Biggest news stories in Japan 2010
September 22, 2010 6:16 PM Subscribe
Biggest news stories in Japan for the first half of 2010.
I need to have a decent knowledge of the various news stories that have taken up the most space in Japanese newspapers from January to about July this year. I need at least 20-30 stories on politics or society that I can talk about in detail if the topic comes up. Is there some kind of service that will let me know this, or a list of stories by frequency and importance? I've fiddled around with Google News but it's not giving me the results I want. Thanks!
I need to have a decent knowledge of the various news stories that have taken up the most space in Japanese newspapers from January to about July this year. I need at least 20-30 stories on politics or society that I can talk about in detail if the topic comes up. Is there some kind of service that will let me know this, or a list of stories by frequency and importance? I've fiddled around with Google News but it's not giving me the results I want. Thanks!
Best answer: Huh...I'm not thinking of a good way to get this programmatically, although I'll keep thinking about it. Perhaps some way to parse through the major new sites like Yomiuri, Asahi, Japan Times, Nikkei, etc....maybe you can limit your Google New search to those? Maybe even scanning the archives manually would give you some of what you need?
Anecdotally, I can tell you a few things that I saw a lot on Japanese news since January, which includes all the hubbub around the base in Okinawa and Hatoyama being ineffective about it, obviously the transition from Hatoyama to Kan, the whole Whale wars thing, the new race between Kan and Ozawa (although that's later than July isn't it...?), the Manabu Oshio MDMA case (endlessly...), the old person who was dead but whose family was still collecting income on them, and all the backlash related to that...and ah, the umpty billion car accidents I seem to see every day on FNN news's webcast...I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot too. Dunno if this helps but I'd be surprised if these things didn't come up.
Oh, and the world cup. The world cup was huge in Japanese media!
I don't know if you are already familiar with these things and are looking for a more deterministic way to figure out what has been most prominent since January, or does this sort of anecdotal stuff help?
posted by dubitable at 6:49 PM on September 22, 2010
Anecdotally, I can tell you a few things that I saw a lot on Japanese news since January, which includes all the hubbub around the base in Okinawa and Hatoyama being ineffective about it, obviously the transition from Hatoyama to Kan, the whole Whale wars thing, the new race between Kan and Ozawa (although that's later than July isn't it...?), the Manabu Oshio MDMA case (endlessly...), the old person who was dead but whose family was still collecting income on them, and all the backlash related to that...and ah, the umpty billion car accidents I seem to see every day on FNN news's webcast...I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot too. Dunno if this helps but I'd be surprised if these things didn't come up.
Oh, and the world cup. The world cup was huge in Japanese media!
I don't know if you are already familiar with these things and are looking for a more deterministic way to figure out what has been most prominent since January, or does this sort of anecdotal stuff help?
posted by dubitable at 6:49 PM on September 22, 2010
Best answer: I don't know where you can find a list per se, but I do think there a few good news sources for people who are interested in Japan. If you want, you can set up an RSS feed so that you're up-to-date with the big news stories in the future.
In English, the Japan Times can be decent. If you can separate the opinion from the facts, The Economist can occasionally provide some insight about Japanese politics, although it's not specific to Japan and does have a center-right bias. For economic news in English, I would recommend the Financial Times - once again, it's not specific to Japan but it has a great page dedicated solely to the country.
In Japanese, I like NHK for its radio programs and Asahi Shimbun for general news & reading.
Personally, I have an opinion on some of the "big" stories of the past year: the DPJ's performance in the election, the leadership struggle, the rise of Naoto Kan, etc. One of the most important recent stories, IMO, is the unilateral devaluation of the yen and the impact it has had on Japan's relations with the EU and US. Japan's intervention to keep the yen low and help exporters has been perceived as weakening the US diplomatic efforts to pressure China to stop interfering with the renminbi.
posted by Despondent_Monkey at 6:58 PM on September 22, 2010
In English, the Japan Times can be decent. If you can separate the opinion from the facts, The Economist can occasionally provide some insight about Japanese politics, although it's not specific to Japan and does have a center-right bias. For economic news in English, I would recommend the Financial Times - once again, it's not specific to Japan but it has a great page dedicated solely to the country.
In Japanese, I like NHK for its radio programs and Asahi Shimbun for general news & reading.
