106 Country Report: Information Network

The Asahi Shimbun is one of the leading national newspapers in Japan, as it’s also one of the oldest- it was founded in 1879. The Asahi Shimbun Company runs this newspaper source, and it’s represented by the President and Chief Executive Officer, Shiro Nakumara. The source is updated every day, and features topics of almost every kind from business to culture,and also has a separate section for opinion pieces, which is pretty cool. It’s set up like your typical online newspaper, and is very organized.Although this news source is originally Japanese, presented here is the English version: https://www.asahi.com/ajw/

I chose this source because it’s regarded as one of the biggest/most popular Japanese newspapers, so it must cover a wide-range of topics for it to be so big. It’s also updated very frequently, and is just an easy source to gain information on regardless of whatever I may be searching for.

The Japan Times is Japan’s largest English newspaper. The Japan Times Company, Ltd. is in charge of this newspaper, and is represented by a couple different people. Similar to The Asahi Shimbun, this newspaper covers a variety of topics with anything from current news- as it’s updated everyday- to Japanese sports like sumo wrestling. The website is very easy to navigate through as there’s main sections with different subsets. In 2013, The Japan Times and The New York Times announced a publishing agreement that would allow for The Japan Times and the International New York Times to be packaged together for the Japan market in order to give Japanese readers the ability to engage in global news.

Here is the url: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/

I chose this source because it’s a major news source for Japan and is supposedly some of the best english-langauge journalism throughout Japan. It seems pretty trustworthy as they did partner up with The New York Times, and still have that ongoing agreement.

Tofugu is a pretty popular blog that teaches its readers about the Japanese language, culture, and even politics. The blog consists of a team of 10 people, but it was created by Jared Koichi Croes in 2007. The blog isn’t updated all the time, as the last time it was, was October of 2022, but the main purpose is to supply people with guides and sources to help teach them Japanese, and give them different insight about topics that you might not see in everyday newspapers. They even have a podcast, which allows them to go more in discussion about the topics posted on their page. The blog is very cute, and organized very well, so anyone should be able to navigate it pretty easily.

The blog can be accessed at: https://www.tofugu.com/

I chose this blog because it’s just a really genuine source that wants to inform people about Japanese culture and language. Although it’s not necessarily a direct source for news about Japan, it could help me potentially understand the language and culture better for when I do look into articles and/or news regarding Japan.

*At least for now, this source is going to serve as my social media and my audio-based source because it’s broadcasted on the radio as well as online* NHK World News is a twitter account that delivers news not just from Japan, but from all over Asia. This source has a main website, but also the twitter account I’ve listed. The NHK (Nippon Hoso Kyokai) is a Japanese Broadcasting System, and is updated on a daily-basis. They operate through television, radio, and the internet, and can be translated into a variety of languages. It was founded in 1950, and aims to provide the most accurate news it can find, and in turn,  broaden people’s perspectives by offering different insights on current events. This source is very interesting because it allows you to see live-footage from around Japan, as well as having a podcast and a big social media presence.

Here is the twitter: https://twitter.com/NHKWORLD_News

Here is the website: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/

I chose this source because while it is just your average news source, it has a wide media presence with it being on television, the radio, the internet via social media and a podcast. It just seems like it’s really trying to educate people the best it can, while offering new perspectives and allowing for their coverage to be accessed in a multitude of ways which is really cool.

The World Bank is one of the world’s largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries, according to their website. However, it releases information and data on all types of countries, including Japan. The World Bank consists of 5 different institutions which help achieve the goals and projects of the company. This source is updated as much as it can obtain the information needed to do so, for example, the latest year in which Japan’s population was recorded was 2021. This source is good for finding data about Japan’s demographics, economics, environment, etc.

The Japan page for the World Bank can be accessed at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/japan

I chose this source because it’s an international institution that seeks to help and gain information on more than 170 countries. Although the main goal of the World Bank is to essentially end poverty and other challenges developing countries face, they still provide data and information on developed countries like Japan.

