Vicarious traumas: Television and public opinion in Japan's North Korea policy

Pacific Affairs

Volumn 79, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 483-508

  Lynn, Hyung Gu ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FOREIGN POLICY; GOVERNMENT RELATIONS; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; MEDIA ROLE; PERCEPTION; STATE ROLE;

ASIA; EURASIA; FAR EAST; JAPAN; KOREA; NORTH KOREA;

LACUNA;

EID: 33947143027     PISSN: 0030851X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5509/2006793483     Document Type: Article

References (89)

1. See, for example, Ellis Krauss, Broadcasting Politics in Japan: NHK and Television News (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000);
2. Susan Pharr and Ellis Krauss, eds., Media and Politics in Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1996);
3. and Laurie Freeman, Closing the Shop: Information Cartels and Japan's Mass Media (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000).
4. For details on the kidnappings themselves, see, for example, Nakajima Hiroaki, "Mokuroku-'rachi kikoku hōdō' dokyumento," in Jinken to hōdō renrakukai, ed., Kenshō: 'rachi kikokusha' masukomi hōdō (Tokyo: Shakai hyōronsha, 2003), pp. 140-257;
5. Larry A. Niksch, "North Korea and Terrorism: The Yokota Megumi Factor," Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, vol. 14, no. 1 (Spring 2002), pp. 7-24;
6. and Patricia Steinhoff, "Kidnapped Japanese in North Korea: the New Left Connection," Journal of Japanese Studies, vol. 30, no. 1 (Winter 2004), pp. 123-142.
7. Criticisms of statements by Japanese officials about the possibility of a "pre-emptive strike" abounded in South Korean newspapers of all political colours. See, for example, Kungmin Ilbo, 5 July 2006;
8. Chosōn Ilbo, 6 July, 2006;
9. and Hangyoreh, 11 July, 2006: Most of the coverage elided important information about the fact that while Japan has recently invested in an upgrade of its radar system, SM-3 intercept missiles, and new fighter planes with aerial refuelling capacity, Japan currently is incapable of launching an offensive strike against North Korea. I have no intention of defending Japanese neoconservatives, but problems with content convergence and minimal in-depth analysis are certainly not restricted to Japan.
10. For a summary of some of the relevant theories, see, for example, Ole R. Holsti, Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), pp. 1-51;
11. Eugene R. Wittkopf, "On the Foreign Policy Beliefs of Americans Public: A Critique and Some Evidence," International Studies Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 4 (December 1986), pp. 425-446;
12. and Ien Ang, Desperately Seeking the Audience (London: Routledge, 1991), p. 3.
13. Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, trans. John Cumming (New York: Herder and Herder, 1972), pp. 166-167.
14. Naikakufu, "Gaikō ni kansuru yoron chōsa," 2005, table 26;
15. and Mori Yoshitaka, "'Iraku kōgeki,' 'terebi,' soshiete 'audiensu,'" in Kobayashi Naoki and Mōri Yoshitaka, eds., Terebi wa dō mirarete kitanoka: terebi audiensu no iru fūkei (Tokyo: Serika shobō, 2003), p. 181.
16. NHK Hōsō Bunka Kenkyūjo, Nihonjin to terebi (Tokyo: NHK, 2005), pp. 3, 7, 8.
17. For these more sanguine observations, see, for example, Inamasu Tatsuo, Pandora no media: terebi wa jidai o dō kaetaka (Tokyo: Tsukuma shobō, 2003), pp. 20-22, 144;
18. and Mark Poster, What's the Matter with the Internet (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001), pp. 17-18.
19. Compiled from Naikakufu, "Gaikō ni kansuru yoron chōsa," 2002, question 1-14, table 25; 2003-2005, question 4, table 26.
20. Nihon ITU Kyōkai, Wa-rudo telekomu vijuaru deita-booku (Tokyo: Nihon ITU kyōkai, 2002), p. 12.
21. NHK, Nihonjin to terebi, p. 7;
22. and NHK "Zenkoku kojin shichōritsu" (Tokyo: NHK, 2005), p. 1.
23. Usui Hiroyoshi, Terebi ga yume o miru hi (Tokyo: Shōeisha, 1998), pp. 157-159.
24. For more details on the impact of "News Station" (introduced in 1985, and currently called "Hōdō Station") on the TV news industry, see for example, Ellis Krauss, "Changing Television News in Japan," Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 57, no. 3 (August 1998), pp. 689-690;
