In 1993 the longed conflict between some members of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the commercial broadcasting sector has finally explore where the LDP members confirmed their first defeat in the general election since 1955 because of  Kume Hiroshi News Station (TV Asahi) reporting. However, the LDP has soon taken back their role in the government which angered TV Asahi. This incident was known as 'Tsubaki Affair’ which is named after TV Asahi's then news director Tsubaki Sadayoshi (Altmann 1996). It shows the tense relationship between the LDP and the private media even though that LDP did not succeed in the end. We can see in that many conservative politicians in japan believe that television journalists have a huge influence on people opinions, especially those who are working in commercial television (Gatzen, 2001). 

Japan is following the communist theory where the government owns and controls the mass media where most of the media employees are government employees so that they can avoid any political issues in the future. 

Japanese people are drowning in information where they have a wide range of newspaper readers; they are the highest in the world. To have an example, Japan society is following the “Press club” system which considers the press independency. Many Politicians and government agencies have one of these clubs that contain from 12 to 300 reports from various newspapers, broadcast media and magazines. Club members have a close and effective relationship between each other (Wikipedia, 2001). 

APA reference 1: Gatzen, B. (2001). Media and Communication in Japan. electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 3.

APA reference 2: Wikipedia. (2001). Mass media and politics in Japan. electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 4.

APA reference 3: T, J. (2010). New Media VS Old Media in Japan. Retrieved from YouTube.

Description: this video shows that Japanese people are still newspapers readers (T, 2010)  

Japan like most of the countries where the government indirectly control and manage the media in the country, where they control particularly the area of broadcasting. In japan the private network have their license renewed every five years by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. For example, the government influence over the public broadcaster NHK is bigger than other broadcasters. The council of governors of the NHK has appointed by the prime minister where the budget must be approved by the diet and this affects many cases of self-censorship by NHK (Legewie, 2010). 

APA reference 1: Legewie, J. (2010). Inside and Outside Powerbrokers . electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 17.

In Japan press freedom is constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected in practice. Therefore journalists and media in Japan are generally free to display their various point of views. However, journalists can’t write things that may affect their country policies according to law which has been passed in 2013. For instance, reporters who leak the state secrets can face up to 10 years in prison, while journalists who leak the country’s information can face up to 5 years in the prison. Not to forget that the Japanese law allows ministers to designate specific information like the country secrets for up to 60 years. Therefore, press in Japan does have the freedom to write what they want but in the same time there are limits for their writing and freedom (FOTP, 2015).  

These rules make Japan rank wore than Tanzania in press freedom where the journalists are panicking from this result. Japan falls in the 11 place since last year where they came in the 72nd of the total of 180 countries in the press freedom in 2016. Even though that Japan is one of the world’s leading developed countries they perform poorly in the press freedom of 2016 (Adelstein, 2016).   

Description: as the picture below demonstrates the data for 2016, Japan has rank in the 11 place which is worse than the last year ranking  (Adelstein, 2016).   

APA reference 1: FOTP. (2015). FREEDOM OF THE PRESS . electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 1.

APA reference 2: Adelstein, J. (2016). How Japan came to rank worse than Tanzania on press freedom. electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 3.

 

In my opinion the press freedom in Japan or any other country, gives the opportunity for journalists to show their thoughts, ideas, beliefs and values in a way that can reach people hearts and minds directly or indirectly which leads to more collaborative and effective society. However, everything must have a limit for it because without having limits things will start going out of control. This must be applied on the freedom of the press, where we can see that the Japanese government has put all of its effort to limit the freedom of their press so that they can protect their county secrets from being explore to their enemies. 

In Japan there is a low that traditionally panned newspaper publishers or business companies from controlling more than one broadcasting station. To have an example, Japan government has helped in the development of the Japan’s five leading media group, where each one of those media has established around one of the five national newspapers which are Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi, Sankei and Nikkei. As you can see in the table below, Japan’s main five leading group have control one main major and many small TV stations, newspapers, numerous and magazines  (Legewie, 2010).  

APA reference 1: Legewie, J. (2010). Inside and Outside Powerbrokers . electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 17.

Description: the table below shows Japan’s five media group and their power of controlling  (Legewie, 2010). 

