Thank your for explaning my argument point.
While I criticised it, I am not anti-Mainichi. I expect it to develop as a leading center-left newspaper. I thought its too tabloidish and vulgar English Edition disgraced its name and especially WaiWai violated obviously the rule and ethic of authentic journalism. I wouldn’t care if someone had a tabloid site named “Wonderful world of Japanese tabloid” or something like that. It’s another story.

As doinkies said, I’ve never attacked Ryan personally. I think it’s the problem of system, not of individual. Mainichi has been notorious for its weakness of checking system and it has caused many problems. As long as I know, the most angry crowds are not 2ch chicken patriots but doctors and nurses, especially obstetricians to whom Mainichi’s infamous misreporting caused severe damages. I hope Mainichi will succeed in handling this crisis and rebuilding its editing and checking system before this scandal reach to ears of general public(especially elders).

As for SMH, I don’t think this writer is a journalist. It’s the example of poor reporting. That’s all.

That said, not all of the stuff written in the waiwai columns are lies. Some of the more bizarre stories of Japan are true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGfaQCY_bo4

As much as you Japanese would not like to admit otherwise, the waiwai column contains some truth to them. I know a few girls who were groped on busy subways. And there are probably a lot of readers on this site who know some as well. Which seems to occur much more often in Japan then anywhere else in the world.

I think SMH reporter haven’t even read Mozu’s post.

There’s another SMH correspondent who has done similar journalism practice here in Japan a while agp.
http://www.debito.org/?p=112

And as in case of any Australian journalist working in Japan,he had also recieved “death threat from Japanese Right Winger™” in a form of “anonimous e-mail”.(They are so lethal and reading them could kill you,even you are in Down Under.)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/22/2011521.htm

… and here I thought the “True Sons and Daughters of China” were bad over on the China Daily BBS! Cripes, now I can see why the guys at South Park got flak about their spoof on Pokemon.

{shaking head}

For those folks in Japan – I ask only a question – can a country, too bridle to withstand poking humor at itself, can survive a true crisis without shattering?

He’s not some angry person who goes around starting flamewars. I wonder how well that SMH reporter could understand what mozu was saying.

I was netsurfing on the other day and run into yet another Waiwai related entry with link to Australian newspaper,Sydney Morning Herald article.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/japan-rails-at-australians-tabloid-trash/2008/07/04/1214951041660.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

And here it said.

“Connell’s troubles began in May with one of his now infamous WaiWai columns, which cited a Japanese magazine article about a restaurant in the Tokyo district of Roppongi where patrons allegedly have sex with animals before eating them.”

And I hold my breath by reading the following.

“The piece caught the attention of a blogger called Mozu, whose angry post was soon picked up by 2channel, a massive, fractious web forum popular with Japan’s hot-headed conservative element.”

Now,Mozu,our fellow commenter and you can see his post in this thread too,is far from an ordinary angry 2ch type.He also has his own blog on French Politics and EU issues(in Japanese)and I’m a regular reader/commenter there too.And there,he posted an analysis on WaiWai and the response in English Japan blogsphere by quoting whoelse but our host W.David Marx’s post on Neojaponisme!!!

http://rockhand.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2008/04/post_6f5f.html

That means:

1)Waiwai had inspired Marxy to write a post in Neojaponisme

2)That inspired Mozu to write his post on his blog.

3)A 2Channeler had read it and started a thread and it went up in flame

4)Mainichi shuts down Waiwai…..

My conclusion:

On internet,what goes around comes around.

That’s why I don’t understand why so many foreigners (specifically men) don’t see this as a big deal.

Think about it. Take any respectable newspaper in your country (not tabloids!), and let’s say they had a separate edition in a different language. The version in the original language has respectable news only, yet the foreign language edition has tabloid crap mixed in with regular news articles.
That’s ridiculous, isn’t it?

Mainichi to announce results of investigation into inappropriate articles in WaiWai column

The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. is conducting an in-house investigation into the publication of inappropriate articles in the WaiWai column of the Mainichi Daily News.

We will announce the results of the investigation, such as why inappropriate stories were run on the site, in the middle of this month.

We will ask the “Open Newspaper” Committee, a third-party organization comprising of outside experts, for opinions on the investigation results and report it.

