THE JAPANESE PRESS has come under increasing fire from critics on both right and left in recent years, especially since the unfolding of the story of the U.S. press and Watergate. Disgruntled by the coverage in Japan of democratic-minded citizens’ movements, unhappy with the doctrinaire 1972 support of mainland China at the expense of Taiwan, disappointed with its lack of vigor in chasing Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei from office in 1974 and with inadequate investigative reporting during the Lockheed scandals of 1976, critics have produced a barrage of literature unfavorably comparing the Japanese and American versions of the free press. Perhaps because “democracy” is so strongly associated with the United States, Japanese most frequently compare their press with that of the United States. Thus, some of the more outspoken critics have suggested that what press differences really indicate is a basic dissimilarity between the Japanese and American forms of democracy, hinting darkly that unless the press changes, democracy may not last.

These writers do not deny the numerous similarities between the United States and Japanese press establishments: relative freedom in which they work; saturation news coverage to provide for a national reading public; the immense impact both exert on public opinion; and the great diversity of papers, ranging from the elite Asahi shinbun and New York Times, to sports papers such as Supōtsu Nippon and National Sporting News; from economic giants (Wall Street Journal, Nihon Keizai shinbun), to yellow scandal sheets.

The similarities, however, have not been the focus of the critics, who tend to take them for granted. Of much greater concern have been the points of divergence, which some think are increasing. And, regardless of their philosophical significance as indicators of the nature of Japanese democracy, these contrasts are probably more than just figments of the imagination; the more carefully one looks at the two press systems, the more convinced one becomes that superficial similarities in truth mask very basic differences.

How Do They Differ?

One such difference lies in the national nature of the readership in Japan. It has often been noted that Japan has the highest per capita newspaper circulation in the world – 541 copies sold daily for every thousand inhabitants – which is nearly two hundred above that of the United States. But more significant than their numbers is the nature of the readers.