BERLIN, Feb. 3 1939.—"Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels today ended the professional careers of five "Aryan" actors and cabaret announcers...on the grounds that “they displayed a lack of any positive attitude toward National Socialism.” www.nytimes.com/1939/02/04/a...

The ability of the once all-powerful Japanese media to shape political narratives is declining. My review of A Sociology of Journalism in Japan: The Last Empire of the Press, by César Castellvi. academic.oup.com/ssjj/article...

The Sanseito party has registered as a lobbying organization in the United States, seeking to "influence government, parliament, or administrative agencies to enact or amend policies and laws for specific interests or objectives". Why? H/t Matsudaira-san.

A Japanese court has order ordered Chinese reporter Hu Yue to pay ¥11m in damages for going off-script on NHK to describe the Senkaku Islands, which of course he will never pay. Has anyone bothered asking him *why* he committed career suicide in Japan? www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

More journalists have been killed in Gaza than in the US Civil War, WW I and II, the Korean War & the Vietnam War combined. In this special report, we detail the growing death toll among (mainly) Palestinian journalists and ask, has our silence enabled their slaughter? www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

"Our colleagues in the media must take a stand". My interview with Wael Al-Dahdouh, Palestinian journalist and bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Gaza City fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

H/t Eric Johnston: Three Billboards in Sapporo: (1) Trump ("Worst U.S. President in History"); (2) Mio Sugita ("Which Political Party Will Endorse You, Someone Who Discriminates Against the Ainu?" ); (3) LDP`s Shoji Nishida ("You're a Child Who Doesn't Know War. Please Face History Squarely").

Every August in Japan, many WW2-related stories run in the media. This one tells the story of a former child soldier who still has nightmares about what he saw in Unit 731. His apologies to China are greeted in Japan with abuse and slander. www.asahi.com/ajw/articles...

Our Freedom of the Press statement on the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif, and four other media workers in an Israeli airstrike on August 10th: www.fccj.or.jp/sites/defaul...

258 accidents by foreign drivers in the first half of this year, up from 1.9% the previous year. In a country of 125m people that doesn't sound like a huge issue compared to economic decline, stagnating incomes and growing inequality. h/t Sven Saaler. mainichi.jp/english/arti...

Please read: freedomtoreport.org

"Obama said '71 years ago, on a bright cloudless morning, death fell from the sky'. This was a totally unacceptable use of words. Death did not 'fall from the sky'. The Americans dropped the bombs. They created the world we live in." My intervu with Terumi Tanaka: www.irishtimes.com/world/asia-p...

Rightwingers in Japan are ganging up to stop PM Shigeru Ishiba was making a statement on the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender. They fear a rewrite of Shinzo Abe's 2015 statement, which famously said future generations should not be “predestined” to apologize for the war.

Shukan Shuncho says sorry for running a column last month by journalist Masayuki Takayama that attacked celebrities with Korean heritage or mixed parentage. Takayama recently also claimed that former US president Harry S. Truman was a member of the Ku Klux Klan: japantoday.com/category/nat...

Peak summer in Tokyo.

I once got arrested in Pyongyang: fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

My interview with Takashi Yokota, editor-in-chief of The Japan Times, who describes the racism and misunderstanding about Japan that he experienced while being raised in the US: fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has pitched the relocation of UN offices to Japan, "citing safety, affordability, and the US retreat from WHO, Unesco under President Donald Trump". what do you think? www.business-standard.com/world-news/j...

I'm emceeing this book break on August 4th by M.G. Sheftall, author of two blockbuster books on the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US nuclear weapons 80 years ago. Join us if you can. fccj.or.jp/event/book-b...

The Asahi Shimbun says PM Ishiba is digging his heels in and refusing to concede defeat against what it calls the 'old LDP', led by a faction loyal to his predecessor Shinzo Abe, "which was the epicenter of the faction's slush fund problem". www.asahi.com/articles/AST...

Without federal funding, public media — and the truth-telling, community-connecting role it plays — is at risk. Local stations may vanish. Millions could lose trusted news and vital information. If you are ready to join the fight for journalism, donate now: n.pr/458sOhq

The editor of the liberal Kanagawa Shimbun has protested the ejection of its reporter from a July 22 press conference held by the far-right Sanseito in the National Diet. The editor says as the recipient of subsidies paid by taxpayers, the party cannot bar media it dislikes.

"The results suggest that a country largely untouched until now by the far-right populism that has roiled European and American politics may be in for a period of messy instability." www.irishtimes.com/world/asia-p...