Of course, I doubt Debito would know that, by his own admission he doesn’t read Japanese for pleasure often (probably because he can’t without great difficulty), so I doubt he has any clue what was actually in the Shuukanshi to begin with. Even if he did, holding them up as “an essential guide to Japanese attitudes” shows just how out of touch with most Japanese he really is.

hydrogen atom bomb is something that Japanese never mention in this kind of situation.

That is most likely.
And it is funny she writes as if Mozu’s writing led to attacking Ryan;he was the writer who criticized Manichi’s system of checking what was “translated” at WaiWai but he was a writer who warned that blaming an individual would lead the people concerned to play the victim card. Oh well.
Do English writers like Debito and Justin think “they can say whatever they like in” English, “as though” English ” is some secret code,” Or Is the Japanese secret code?

And thank you for the information about Karayuki-san.
Come to think of it, without your comment, some people might have wondered what was wrong with the article. My bad.
And thank you for the great post on your blog.

Another railed: “Ryann Connell is a degenerate scatologist – a typical Australian.” And a third wondered: “Why doesn’t someone drop a hydrogen atom bomb on Australia?”

Haha, funny. Is the Sydney Morning Herald equivalent of Asahi Geinou in Japan? I had been following 2ch threads related to this issue, but I have never seen such comments. Perhaps she herself thinks “Ryan Connell is a degenerate scatologist”. Also, she didn’t know that hydrogen atom bomb is something that Japanese never mention in this kind of situation.

Ponta, thanks for the interesting link. Why Japanese prostitutes have Chinese names? Haha.
That photograph used in the linked page is from “Ah Ku and Karayuki-San: Prostitution in Singapore 1880-1940″ by James Francis Warren. That woman was bought in Japan and forced to work as a prostitute in the brothel in Singapore that was approved by the British colonial government of Singapore. Chinese women were also being forced to work as a prostitute in Singapre at the period. That’s something that evil Japos should never mention.

the 39-year-old has become one of the most reviled figures in Japan

According to his diary on the Internet, he was born in 1955. Who is lying?

When contacted this week, Connell said he was unable to comment on “any aspect of the case”. But the Herald understands he has received several death threats and is under strict police instructions to stay inside his suburban Tokyo home until the matter dies down.

Where did the author get this “understand”ing?
And a poster called Yam on Marmot says he couldn’t find the quoted statement on 2 channel

Defending the weeklies, as well as Connell and his collaborators, is the unflagging media critic and campaigner for human rights Debito Arudou, who wrote that WaiWai was an essential guide to Japanese attitudes and editorial directives.

When did Debito become a media critic;though he might be a unflagging reader of HENTAI articles like WaiWai?
Surely Japan is a wacky place where a human right activists is a fervent reader and defender of pervert articles with full of lies.

I wonder if the author has really checked the waiwai archive and if she realises that the original magazines were the ones like this. http://www.evilgerald.com/Issues/Issue22/4JapaneseProstitutes.htm
and Mainichi pulled the section because it finally realized what kind of articles were translated with “free imaination”.

http://www.ezipangu.org/japanese/navigation_j/nihonjin/emedia.html

http://www.ezipangu.org/japanese/navigation_j/nihonjin/emedia.html

この問題の背景について真面目に考えたい人にはこちらの本が参考になると思います｡

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E7%AC%91%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%82%8B%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E4%BA%BA%E2%80%95%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A8%E3%83%BC%E3%82%AF%E3%83%BB%E3%82%BF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%82%BA%E3%81%8C%E6%8F%8F%E3%81%8F%E4%B8%8D%E5%8F%AF%E6%80%9D%E8%AD%B0%E3%81%AA%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC-%E3%82%B8%E3%83%91%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0/dp/4812306159

書評一覧

http://www.ezipangu.org/japanese/navigation_j/nihonjin/jmedia.html

引用

「日本は古いイメージのまま」ハリー・ハルトゥーニアン・ニューヨーク大学教授

１９９８年１２月４日　夕刊（P.2）中井良則

「タイムズの記事を読むと、昔ながらの異国趣味を私は思い浮かべます。古いイメージをさらに強めるだけのね。それを読むアメリカ人読者は、日本人って風変わりなんだ、われわれの方がいいんだと思ってしまう。」
「日本やアメリカのどちらかが相手よりもっと近代的なわけではない。ふたつとも極端に進んだ近代国家です。ただ日本は違った方法で近代化を薦めている。日本人も中国人もフランス人もそれぞれ違った方法で、同じことをやっているんです。われわれが理解しなければならないのはこのことです。みんな近代、同じ世界、同じ時間に生きている。多分、それが日本人とアメリカ人が互いに平等に話そうとする時のひとつの道でしょう。」

Nevertheless, if the “wacky, pervert Japan” stereotype exists, it’s not solely MDN’s fault.