 

 

As you can see in the picture below, the total population in Japan is around 127.1 “91% urbanization” millions where 109.6 “86% urbanization” millions of the population are active internet user which is a huge number. However, there is around 24 “19% urbanization” millions active social media account in Japan and 22 “17% urbanization” millions active mobile social accounts which proves that Japanese people prefer using their time in working rather than using it in social media and that’s why Japan is one of the biggest developed counties in the word. Not to forget that Japanese people use their cell phones a lot to made business and trade calls where mobile connections reached 155.6 “122% urbanization” millions which is a very big number (Leone, 2015). 

APA reference 1: Leone, D. (2015). LOCAL SOCIAL NETWORKS LEAD THE WAY. electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 2.

Description: The picture below demonstrates the digital statistical indicators in Japan in 2015  (Leone, 2015).  

Evidence 1- Description: The picture below illustrates Japan’s social media landscape in 2016, where you can see that Japanese people use app called “Line” more than Twitter and Facebook. Line was established in 2011 By NHN Japan as a way of communication “mobile messaging app” during Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011. It’s one of WhatsApp, Kakao Talk, WeChat and Kik biggest competitors. 40% of Japan’s population uses Line while 20% of it uses Twitter. Moreover, 17% of Japan’s population uses Facebook while the rest of it which is 1% uses LINK EDIN (Wong, 2016). 

 

APA reference 1: Wong, K. (2016). Japan’s Social Media Landscape in 2016. Japan Social Media , 4. 

Globalization is the drives of goods, people, ideas and capital due to the increase of the economic integration. It’s about moving towards living in an unlimited world where all aspects of cultures are processed worldwide (Dictionary, 2016).  

Japan is one of the most globalized countries in the word where it has high-tech exports like microelectronic, automobiles, gadgets and products. You can see Japanese companies invested all around the world. For example, Tokyo has invested in the automobile plant in France by using all of its labour law which is something to be proud of. Moreover, we can see Japanese tourist in every place and everywhere we go whether it’s the Empire State Building or the Golf Courses in Hawaii (Jones, 2011). The picture below demonstrates for us the globalization index where we can see that Japan has ranked in the 40 place in the most globalized countries around the world (Jae-won, 2015).  

In Japan the globalization has a hug impact on the media where we can see it in the TV programs, series and shows nowadays. For instance, TV stations went for interactional programs more than national programs due to globalization. Besides, the Japanese language is not the only language that is used in the Media in Japan; they also used the English language because it’s the world language where Japanese people contact other cultures and societies (Lyons, 2014).  

APA reference 1: Dictionary. (2016). globalization. Random House Dictionary, 1.

APA reference 2: Jones, R. S. (2011). JAPAN’S GLOBALIZATION. Economics Department Working Paper , 526.

APA reference 3: Lyons, J. K. (2014). Media Globalization and its Effect upon International Communities. electronic journal of contemporary japanese studies, 3.

Description: The picture below shows the Globalization index in 2015 (Jae-won, 2015).  

 

APA reference 1: YouTube. (2016). Social Media Revolution in Japan. Creative Commons Attribution, 1.

The photo below is one of those photos examples where you can see dead people sprit of ghost showed in the background of the image (Ashcraft, 2015). 

APA reference 1: Ashcraft, B. (2015). Japanese Photobombs Get Creepy and Spooky. Even with Cats. Japan Social Media , 1. 

Here are Japan’s top five bloggers name and accounts:

Izumi-Nagai: http://izuminagai.blogspot.jp/ 

Junko Suzuki: http://kawaiilabo.blogspot.jp

Natsu: http://lovebynatsu.com/

Ayumi Seto: http://ameblo.jp/asbs-setoayumi/

APA reference 1: Morelli, V. (2015). 5 Tokyo Fashion Bloggers to Bookmark. Social Media Japan, 2.  [10]

Story 1: China, Japan more upbeat on ties but challenges remain:

Summary: This news article talks about the improving the relationship between China and Japan which is a political article that considers the globalization expanding in Japan. 

APA reference 1: Japantoday. (2016). China, Japan more upbeat on ties but challenges remain. Copyright Thomson Reuters , 1.

APA reference 1: Newsonjapan. (2016). Beloved mascot Kumamon's absence since quakes spurs Japan Twitter traffic . Japan Times, 1.

APA reference 1: NewsOnJapan. (2016). Tsukiji Market to hold last festival May 3. the-japan-news.com, 1.