Opinion

How Foreign Journalists Portray Japan

By JULIET HINDELL

The way foreign journalists like myself cover Japan has recently come under scrutiny from a group of Japanese living in the United States. The group has published a book called "Warawareru Nihonjin" or "Japan Made in U.S.A." It criticizes coverage of Japan, particularly in the New York Times newspaper, for being unbalanced and for portraying Japan as a bizarre and amusing place.

My initial reaction when I read about this book was, to be frank: "How bizarre and amusing." It is difficult to imagine a group of British people setting about a similar project to review the coverage of Britain by, say, American or Japanese journalists. On the whole, unless a newspaper article is categorically wrong or racist, it is unlikely to spark more than a passing reference in British media or academic circles.

This suggests to me two points. First, that the British do not really care what others think about them and second, that we are so fond of criticizing our own society that we are not surprised if others join in.

I have not read the book and probably write articles to which the group would take objection. For instance they feel that Japanese women are wrongly portrayed by articles in the foreign media as being oppressed. I would agree that there is an emphasis on such subjects.

But I object to comments by one of the compilers, Hideko Otake. She said in a recent article that journalists should not "think of themselves as Indiana Jones looking down and observing a show without an obligation to learn about the society in which they are placed."

I am afraid that it would be impossible to be a journalist in Japan, or anywhere else, if one were not learning about the society in which one was working. Not only would one not get any reports into newspapers or onto news programs, one would soon be out of a job.

Japan is quite varied and is a challenging country to cover as a journalist. There is much that is unique and fascinating about the way this culture works, and news addicts around the world are eager to learn more about Japan.

Journalists tend to cover stories that they personally find interesting. For example I have covered the problem of "compensated dating" or enjo kosai because it is such a strange and sad phenomenon, and would be if it were taking place in any other country. It is true that "good news" stories about happy events rarely make it into news publications. If you took a year's worth of articles about any country they would probably give a negative view.

In general, I think we should not be too sensitive about how others see us. Rather, we should listen to what others say and decide whether there is some truth in their comments and whether we should learn from them. Personally I think the differences between people and places are what make the world a fascinating place. Let's celebrate our differences and respect them too.

Shukan ST: Nov. 6, 1998

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