This article is from the American misconceptions about Japan FAQ, by Tanaka Tomoyuki ez074520@dilbert.ucdavis.edu with numerous contributions by others.
whenever i looked at the Japanese news magazines (AERA, etc)
at the Indiana Univ library, i had this sense of vertigo:
i was bewildered by the richness of materials presented.
of the 100,000,000 things that can be reported about
Japan, "NY Times", etc report only 20 things --- things
that can be used to reinforce the notions of crowded,
expensive, sexist, suicidal, copycat, etc.
American reports are always filtered through the racist
prejudice of Nicholas Kristof and others like him.
i no longer have such vertigo when i look at Jp news reports.
and the main reason is that i now look at THE DAILY YOMIURI
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/main/main-e.htm
from time to time. and i can keep in touch with 99,999,980
things about Japan that NY Times would not report.
other notable recent publications:
http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~ja1rna
http://www.cs.indiana.edu/hyplan/tanaka/m/zipangu.txt
http://aardvark.tierranet.com
 
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