Personally, I have an opinion on some of the "big" stories of the past year: the DPJ's performance in the election, the leadership struggle, the rise of Naoto Kan, etc. One of the most important recent stories, IMO, is the unilateral devaluation of the yen and the impact it has had on Japan's relations with the EU and US. Japan's intervention to keep the yen low and help exporters has been perceived as weakening the US diplomatic efforts to pressure China to stop interfering with the renminbi.
posted by Despondent_Monkey at 6:58 PM on September 22, 2010
This is what you want.
(I hope you can read Japanese)
posted by Infernarl at 7:05 PM on September 22, 2010
(I hope you can read Japanese)
posted by Infernarl at 7:05 PM on September 22, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for these replies. I don't know why but I didn't really expect people to know off the top of their heads the biggest stories, but they are equally helpful - I can just go and look up the details myself. Keep 'em coming!
posted by thesailor at 7:10 PM on September 22, 2010
posted by thesailor at 7:10 PM on September 22, 2010
It is a shame the wiki page is so light but maybe you can get one or two stories from it.
posted by saucysault at 7:17 PM on September 22, 2010
posted by saucysault at 7:17 PM on September 22, 2010
Infernarl, I don't know if that is super helpful 'cause it's just search terms...and among the top ten that aren't in English are "weather," "accidents," ah..."news," "China," (well, maybe that one is a start), and, er..."weather" again..."Ozawa" and "soccer" at the bottom may be semi-helpful I suppose. The new iPhone certainly was big though...hahaha...
Well, not to be dismissive but it might just take a lot of poking to get what you need from that link, although it could be a useful cross-reference or just give you clues as to what to look for.
Although, all the weather stuff reminds me that there were a lot of news stories about flooding this summer.
Another possible help are some of the wikipedia pages that link to news sites, like this one. I can't help but think there is something like Pew Research Center (mentioned on the above wikipedia page) but for Japan...anyone know? I'd love to know myself...
Oh, on preview, I didn't think of looking for that kind of thing saucysault...how about this (Japan's 2010) then? It is decidedly not light (but is decidedly in Japanese...).
posted by dubitable at 7:27 PM on September 22, 2010
Well, not to be dismissive but it might just take a lot of poking to get what you need from that link, although it could be a useful cross-reference or just give you clues as to what to look for.
Although, all the weather stuff reminds me that there were a lot of news stories about flooding this summer.
Another possible help are some of the wikipedia pages that link to news sites, like this one. I can't help but think there is something like Pew Research Center (mentioned on the above wikipedia page) but for Japan...anyone know? I'd love to know myself...
Oh, on preview, I didn't think of looking for that kind of thing saucysault...how about this (Japan's 2010) then? It is decidedly not light (but is decidedly in Japanese...).
posted by dubitable at 7:27 PM on September 22, 2010
Best answer: randomly, off the top of my head, Ozawa being forced to step down due to financial scandals, the failure of the Hatoyama government and Kan (a nobody with no hereditary political ties) assuming the role of PM. The gambling scandal in sumo, leading NHK to refrain from broadcasting a basho for the first time since they started showing them on TV. The World Cup (and that damn song that played every moment of the World Cup), the freakishly long heat wave that covered most of the country with record highs and record numbers of days over 30 degrees (where i live, it rained three days during August. Three. And it was over 30 nearly every other day). The missing old people. And of course, Kan managing to defeat Ozawa in the DPJ election, offering Ozawa a titular post, and stocking the party leadership positions with anti-Ozawa politicians.
Of course, if Ozawa quits the DPJ, that could be the next big story, as it could hamstring the government, again.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:28 PM on September 22, 2010
Of course, if Ozawa quits the DPJ, that could be the next big story, as it could hamstring the government, again.
posted by Ghidorah at 11:28 PM on September 22, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks, for the tips everyone. I've got something to work from now.
posted by thesailor at 12:12 AM on September 23, 2010
posted by thesailor at 12:12 AM on September 23, 2010
Nikkei Keyword, the next issue of which is coming out on October 13, usually provides a very good overview of the past year in an attempt to forecast trends for the next.
posted by armage at 7:53 PM on September 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by armage at 7:53 PM on September 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
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posted by thesailor at 6:18 PM on September 22, 2010