV Asahi is one of the lowest rated national TV networks in Japan. If you realize that then it might make sense to you why they resort to really sensationalist reporting...


In TV Asahi's case, I suppose it's a chicken and the egg problem. Which came first? The sensationalist reporting or the bad ratings? So, now you know. There's a reason why TV Asahi's ratings are so bad. They've, for years, been guilty of sensationalist news reporting (if you can call it "news").

If it were Japan, Nancy Grace would be on TV Asahi

Another point that should make thinking people suspicious of anything Asahi news reports is that before the war (starting from the 1930s or so) Asahi news was an extremely right-wing publication and strongly supported the militarist  then prime minister of Fumimaro Konoe and was an ardent supporter of the war as well as harshly anti-captialist. After the war ended, they went 180 degrees the other way and are now the far left wing. They've been anti-business (pro-socialism and pro-statism) and anti-nuclear power since. 


If there is any news source in Japan who will be out in front first complaining about industry and these sorts of issues, it will be a leftist publication like Asahi Shimbun or TV Asahi. It is their audience.

That being said, TV Asahi's news is above and probably better than news sources like News of the World. So, if you like gossip and scandals, then they are the station for you...


If you want to watch "news" shows about the end of the world, then they have that everyday at about 9 am ~ 11:00 am as that's "Golden time" for housewives to watch TV...


People interested in serious news and economic reports do not tune to TV Asahi. They are not credible. In fact, to think that any TV news source is credible in this day and age is pure nonsense.




NOTE FROM A READER:


I have been living and working in Japan with the Navy since before the earthquake. The Navy has gone way overboard with radiation control measures and the only problem we have is that work gets stopped when we find radiation measurements that are about as high as you would find in a bunch of bananas. We have had a lot of nuclear trained officers and testing equipment on site since day one because we operate our own nuclear power plant on USS George Washington and the impact has been totally overblown. An "unprecedented" level of radiation can still be insignificantly low but just higher than normal.


- Fireman_Timmy

Bizarre Japanese Surveys: 72% of 20-some-year-old girls would date men over 40!

In Japan, surveys are very popular. The Japanese love to know just what percentage of the population they fit into. Be it where people like to go or what they like to do or what they think about this or that, the average Japanese, it seems, finds comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their views... No matter how silly the surveys get.

Here's one that was done by the Japan Times that had two things that I thought were interesting. See if you can find the two:

• 72% of women in their 20s who were polled by Yomeishu Seizo Co. replied that they would consider a relationship with an older man aged between 44 and 62 years old.
• 71% of those who responded to a survey by ishare Inc. said that they have already purchased the necessary equipment to view digital television.
• 68% of respondents surveyed by Japan.Internet.com and Goo Research said that they do not read the license agreements before installing new software.
• 44% of women who responded to a poll by Nikkei Woman Online said the first international destination they intend to visit from Haneda Airport’s new international terminal is Paris.
• 33% of people in a survey by ishare Inc.  said that they had something that was discovered by their mothers that they didn’t want to be found; 39.6% of this group responded that what they didn’t want to be found were books.

Of course it is the first two. Really? 72% of women in their 20's would consider a relationship with an older man between 44 and 62 years old!?

Maybe I should start going back to the sport gym! Do you think my wife will give me the money so that I can run around with a girl younger than my own daughter?

"Really? You'd date me?.. Ok, well, can you also lend me a dollar?" 

(writer's image girl - left)

And the second one: 71% of those surveyed said that they had already bought digital equipment to view digital TV. Aha! That is another piece of evidence that verifies what I wrote a few months back that the digital conversion is going to bankrupt TV Tokyo, TBS and TV Asahi.

If you want to read that blog and check the rationale, see here: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot.com/2010/08/marketing-japan-why-digital-tv.html

Marketing Japan: Fail! The Idiocy of Typical Japanese TV

By Mike in Tokyo Rogers

The complete title with sub-title of this article should be: Fail! The Idiocy of Typical Japanese TV - And Why Young People Don't Care About it Anymore. I've pointed out before that no media can survive the indifference of young people and that's what TV in Japan has become today.

This isn't meant to be, but could be, Part 3 as to why many TV stations in Japan are doomed... I predict that the first three to go bankrupt after the digital conversion on July 24, 2011 will be (in this order): TV Tokyo, TBS TV and TV Asahi. I wrote about this in detail here and here.

