Story Archives of 'Japan'

We in the West tend to imagine Japanese culture as a polite, regimented, law-abiding and peaceful one. But not every business exchange there ends with a bow. Scratch that reserved surface and you’ll find a vast and powerful underworld.

Mobs are legal entities in Japan. There are fan magazines devoted to the shadowy yakuza, as the Japanese mafia is called. Yakuza bosses socialize with politicians and public officials. The yakuza operatives are like modern-day samurai, with full-body tattoos. Many have missing pinkies - they lop them off themselves as penance. It’s a world largely unseen by foreigners.

Except for Jake Adelstein. At 19 years old, he became the first American to be hired as a staff writer for a Japanese newspaper. He was assigned to the cops beat, and for twelve years he tracked down serial killers, extortionists, child pornographers, and sex traffickers. He’s written a book about his experiences that’s out now. It’s called Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan. He joins us from New York with more.

(Photo by elmimmo via Flickr/Creative Commons)

US unemployment reached a high of 9.4 percent last month. In Japan, workers are also suffering from unemployment, and the related problem of too much work. Job insecurity and company-wide wage cuts mean that fewer employees are working harder, often at the expense of their health.

Last year a record number of Japanese workers sought and received compensation for job-induced mental disorders. The country’s suicide rate is also climbing. Japan’s Labor and Welfare Ministry reports that 158 people died from karoshi, or overwork last year. Reporter Ian Rowley is a correspondent in Businessweek's Tokyo bureau. He’s been talking to anxious Japanese workers. We called him to ask if that number represents a significant rise from the past.

Business Week: Anxious Japanese Are Working Themselves to Death

(Photo by MShades via Flickr/Creative Commons)

In case you haven’t heard, things aren’t going well for the American newspaper industry. The past few weeks have brought a lot of bad news - the Tribune company filed for bankruptcy and The New York Times is looking to mortgage its swanky new building.

With some major newspapers up for sale, journalists who haven’t been laid off yet are just waiting for the shoe to drop. Companies are caught in the perfect storm of a horrible economy and a media environment that changed so quickly with the Internet, nobody knew exactly how to adapt.

These issues aren’t unique to American companies, though. Newspapers and magazines in Japan are facing a similar crisis as circulation drops. The growth of online journalism there is leading to ethical issues, too.

Deborah Dilley is here to explain. She’s a writer and editor for Global Voices Online, a website that keeps track of what people are talking about on blogs all over the world.

Stories Discussed in Today's Roundup:
Japan Crisis in Primary News Reporting
Japan Bloggers Debate Collapse of Journalism
Twittering The Ghanaian Elections
China Protestors and Petitioners Penned Up
Wikipedia in Egyptian Dialect Controversial

(Photo by midorisyu)

One of Japan's most provocative playwrights, Takeshi Kawamura, is presenting two classic tales from Japan's literary past in the US this Spring. "Aoi" is a surreal story of jealousy and murder, and is set in a hair salon. "Komachi" a postmodern twilight zone that plays tricks with past and present. Both one-act plays are being produced by a Japanese troupe at Dartmouth College's Hopkins Center. We'll talk about the role of history and suspence with Yoko Shioya, the Program Director at the Japan Society and also with Dennis Washburn, Chair and Professor of Japanese and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College.