Japan's Media Environment

September 1, 2009 10:21 PM

Japan -- Media Environment Open; State Looms Large(August 2009, PDF)

A detailed, 67-page overview and analysis of Japan's traditional and new media environment published by the Open Source Center, an office of the Director of National Intelligence.

posted by armage (8 comments total)

It's kind of a cool document, but I'm kind of wondering what the most striking findings are.

Anyway, Japan Media Review has been a great source of info.

Global Voices Online is also a great place to track Japanese media.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:10 PM on September 1 [2 favorites]

This sounds like a tl;dr. Is there something specific in it that we should take notice of? Or is this just a 67-page homework assignment? (I'm too old for homework.)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:18 PM on September 1

The overview on pages 5-8 describe the major findings, but there's nothing particularly striking here -- more a confirmation of trends that have been acknowledged in the Japanese media for a while. It's interesting to me for its detail, and since most English-language reportage on Japanese media is middling at best.

There's also some interesting information about blogs/digital media and political campaigning -- something particularly apropos given the recent election.

Chocolate Pickle: Then feel free to go play outside. No one's making you do any homework in here.
posted by armage at 11:44 PM on September 1

There's also some interesting information about blogs/digital media and political campaigning -- something particularly apropos given the recent election.

Sorry, that information starts on page 56.
posted by armage at 11:44 PM on September 1

That's interesting. I see that all but Asahi has some sort of sport involvement in their other business areas. How did that evolve?

They really adopted Twitter:

In recent years there have been more Japanese Twitter users than US users, and on any given day, more than twice as many Twitter updates originate from Tokyo than any other city worldwide.

And I love the sound of this:

According to figures from the retail association of Japan, as of 2007 Japan had 2.6 million mobile wallet users… Paying by cell phone in Japan is as simple as tapping the device against a touchpad at a checkout counter, vending machine, or mass transit ticket gate.

Interesting stuff, thanks armage.
posted by tellurian at 11:50 PM on September 1

wow. i was just wishing i could do funds transfer via mobile.

i'd love to wave my phone at someone else's phone and have credit fly through the air.

hacker's paradise...
posted by artof.mulata at 12:58 AM on September 2

wow. i was just wishing i had a substitute for barter.

i'd love to have some metal or paper substitute that represented the transaction.

forgers paradise…

The difference is that this sort of transaction may well provide a possible audit trail.

Hacker's dilemma…
posted by tellurian at 5:19 AM on September 2 [1 favorite]

Thanks, armage, that's an awesome PDF. It will take me a while to read through it, but for someone (like me) with a vested interest in understanding the mechanism of Japanese media, it's perfect.
posted by Bugbread at 3:16 PM on September 8