Japan Bloggers on the Princess Masako Controversy

One of the biggest Japan-related news stories at the moment is the case of Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne, an unauthorized biography of Japan’s crown princess written by Australian journalist Ben Hills. As a result, the Japan blogosphere has been abuzz with commentary on the issue. Here are a few of the best posts I’ve recently read on this topic:

Jun Okamura writes that “journalists should be held to the same standard as the rest of us”:

“An investigative reporter wades into an issue about which he is singularly unequipped to tackle. The language and the culture are totally alien to him. He is forced to rely on sources that are willing to talk to him in his native language. Undeterred, he publishes a book to underwhelming reviews. The book, perhaps inevitably, is reportedly riddled with errors, which will be duly corrected in the translation into that language, with the author’s consent.

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A decent human being would have acknowledged any errors and apologized for them, and explained that they would be corrected in the upcoming translation and any future editions of the book. The author instead lashed out at the complaint, claiming that he had nothing to apologize about. As far as media reports go, he has not yet acknowledged any wrongdoing.”

Durf comments on the comparing of this case to Iris Chang’s Rape of Nanking. He also offers an opinion on Jun Okamura’s article:

“…he was being held to those standards, and the Japanese version of the book was going to be an improvement on the flawed English one. But then he went on TV and made an ass of himself, which is apparently reason enough for the government to get involved in making pronouncements on which books are and are not worthy. I don’t see it. It’s a waste of effort when you have that fleet of black trucks out there to do the publisher-pressuring job for you.”

There is also some good commentary over at Tokyo Mango:

“I haven’t read the book, so I don’t really know where I stand on this. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hills pulled one of those dirty journalistic moves that lack cultural and professional integrity that has made my profession among the top 5 most hated professions in the world, but I also
wouldn’t be surprised if the government is overreacting in a desperate attempt to thwart any badmouthing of the Imperial family….

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Either way, I bet now that the book has gotten so much attention, it’s going to sell pretty well and Hills is going to be happy in the same way OJ Simpson was happy when he wrote If I Did It.”

Judging from what I’ve read in news articles and what these well-informed bloggers have written, it sounds like Mr. Hills has made quite a few errors in his book and doesn’t seem to care about honestly admitting them to the Japanese press. After all, there’s no better way for him to sell thousands of copies of his book in English speaking countries than to have the hundreds of English language news publications pick up his story of being pressured and censored by Japan’s angry right-wing conservatives (many of whom he apparently condemns in the book as being responsible for Masako’s stress). Even if this doesn’t get a publisher in Japan, its English edition is going to be selling like hotcakes due to all this press coverage. Way to be a jerk, Ben Hills.