This story about the canning of Stephen Colbert's CBS Late Show amid claims that it will give the billionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison influence over the CBS, says it's an example of "obeying in advance". In Japan that phrase would be called 'sontaku'. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Who is this man? I showed a pic to my 12 seminar students yesterday and not a single one could identify him. Japanese political leaders, even consequential ones, seem to return to anonymity after office in a way unthinkable for US leaders.

My article on the growth of xenophobia ahead of tomorrow's general election in Japan.

Shinzo Abe's former speechwriter, Tomohiko Taniguchi, is the new chairman of far-right lobby group Nippon Kaigi:https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/eeeb27de2fc9596b81d8629f16565d596ba71545

"Will Japan Go Nuclear? Asia's Changing Security Environment by Ankit Panda". This press conference starts in a few minutes: www.youtube.com/c/FCCJchanne...

The FCCJ honors individuals and organizations in Japan and Asia for their commitment to freedom of the press: In 2024 the Asia-Pacific was the second most dangerous region in the world for journalists, second only after the Middle East: www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

2025 FCCJ Freedom of the Press awards. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIy5... *Japan Freedom of the Press: Shimbun Akahata *Honorable Mention: Hiroshima Peace Media *Freedom of the Press Asia: Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation *Honorable Mention): In-Depth Solomons Lifetime Achievement: Jiro Ishimaru

Journalism in China is not disappearing; it is reinventing itself under pressure. My interview with Ivan Franceschini, founder and editor of the Made in China Journal. www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

83.4 m people were living in internal displacement at the end of 2024, more than twice as many as six years ago (2018). 90% had fled conflict and violence. Nearly the entire population of the Gaza Strip remained displaced at the end of the year: www.internal-displacement.org/global-repor...

"Victoria Roshchyna, a 27-year-old Ukrainian journalist reporting Russia’s war against Ukraine, was captured by the Russians, imprisoned, tortured, starved and murdered. Her mutilated body with missing organs was returned home from Russia a few days ago." pressclubs.org/global-solid...

The latest RSF press freedom rankings put Japan at 66 (out of 180 countries) four places up from last year: rsf.org/en/country/j...

Climate change may make it too hot to conduct summer sports in Japan by 2060. Why are such stories about the destruction of our natural environment not topping the news every day? japantoday.com/category/nat...

Latest edition of No1 Shimbun includes terrific reads on Trump's 1993 visit to the FCCJ, and Phil Brasor on Japan's flawed new reproductive assistance bill: www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shi...

I'll be emceeing this press conference in a few hours. Join us if you can. "America is Trying to Mug Us": Shinji Oguma, Member of the House of Representatives, CDP. www.fccj.or.jp/event/press-...

Lawmaker Shinji Oguma has become a viral star since criticizing the US trade tariffs this month and likening the tactics of US negotiators to being mugged. I'm emceeing his press conference next Monday at the FCCJ. Join us if you can, online or in person. www.fccj.or.jp/event/press-...

PRESS CONFERENCE this WEDNESDAY: Legalizing Gay Marriage in Japan Gon Matsunaka, Director, Marriage For All Japan; Takako Uesugi, Co-representative, Tokyo lawsuit 'Freedom to Marry For All'; Keigo Komamura, Keio University: fccj.or.jp/event/press-...

World Press Photo of the Year for 2025: Nine-year-old Mahmoud Ajjour, who lost both arms in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City in March 2024. He's the same age at my daughter.

As has been pointed out, the claim that there are no foreign cars in Japan is demonstrably false. Mercedes sells 50,000 cars a year here; BMW about 30,000; Volvo 13,000, etc. What is true is that US cars are not popular. Why? best-selling-cars.com/japan/2023-f...

South Koreans celebrate Yoon's expulsion but ousting does not heal divisions. My piece in The Irish Times: www.irishtimes.com/world/asia-p...

New research paper argues that the onslaught in Gaza has killed more reporters than the US Civil War, World Wars 1 and 2, the Korean War, the Vietnam war, the Yugoslav Wars, the Afghanistan War and the Ukraine War COMBINED. (h/t Jonathan Cook). watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/p...

Why Shiori Ito's documentary needs to be seen. My column in the Mainichi Shimbun: mainichi.jp/english/arti...

So many online scammers. Anyone heard of OPODO? Booked a flight with them in February. Just got my credit card receipt to find that they deducted 2 separate payments, 2 weeks apart. When I called to query, I was given a 60-minute runaround, of course. Steer clear of OPODO.

Not to be a wide-eyed naïf about such things but... am I right in thinking that they levelled an entire building to get to one guy and *that* is not controversial to anyone in the American media or political class, only that this information was recklessly shared in an unsecured chat?