It not solely their fault. And it is true there are real wacky Japanese people. And eroticism and wacky magazine are part of J culture just as any other cultures. There are also wacky magazines telling wacky things in Japan, truth or not. The Japanese know it and they know where they should be placed. You don’t dance naked on the street at noon and even if somebody said you did, few would believe it but might find the story fun, truth or not. As long as it goes, there is no problem.
But when Mainichi send such article in English without putting it into the context to the people who don’t know where to place it, especially when those people are already biased, it is misleading, and wrong.

Probably the article is worth reading for Japanese who is pervert-oriented or people who is interested in sociological tendency of pervert subculture in Japan. If put in the context, it is okay, but when put out of context, it is not.

You say you don’t care if the same thing happened to Colombia, I for one, don’t care if Mainichi put the article into the context, telling the readership these are articles translated from the magazines that you don’t put in the dentist waiting room, or public library;the articles are not the one for kids nor for sensible adults.(this happens to be criteria for the distinction between what sweetwater calls shukanshi and others, I guess)

But it is perfectly understandable many Japanese and many Colomibian people, nationalistic or not, will be angry at the media and journalists like Mainichi, especially when English media tend to over-focus on the wacky side of the country, no?
Of course I don’t endorse some of the way they protest, though.

Nevertheless, if the “wacky, pervert Japan” stereotype exists, it’s not solely MDN’s fault. Japanese porn stuff, Japanese shūkanshi, their consumers (domestic and foreign), etc., all contribute to the propagation of that stereotype. What I don’t understand is why the Mainichi is being singled out and why they don’t also protest the shūkanshi B. S. Are they okay because they’re Japanese and published solely in Japanese-language? How true is that “no Japanese believes shūkanshi”?

I’m not justifying MDN or Connell if they indeed twisted (some, not every) the already outraging shūkanshi articles. I just think there’s a double standard here. If a Colombian ‘serious’ media outlet starts an English-language version with articles taken from (the few) tabloids here [well, actually, there's no need for it, newspapers like 'El Tiempo' or TV networks as 'RCN TV' are tabloid enough], I wouldn’t care. I don’t think it’d be successful anyway.

Answering your question, I would probably call these magazines “teizoku-shukanshi” or “porno-zasshi.” I think Jitsuwa Knuckle and others are the magazines you would never want to read on the Yamanote line when you’re sober, although I may be wrong… You can try it if you like.

What do you call them?

Very few Colombians are mafiosos, drug dealers, terrorist, violent or disgusting, but they’re enough to create that prejudice, without the help of any media outlet. I get upset by those Colombian expats who in turn get upset when any bad news involving Colombians are published (just because they’re published, not because they’re still happening), and say stupid legends as “Colombian national anthem is the second best in the world after France’s” or repeat as parrot that stupid “Colombia is passion” slogan (yeah, “passion for kill”, e. g.). I cannot be indifferent, but if someone tells me Colombia is ruled by a corrupt elite linked with militias and drug barons and who cares little on the people except on election campaign, with an useless opposition with some of its members still justifying FARC’s terrorism… well, I can’t get upset at him/her, because, unfortunately, it’s true.

But other people do call them shukanshi.

I would not call the Jitsuwa Knuckle, the Asahi Geino, and the Shukan Jitsuwa weekly magazines (shukanshi). You would never want to put these magazines on your coffee table in your family room. What’s disgusting to me is that the Mainichi and Ryan Connell intentionally chose these dirty sex magazines and dishonestly referred to these as “weekly tabloids.”

There are not many outrages because Japanese people know these magazines are pornography, their circulations were much smaller, and those underground writers do not have any privileges the Mainichi reporters enjoy as the reporters from a national newspaper.

