Japan Times Reader's Letters

[Mulboyne]

I was looking at yesterday's JT and I've just noticed that all the letters in that edition were written by Japanese.

Readers in Council, 25th August

Maybe this has happened a lot before but I've never particularly noticed. Is this a confirmation that FGs have increasingly moved to online forums to let off steam? Or more a reflection that the JT has become an irrelevance for foreigners.

[Bongo]

Yeah, for the price of the monthly 3,900 subscription you get old outdated news. While for the same amount you can get a reasonbly fast BB conection and news as it happens. Well, certainly fresher news than the J-times.

[sirwanksalot]

I don't know about that but, I do think that it has become too thin do earn my 150 yen payment. I used to like JT but there is also an increace in sensational stories being printed there as well.

I Agree with the fact that many of you FG's and me a truely disturbed soul are clicking online to get our news and not buying the paper thus leading to loss of sales and resulting in a crappier paper due to lack of good gaijin yen.


Was that a run on sentance??

[Taro Toporific]

I was looking at yesterday's JT and I've just noticed that all the letters in that edition were written by Japanese.
.... more a reflection that the JT has become an irrelevance for foreigners.

WOTS the Japan Times?
Isn't that the job classifieds for unemployable English teachers?

I get ALL my news from WaiWai.

Amorous anal adventurers
open to amoeba attack
WaiWai /The Mainichi Daily News / August 26, 2004
Japan, which its natives fancy as a hygienic country, is starting to discover a profusion of unpleasant diseases typically associated with third-world sanitation levels. And these, reports Nikkan Gendai (Aug. 26), are spreading rapidly.
One such illness is amoebic dysentery. It is normally spread via contaminated water or foods, or by animal droppings]http://img36.exs.cx/img36/1912/r3722861796.jpg[/img]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040826/ids_photos_sp/r3722861796.jpg

[Marvin Feltcher]

Sorry!

[kotatsuneko]

the only kind of gaijin who buy it I`ve seen are wankergaijin who have to wear a fucking suit living the corporate life..

mainichi owns anyhow ^^ and they have a nice office in Sapporo

[Marvin Feltcher]

Sorry!

[canman]

Call me old fashioned but I still like to pick up a newspaper and read through it in the morning while having my morning coffee. But the JT went to shit a few years ago. They began sending two day old papers to us here in the inaka. They picked up a bunch of right wing nuttos. So I switched to the Asahi, which promptly stopped their evening edition and then came back as the Int'l Herald Tribune, which to my understanding doesn't get sent out here to us. Yomiuri has to be the worst of them all. So like Taro I check the Mainichi headlines and Waiwai for anything interesting. For my students I just browse any site until I find something that will interest me and educate them.

[Taro Toporific]

the only kind of gaijin who buy it I`ve seen are wankergaijin who have to wear a fucking suit living the corporate life..

Seriously...
The International Herald Tribune/Asahi is now about the same price as the Japan Times so only unemployed anime freaks buy the Monday Edition of the JT to look for jobs. Yes, yes, the Japan Times local coverage is better than the Asahi, but as a whole they both suck and the The International Herald Tribune's coverage outside Japan is so much better. I've become increasing angry over the years to all the crappy mistakes in the so-called "respectable publications" of the Japanese English-language press.



As many of you folks have heard me say F-2-F in the Real World, I have spent YEARS angonizing over this English press in Japan problem since 've tried several take-overs a Japanese media outlets.
A few observations:
---At editorial meetings I've sat in on at the old Tokyo Journal, Gomiyuri Shimbun, et al, the standard phrase repeated over and over to kill an interesting stories was: 95% of our readers are Japanese and it's not interesting to them. T.I.J.

The Japan Times Leter-to-the-Editor are now all done by Japanese because only Japanese folks who wanna "bush-up" their alien language skills read ithe JT anymore.
THINK ABOUT IT: When is the last time you folks have read a "Sayonara Japan" letter by a foaming-at-the-mouth f'ed gaijin. These used to be in the Japan Times every month to my great amusment.

---Nowadays in PRINT publications, only the vile Tokyo Weekender and maybe the Metropolis can claim to have any FG readership.


Now if I could just convince those cheapskates at the Nihon Keizai Shinbun to let me read their online English for free since I'm subscribed to the Japanese print edition. I would loooove to understand what the hell I'm reading on the train on the way to work in the morning The Nikkei is the best newspaper in Japan even for topics other than business. The Nikkei's covering sociological topics like the trafficing of women. Their coverage in the past was MUCH better than what CNN is doing this week and other subjects covered like education and Korea are damn great too.

