John Oliver and news in Japan
Yesterday evening I was enjoying several features by John Oliver, mostly about the upcoming election in the US (Scandals), but also one of the best features I have heard from him on Guantánamo. It sadly reminded me of the completely different landscape in Japan.
Not only since the unprecedented warning to close down “biased” broadcasters by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, but ever since Abe is building up his more and more totalitarian control over the country, the freedom of press has been on shaky grounds.
Even worse, newspapers and TV outlets restrict themselves to “save” topics, which means: stupid talk shows, food, and above all praise of Japan and how good, how lovely, how great it is (Make Japan great again!). All this despite the fact that there would be a lot to rumble upon: covering up the truth around Fukushima, mountains of scandals around Olympia 2020, police brutality in Okinawa, the list is long.
Only thinking about having something remotely similar to John Oliver on TV in Japan is as unthinkable as Trump donating all his money to a charity for immigrants. Sure enough, John Oliver is one great example out of tons of rubbish in the US, sure enough, but this one example is missing in Japan.
What remains are Japanese media stations that crawl into the *** of the government, what a sad state.
(Photo credit partially due to Über Arschkriecher)
Sadly, the “lets do what America wants, without any question” is also seen in German politics.
When I watch Japanese TV, I get a feeling of “enforced happyness”, like having a strategy of bringing out happyness by all means. Atleast that I had not seen felt on German tv.
Thanks, indeed I agree. A friend of mine who returned after many years abroad confirmed me that the Japanese TV has changed to a largely self-praise of the Utopian Japan where everyone is happy. Disgusting.