Kyodo News+ is a well- rounded Japanese news source, however, the one I have listed is in English. Kyodo News was founded post-WW2, and has won a reputation of being Japan’s most reliable news agency and is independent of government and commercial interests. Because the source is your typical news source, it is updated every day. This news source provides information on a lot of different topics, even including a separate tab for news just regarding the coronavirus.

This website can be accessed at: https://english.kyodonews.net/news

I chose this source because it is updated very frequently, and covers a plethora of stories and topics. The site is also very easy to navigate through.

To search for the sources I found, I essentially just looked up what guidelines you gave us, so for finding a social media source, I looked Japan up on twitter to see what news sources would pop up. It worked for the most part for all of my sources. For the data source, however, I just knew that the World Bank was a reliable site that gave data on a variety of countries, so I went with it. It wasn’t too difficult a process to find reliable international sources, especially because Japan doesn’t restrict censorship and is fairly democratic. There’s a lot of news sources out there, so that shouldn’t be too hard to find for the final draft, but I know it’ll be more challenging for the data and visual/audio sources. There are websites out there that list the most popular data sources or radio/television sites in Japan, so I’ll probably just go off of that and see what I find.

New Sources: 

Japan Today is a Japanese based news source, and it’s based in English. GPlusMedia owns this news company, as well as a few others. It reports on current news and information straight from Japan, ranging from crime to technology. It’s your typical news source, so it’s updated everyday. The site actually allows people to engage in discussions with one another on the news post.

This is the website: https://japantoday.com/about-us/ja

I chose this website because it’s updated everyday, and reports on all types of news regarding Japanese culture, politics, economics, etc. I really like the discussion function because it allows you to see other people’s perspectives on certain issues, and lets you interact with one another.

Naver Entertainment isn’t a standard news site, as it specializes in providing news regarding Japanese entertainment, like anime reviews or celebrity drama. Although it’s not reporting on your typical news regarding things like the economy and politics, I still think it’s just as important to report on more trivial news regarding pop culture and such. Some news sources are biased when reporting such news, but this site has a more light-hearted and unbiased approach because it’s what they specialize in. One interesting thing about this website is that it’s actually in Korea, but reports on news in Japan.

This is the website: https://entertain.naver.com/home

I chose this source because it’s different from what other news sources I’ve talked about, considering it covers more news about pop culture than anything. Obviously it’s not an official  news site that reports on the most important topics, but I still think it can serve some purpose if I need research on Japanese entertainment.

Sora news 24 is a Japanese news blog with about 8,000 followers, and it claims to produce around 37 articles per week. It reports on all types of Japanese news, and even features news from China, Taiwan, North and South Korea, and the USA. The news blog is based in Tokyo, and has a team of 21 people from different backgrounds and cultures.

Here’s the link to the blog: https://soranews24.com/

I chose this blog because the blog covers all kinds of topics ranging from ramen reviews and Pokemon to crime and politics. It’s also updated frequently.

Debito.org is a blog focused on human rights problems going on in Japan. Some topics covered in this blog regard education, employment, naturalization, etc. The blog was started by Arudou Debito, in which he alone has written over 5000 essays and articles regarding human rights issues in Japan. The blog is quite informative, and there’s a new article written about every other week, if not every week.

Here’s the link to the blog: https://www.debito.org/?page_id=2

I chose this blog because it’s different from all the other blogs I found, in which it specifically reports on news with a focus on human rights. I think it’s just a really interesting source overall, and because Japan has a higher standard of living, people probably don’t think that Japan has any problem with human rights, but obviously they do and this person tries their best to make it known.

Nomura is a twitter account that updates on the latest news in Asia, with a heavy focus on the economy and business. They have a main website, but I found them via twitter. Nomura is a global financial services group that focuses on connecting international markets from the East and West. On top of posting weekly articles, their website contains loads of information regarding strategies for sustainable growth, global markets, investment banking, etc.