[Mulboyne]

The Nikkei is the best newspaper in Japan even for topics other than business

Yep. Have to agree with that. If only the damn company would give it away online for free...you'd think they were running a business or something...
I understand that a lot of foreign companies cancelled their subscriptions to JT during the 1994-97 exodus and didn't renew much during the hiring boom in the following three years. A guy at the New Otani told me that foreign guests generally ask for the FT, Wall Street Journal or IHT/Asahi and that's probably true at most Tokyo hotels for all

wankergaijin who have to wear a fucking suit living the corporate life

and a lot who wear chinos too.
If I spend 150 yen, it's usually on the IHT but I tend to scrounge most rags for free from hotel lobbies and coffee shops. Online news is far superior (of course MDN) but I can't stand riding the train with nothing to take my mind off the journey.

[Bongo]

I don't know about that but, I do think that it has become too thin do earn my 150 yen payment. I used to like JT but there is also an increace in sensational stories being printed there as well.

I Agree with the fact that many of you FG's and me a truely disturbed soul are clicking online to get our news and not buying the paper thus leading to loss of sales and resulting in a crappier paper due to lack of good gaijin yen.


Was that a run on sentance??

More than 20 years ago, the J-times news content was not much more than a rehash of the previous days Japanese news paper. You could buy a Yomiuri English paper, albeit right wing rag, then buy the J-Times the next day, only to see the same news you read in the Yomiuri the day before.

And as for doubt concerning BB for the price of the monthly J-Times subscription, YBB does a 12 MB deal including tax, modem rental and BB phone service for 3,702 Yen per month. Certainly cheaper than a monthly subscription to J-times!

[Captain Japan]

At editorial meetings I've sat in on at the old Tokyo Journal, Gomiyuri Shimbun, et al, the standard phrase repeated over and over to kill an interesting stories was: 95% of our readers are Japanese and it's not interesting to them. T.I.J.

It's about 50%. Or so I've heard from people who have actually seen the results of the surveys that are taken.

I think the Asahi/IHT is far and away the best of any of them. The Gomiuri is a complete waste of 120 yen (I used to like the foreign news supplements but even those aren't getting me interested anymore), though the sketchy translations of some stories are pretty entertaining sometimes. The JT is worth the 150 yen on Sundays, but only then. I feel like I'm getting cheated the rest of the time. And the editorials leave me very puzzled most of the time. For those of you talking about the Monday classifieds, anyone notice how in the last two years or so that section has shrunk by about 50%? Actually, the whole paper keeps shrinking.

The Friday and Saturday editions of the Asahi IHT are both really good. The human interest stories are usually well done and colorful. And the New York Times articles in the IHT section beat any of the skimpy wire stories that appear in the Gomiuri or JT.

And here at the office we get the FT which has pretty darn good coverage of Japan.

[Marvin Feltcher]

Sorry!

[deltaco]

He thought JT was for Japan Today not Japan Times. http://veepers.budlight.com/service/RetrieveCard?id=5HjopT.32bglGmslMrMkvG

[Taro Toporific]

He thought JT was for Japan Today not Japan Times. http://veepers.budlight.com/service/RetrieveCard?id=5HjopT.32bglGmslMrMkvG

Hey no sweat.
Anybody who understands Internet security is not gonna click on an unlabeled url from a new or unknown FG member since that generally means the url is a porn site or trick.

Besides, the above Flash-infested site of veepers.budlight.com/service/RetrieveCard, requires Microsoft IE browser with all Java controls turned on as well as demanding your email address, a pint of blood, and a gonadal tissue sample. Sheesh.

" To start, enter your email address * below.
( *Your email address will not be used for marketing purposes.)
This will be used as your return e-mail address."

[deltaco]

and if you want to see it without the link go to budlight.com the beer ya know? and second you can put any email you want in it if you want to(I use abc@abc.com)To see the video I made you don't have to enter any info. Your loss. But do you really think budweiser is going to infect your computer with a virus?

[Caustic Saint]

But do you really think budweiser is going to infect your computer with a virus?

Well, considering what they try and pass off as beer....

[deltaco]

I am more concerned about your internet ablilities (or lack of) that concerns me more.

[kamome]

wankergaijin who have to wear a fucking suit living the corporate life.

Hey! I resent that!

[Captain Japan]

BTW, the Weekender hasn't published since August. Various rumours are floating about its future.