Some people say the Mainichi has a connection with the Souka Gakkai because they print Gakkai’s Seikyo Shimbun, and others claim Daisaku Ikeda is ex-Zainichi Korean, which I don’t know if it is true.

Anyway, to the best of my knowledge, the Mainichi Shimbun is NOT owned by the Souka Gakkai.

I read an English article by a Korean expat, condemning Japan that Japan has been morally corrupt and it is getting worse, citing an article from waiwai;’(if I remember it correctly) the article says that Japanese women on the street are at any time at the risk of their panty pulled down by pervert men. He took the article seriously. it was really hard to convince the author that the article was not true. I think ” channellers were angry because Mainich are responsible for causing such misunderstanding.

As for political and social situation about Colombia, I praise you for being self-critical. Now the Japanese people don’t know much about the country. So suppose that your neighbors in Japan who know you are from Colombia read the articles about tons of articles telling how violent Colombian men can be as well as wacky and pervert parties Colombia men are having every day and suppose further that she is told that the articles are written by very serious Colombian journalists and thus they take them seriously. Can you be indifferent?

I thought Japanese guys were proud of working hard for their company, but obviously not these 2ch freeters. I think by showing themselves like this they are doing more damage to Japan’s reputation than the WaiWai column

Though I understand that some of the WaiWai articles were twisted tabloid magazine articles, I still can’t get why 2channelers don’t protest in front of those publishing companies if they’re still profiting from publishing lies. Are they okay with shūkanshi‘s lies and outrages?

I’m not a nationalist and I hardly believe in patriotism, though I still believe every country, just as every person, should keep a minimum of dignity. Unfortunatedly, the elites and the criminal minority of Colombians are enough to make feel shame on us, without the need of any newspaper to publish “lies” in a foreign language. FARC kidnappings, lies and terrorism, AUC’s child beheadings, chainsaw massacres, and alliances with allies of the current president (his cousin and other 30 lawmakers are in jail because of that), millions of displaced people, a re-election process stained with a bribery scandal (buried by Ms Betancourt successful military rescue), Pablo Escobar’s cousin as the main presidential adviser and “ideologue”, a right-wing government who follows everything Bush does and more worried seeking how to remain in power than for actually ruling the country… well, given all that I’d prefer my fellow countrypeople to be more “wacky” and “pervert” if that’s necessary for them to be less violent and intolerant. We “the good people” might be “more”, but we’re too indifferent or impotent.

(I apologize if I was kind of deviating from the subject)

Having said that, yes I guess they don’t want to the world to learn about what is written on WaiWai because the articles are not true, misleading if put out of context, and disgusting.
If you are a big fan of wai wai articles, I suggest you to learn Japanese. I think there are plenty of such articles in Japanese.
And suppose someone translates into Japanese the hundreds of articles, truth or not, depicting how pervert and wacky Colombian men and women could be, saying this is from the mainstream Colombian newspaper. Or suppose someone replace the Japanese with Colombians (or whoever) in the waiwai articles and pubilsh them on the Internet, saying, “hey this is how things are going on in Colombia, these are from serious jounarlists, Can you believe it?, they are having a big party, Yeheeeey.”
Do you feel comfortable? If not, you may understand their sentiments.

Where did you get this information? According to the Wiki, the top 3 owners are the Mainichi’s employee stock-holding group (13.1%), the Shimotsuke Shimbun (3.6%), and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi-UFJ (3.5%). I think TBS and MBS are the Mainichi’s owners, too.

The idea that Japanese women overseas are being harassed because of the WaiWai column is also hilarious. The posts on this board supposedly from Japanese women objecting to WaiWai are obviously posted by male Japanese 2ch NEETS. Another hilarious tactic that are making these anti WaiWai people look ridiculous.

If Japanese women abroad are getting hassle as a result of WaiWai, what about all the western women in japan getting sexual advances from creepy Japanese guys? Whose fault is that?

This is very odd.

“Yup. Anyway some people would interpret that as slandering, among them someone at Mainichi, I guess…”

So be it. By offending people at the Mainichi using their own articles, those 2-channelers try to make them understand how offending their articles were. Even though the Mainichi deleted all of their WaiWai columns, they have not made any corrections. Instead, taking the 2-chan comments as slanders to their female staff writers, the Mainichi is threatening 2 channelers with lawsuits, which reveals their elitism and double standard and keeps intensifying the anger toward them.