Here is a link to the twitter account: https://twitter.com/Nomura

Here is a link to the website: https://www.nomura.com/

I chose this source because it has more of an economic approach, and I haven’t talked about any sources that do. Although I don’t understand economics that well, I figured this source could help me understand it more, as well as help me further understand Japanese economics.

Buzzfeed Japan News is a japanese-based twitter account that reports on all types of news and information. The twitter account focuses more on your typical news, while the website includes more fun things like quizzes and articles talking about shopping and movies and such. Buzzfeed is originally a US-based news source, but they’ve since expanded to other countries.

Here is the link for the twitter account: https://twitter.com/BFJNews

Here is the link for the website: https://www.buzzfeed.com/jp/news

I picked this source because I’m familiar with the US Buzzfeed, and essentially the Japanese one is the same, but features Japanese culture, news, pop culture, etc. I like Buzzfeed because it features a wide range of content, and it’s updated very frequently.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of over 190 countries that provides data and news regarding economies all over the world. The IMF’s goal is to achieve sustainable growth and prosperity by supporting economic policies that promote financial stability and monetary cooperation, as well as reducing poverty to zero. The website is updated frequently, and you’re able to get a lot of economic data from tons of different countries.

Here is the link to the website: imf.org/en/Home

I picked this source because it’s a very well-regarded international institution that reports not only on data (it’s updated as much as possible), but also on the news sources that accompany this data.

The United States Census Bureau is part of the US Department of Commerce, and aims to provide current facts and data surrounding the US, but also has an international database that provides that type of information for a variety of other countries. Types of information that can be found using this source are population, average annual growth rate, life expectancy, etc. The really cool thing about this database is that while you can go all the way back to the 1950s, you can also see what is predicted for future years up until 2100. There’s graphs detailing patterns and trends that go along with this data.

Here is the link to the website: https://www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/idb/#/country?COUNTRY_YEAR=2023&COUNTRY_YR_ANIM=2023&FIPS_SINGLE=JA

I chose this source as a data source because it’s reliable and details a lot of information about each country and their predicted statistics.

Sakura Radio is an internet radio station that reports on news in Japan, as well as all over the world. In their about tab on the home page, they claim to also discuss practical life information, like giving out human resource and emergency information. They’re show is broadcasted everyday, and can be listened to on the app, or on their website. It is owned by Interesse International Inc., and was founded in 1996.

Here is the link to the website: https://www.sakuraradio.com/index.html

I selected this radio source because it seems like it covers a lot of news, and I believe it streams all day, so it stays pretty updated with news going on all over the world.

TV Asahi is a television station owned and operated by TV Asahi Corporation, and is overall controlled by the Asahi Shimbun Company. Hiroshi Hayakawa is the CEO and head chairman of this company, and it was originally founded in 1957. TV Asahi is based in Japan, and essentially features all types of tv programs, ranging from sports to original anime and foreign cartoons.

Here is the link to the website: tv-asahi.co.jp

I chose this source because I had not yet found a visual-based source, and this one seemed interesting. This is an important source if one wants to become more educated on japanese entertainment, as this is a direct form of that.

Metropolis is Japan’s number one english magazine. It was founded in 1994, and is independently owned by Japan Partnership Holdings Inc. This magazine covers Japanese culture, art, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle not just to locals but to a foreign audience as well. The website is very aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate through.

Here is the link to the website: https://metropolisjapan.com/

I chose this source because it’s honestly really cool, and gives more insight on Japanese culture as opposed to just typical news happening in Japan. I think it’s a good source for anyone thinking of traveling to Japan because it provides information about restaurants and places to visit.

Web Japan is a Japanese news website that focuses more on helping people around the world to get to know more about Japan, so it provides information on culture, sightseeing, society, history, and nature. The content is in English, but some of it is multilingual. Web Japan is operated by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

Here is the link to the website: https://web-japan.org/index.html

I chose this source because I feel I’ve provided enough sources on Japanese news sites, and I wanted to look into more sources providing information on other aspects of Japan, like Japanese society and trends.