Looks like the last time was the middle of July:

http://www.weekender.co.jp/new/040716/this_week.html

[Marvin Feltcher]

I heard that Weekender's owners have filed for bankruptcy.

[Taro Toporific]

I heard that Weekender's owners have filed for bankruptcy.

I'd buy the Weekender if the bankruptcy strips off the bad debts (fat chance).

[GuyJean]

I'd buy the Weekender if the bankruptcy strips off the bad debts (fat chance).

Hey, I don't mind the Weak Ender.. I like the local, black & white party photos in the back; I think I saw the Captain at "Kenji's Birthday Party".. He was drunk..

GJ

[Mulboyne]

I've never understood the appeal of the Weekender. Inertia seems to have played a big part in its longevity. At one stage, before Corky Alexander died, it seemed like most of the contributors were based in Hawaii. I think it reached a low after 9/11 when, wittingly or unwittingly, helped propagate stories about terrorist threats in Tokyo. I did come round on Bill Hersey, though, after first thinking he was an out-an-out joke. He has stayed the course over the years and gets my respect.

[Captain Japan]

I heard that Weekender's owners have filed for bankruptcy.

I'd buy the Weekender if the bankruptcy strips off the bad debts (fat chance).

I went through a bankruptcy with a company in Japan and that's exactly what happened. The debt was stripped off and they are still operating, albeit under a lot of restrictions. They are/were a textbook example of one of those zombie companies you read about. And the fact that they are still going always causes me to look at the rosy bad-loan-disposal progress of Japan's banks with skepticism.

But I reckon the treatment of the rehab board varies depending on who you are and what industry you are in.

[Mulboyne]

But I reckon the treatment of the rehab board varies depending on who you are and what industry you are in.

A big swing factor is whether there are unpaid corporate taxes. If the tax office gets involved, it slows everything down and leaves very little behind. The bane of everyone in corporate turnaround in Japan.
Back around 1995, the president of Hanix, a construction equipment leasing company, committed suicide in the tax office to protest that their inflexibility had prevented him from saving his company from bankruptcy and dissolution.

[Mulboyne]

Oh, and...
Monthly Seminar - TUESDAY, September 07 - "Metropolis & Japan Today: Past, Present and Future.

- Arriving in Japan in October 1989, Scottish-born <redacted> gained his first taste of the Japanese market by working in a variety of positions including English teacher, Network Administrator and IT Consultant designing database systems. Together with his wife <Mrs. Redacted>, he launched Crisscross Inc (later Crisscross KK) in 1993 and used it as a platform to publish "Tokyo Classified", Tokyo's first classified advertising magazine. Since then the magazine, now renamed "Metropolis", has grown into the No. 1 English magazine in Japan, with 30,000 audited copies distributed each week. In June 2000, they launched Japan Today, a Japan news and information portal which is now the world's leading source of Japan news in English.

It'll cost you 6,000 to go, mind you. That's not his fault.

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

Bit late to this be heres my two cents.

Print newspapers here aren't worth it even at half the price. No damn news of any substance.

I feel that Metropolis has taken readership from Weekender as they have moved their market focus over the years. Weekender was there for the older crowd who have been "placed" here or the real long termers with the social connections (embassy, trade asc...blah blah). Not my thing, but it is (was??) there.

If Metrolpolis was not free, would you read it? Inaccurate reports, "reviews" of friends restaurants or places you could only go on company expenses, uppity attitude about life outside of 5 stops from Shibuya and a new format that is almost unreadable.

Once again, the online options for information are a lot stronger.

[Marvin Feltcher]

I feel that Metropolis has taken readership from Weekender as they have moved their market focus over the years...If Metrolpolis was not free, would you read it?

<redacted>'s going to love me for this, but I think you're being way too tough. I remember when Tokyo Classified first came out. It was a shoddy little four-page leaflet. OK, there's some cruddy stuff in Metropolis, but there's a hell of a lot more good information in it, too. It's definitely the benchmark English publication in the country and the one that other magazines are generally either aspiring to become or trying to overtake. Some reports are fantastic. Steve Trautlein's story on Bobby Fischer a few weeks ago is still the best piece I've read on the case so far (including the reams I've produced and sifted through) and it was the earliest. Chris Betros almost invariably comes up with great stuff and is always readable. Cut 'em a bit of slack. I'm an unabashed fan.

[Big Booger]

KTO for me:

http://www.kto.co.jp/

Course that's geared toward the Kansai Hooligans.