Yes. Amusing and intelligent. That's Japanese TV

Last night I had dinner with a nice family of friends who had a 16-year-old daughter. I spoke briefly with the father, mother and daughter about television. It was obvious that the father didn't watch TV or had no time to. The daughter seemed to not be interested in the subject at all. The mother, on the other hand, could do nothing but heap scorn upon it. As the title of this article suggests, that the youth didn't even care about the conversation shows that TV has a serious problem in this country; the mother was basically disgusted about TV and TV content.

The mother told me of an incident recently where TV Tokyo broadcast a "comedy" talk show about some famous Japanese guy that, before he was famous, had gone out with a girl for drinks, then invited her up to his apartment. When she rejected his advances and decided to leave, he got very angry and then attacked her by throwing frozen hams at her as she ran from the apartment in a brazen example of assault and, possibly, attempted rape.

The mother was extremely angry because this affair suggested that this poor woman was about to be raped, yet the TV shows "guests" all thought that this episode was hilarious.

The TV show guests all laughed and thought this was hilarious!? Really? I wonder if they would have thought it was so funny if that were their daughter?

What was the reaction the the viewing public to this laughed at and belittled case of near-rape and assault? Predictably, anger, outrage and viewer disgust...

Well, of course, most people in Japan have some common sense, the people who work in or on TV in Japan? Well, I'm not too sure about them.

Now this episode has become a big problem in Japan and an even bigger one for TV Tokyo as the people (especially women) are very angry about this.

Trust me folks, I've worked closely with TV Tokyo people for a few years now: It is basically a TV station full of idiots.

But I digress...

A week or so ago, my 21-year-old daughter was over to visit. She works as a lighting assistant for a very famous club here in Tokyo called "Ageha." Ageha is one of these places that have all-night dance parties every weekend and famous DJ's from all over the world come there to perform. My daughter is a laser lighting technical assistant and I'm very proud that she has chosen a field that she loves.

My daughter, like most girls her age, likes music, guys, money, nice clothes and accessories; she has an iPod and, of course, a computer and a cell phone.

"Do you watch TV?" I asked her. "No," she replied.

I asked her if any of her friends watched TV. Once again, the answer was negative, "Never." Then she added, "When I was 13 or 14 years old, if you asked me or any of my friends, they would have told you that they couldn't live without TV. But if you ask them now, no one ever watches any TV. Why would anyone watch TV? It's so incredibly stupid, ridiculous and a waste of time."

I've been telling people this for at least 8 years.  She rolled her eyes, "Yes, daddy, I know that!"

Watch this video. This is typical Japanese TV. This is a short scene...From TV Tokyo or TBS - whatever - it doesn't matter - the point is that this is typical. It is about some people who have created a jet pack consisting of Pet bottles filled with water and using compressed air as propulsion.


Japanese Water Bottle Jet Pack Fail - Watch more Funny Videos

Any kid who has played with balloons or plastic bottles in a child's wading pool knows what's going to happen when this "Jet-Pack" launches; it's going to go up to displace the pressure, then go back down immediately.

Of course, the TV audience has a bunch of (canned) laughter and they show it over repeatedly in slow-motion... Chuckle... Snicker (for, perhaps, a second or two at the stupidity of the entire thing)... Then, the show will spend the next ten minutes in mindless banter making stupid comments about it all...But then it ends... With a bunch of commercials no less...

Think about this.... This idiocy ends with commercials and a whimper of a laugh, if that. What satisfaction does the viewer get? What benefit to the viewers life was given? Or was this a waste of thirty minutes of the viewers time all in return for a second of laughter?

What a hollow existence! No wonder TV is dying. And, still to this day,  people actually sit and watch this stuff? The TV stations are so out of touch that they think a majority of people would actually take time out of their schedules to watch this? Extraordinary!

On cell phones or computers, the young person can communicate with friends real-time... They can see what they want, when they want... They can explore, adventure, learn new things and find new music, stories, romance, news!... But on TV? This sort of thing?

Dear reader is asked to consider as I finish this article, where is the satisfaction or redeeming factor in watching this Jet pack launching nonsense or watching people laugh at assault with frozen ham and attempted rape, or any manner of likeness of these two examples?

I suggest that there is none: One is about an attempted rape, but make no mistake about it, both are rape of the mind of the viewing audience by the fools running these TV stations.

The problem for the TV stations is that the people - especially the young - have finally caught on. The good old days of TV being King are gone... The days of TV Tokyo, TBS and TVAsahi are numbered.