Q&A Royals Insider Defies Press Club System and Gender Bias A friendship with a princess gave broadcast journalist Yukie Kudo a competitive advantage in Imperial family news. But the internationally educated reporter had to fight discrimination in the industry to do hard news stories given to her male counterparts. By Lori DesRochers
Q&A Sexual Minorities Find Their Niche on the Japanese Internet Japan's sexual minorities were among the first groups to take advantage of the Internet, says University of Queensland researcher Mark McLelland. He describes how they have effectively used the Net to communicate, socialize and campaign. By Tony McNicol
Independent Reporter Battles Press Club System for Freedom of Access Yu Terasawa was shut out of court trials because he wasn't a member of exclusive government press clubs. Now he's fighting that system in Japan's Supreme Court, arguing freelancers are being denied their right to gather information without obstruction. By Tony McNicol By Tony McNicol.
Reporter Says Danger Won't Deter Him From Future Visits to Iraq Award-winning freelance video journalist Takeharu Watai has spent six months in Iraq over the past year and a half, reporting on the lives of ordinary Iraqis. He talks with JMR's Keiko Mori about the perils of his job and the state of the Japanese media.
Media Pulling Punches On Iraq Coverage Restrictions The Japanese government has made a forceful request for self-censorship when it comes to news in Iraq, says media law professor Takaaki Hattori, and the media have largely followed through. Hattori thinks it's part of a larger decline in society's concern for freedom of speech. By Keiko Mori
Nikkei Flexes Its Online Muscle At a time when youth in Japan are spending most of their media dollars and time on cell phones and wireless content, admitted technophobe Hirotsugu Koike is charged with leading his company -- the conservative 127-year-old financial news giant Nikkei -- into a new era of online and wireless news delivery. By David Cady
Citizen Reporters Sound Off Against Traditional Media Why are hundreds of people in Japan and South Korea volunteering to work as reporters at upstart "participatory news" sites? Three "citizen journalists" say they became reporters because they feel the mainstream press simply isn't doing a good job of reporting the news.
Gossip Becomes News on Popular Anonymous Discussion Board Channel 2 -- Japan's most popular Web site -- gives people an anonymous way to vent their feelings. It also gives them a way to report news the media won't touch: Posters have repeatedly broken stories that were later followed by the mainstream press. By Hideki Furukawa.
Suzuki Sees Emerging Technologies Democratizing Web Journalism The president of Jiji Press America predicts traditional reporters (left) soon won't be the only ones gathering news: As camera-enabled phones become more ubiquitous, witnesses will increasingly e-mail photos and call in reports from the scene long before "real" reporters arrive. By Dorian Benkoil.
New Technologies Likely to Change Japanese Journalism Mark Delvin, publisher of Japan Today and Tokyo city guide Metropolis, says emerging technologies will give ordinary citizens more of a voice in Japanese media. Other predictions: The death of blogs and the end of free access to newspapers online.
Q&A With Bruce Rutledge From J@pan Inc Magazine Bruce Rutledge, editor of J@pan Inc magazine, explains the latest innovations in Japanese technology to a worldwide audience. Freelancer Tama Miyake recently asked Rutledge for his take on how the Internet, wireless and other emerging technologies will change journalism in Japan.
Q&A With Tim Clark From the Japan Internet Report The Japanese haven't embraced the Internet because they do not have a media-seeking habit, says researcher Tim Clark. Most Japanese aren't equipped or inclined to use a medium -- like the Internet -- that requires them to hunt down the news and information that interests them.
Q&A With Asahi.com One of Japan's largest dailies, Asahi Shimbun draws huge readership to Asahi.com, where an estimated 2 million readers view an average of 6 million pages per day. But like many online publications, Asahi.com has yet to figure out how to turn those page views into profits.