25. and Yoshioka Itaru, "Terebi jyanarizumu no 'uke-te'zō o saguru," in Kobayashi and Mōri, eds., Terebi wa dō mirarete kitanoka, p. 127.
26. Ishikawa Sakae, Parottingu ga maneku kiki: media ga baiyō suru yoron (Tokyo: Liberta shuppan, 2004), pp. 75-76.
27. Shigemura Toshimitsu, Saishin Kita Chōsen databook (Toyo: Kōdansha, 2002), p. 38.
28. Odagawa Ko, "Nit-Chō kōshō no ayumi o tadoru," Izumi Hajime, et al., Kita Chōsen - sono jittai to kiseki (Tokyo: Kōbunken, 1998), pp. 262, 266.
29. This accusation was denied by North Korea on Pyongyang Radio, 10 February 1997.
30. Koizumi's statements about his priorities can be found in any number of major and minor newspapers during the build-up to 9/17. See also, Hishiki Kazuyoshi, "Nit-Chō kanren hōdō: media baiyō suru fushin to zouo no yoron," in Kang Sang-chung, Mizuno Naoki and Lee Chong-wōn, eds., Nit-Chō kōshō: kadai to tenbō (Tokyo: Iwanami shoten, 2003), p. 160.
31. Kohari Susumu, Kankokujin wa, kō kangaeteiru (Tokyo: Shinchō shinsho, 2004), p. 44.
32. All statistics were calculated from the Videoresearch Company's database and are only for the Kantō region.
33. Maki Taro, "Kita Chōsen' to shichōritsu," Sekai shūhō, vol. 83, no. 44 (19 November 2002), p. 49.
34. There is still some confusion and inconsistency regarding which name is the formal one and which might be a nickname. See "'Hae-kyǒng' ka 'Ǔn-kyǒng'ka," Asahi Shinbun, 7 July 2006.
35. Asahi shibun received 400 complaints, and Mainichi Shinbun 150. For details, see Kato Yoichi, "Gimon kaimei no tegakari teikyō: Kim Hae-kyǒng san inta-view no keii to imi," Shinbun kenkyū, no. 617 (December 2002), pp. 35-38.
36. Videoresearch, vol. 43 (October 21-27, 2002).
37. Richard Nisbett, and Lee Ross, Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgement (Englewood: Prentice-Hall, 1980), p. 51;
38. and Joshua Meyrowitz, No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 106.
39. An ultranationalist group based out of Gifu, the Kenkoku Giyūgun, claimed responsibility for these and other acts. Police arrested several members of this association in connection with these cases. "Hiroshima-ken kyōso jūgeki jiken yōgi de otoko taihō-Kenkoku Giyūgun, taiho 12-nin ni" Asahi Shinbun, 22 December 2003.
40. While stumping for LDP faction leader Kamei Shizuka, on September 10, 2003, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintarō expressed the sentiment of many right-wingers when he declared that "it was perfectly understandable" that a bomb would be sent to a "bastard" like Tanaka. Koizumi and other cabinet members roundly condemned Ishihara's statement. Ishihara did not retract his statement, but clarified that he was not endorsing terrorism, but only stating that he understood the sentiments of those who sent the bomb.
41. See Susan Carruthers, The Media at War: Communications and Conflict in the Twentieth Century (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999), p. 208.
42. Compiled from Naikakufu, "Gaikō ni kansuru yoron chōsa," 2000, 2002-2005, Question 3.
43. Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spatacle (London: Verso, 1988, 1990), p. 6;
44. and Inoue Hiroshi, Terabi no shakaigaku (Tokyo: Sekai shisōsha, 1978), pp. 127-34.
45. For an example ofa primarily conservative Web site chatroom, see the Channel Sakura Web site , last accessed 24 September 2006.
46. For an example of a more varied site, see, for example, the Janjan threads on the North Korea media coverage, , site last accessed 24 September 2006.
47. For details on the 1965 Treaty, see, for example, Hyung Gu Lynn, "Systemic Lock: The Institutionalization of History in Post-1965 Soudi Korea-Japan Relations," Journal of American East Asian Relations, vol. 9, no. 1-2 (Spring/Summer 2000), pp. 55-84.
48. Fujita Hisakazu, "Nit-Chō kankei ni okeru rachi mondai no imi," in Kang, Mizuno and Lee, eds., Nit-Chō kōshō: kadai to tenbō, pp. 130-35.
49. Sato Katsumi, "Soto ni 'teki' ga hitsuyō na Kita Chōsen bunka," Gendai Korea Column, 4 April 1997, , site last accessed 24 September 2006.
50. Naikakufu, "Shakai ishiki ni kansuru yoron chōsa," 2004.
51. Naikakufu, "Anzen-Anshin ni kansuru tokubetsu yoron chōsa," 2004.
52. Oba Eri, "Kikoku hōdō to kojin, kazoku, kokka," in Kenshō: 'Rachi kikokusha" masukomi hōdō, pp. 90-91;
53. also Kitakura Kazuaki, "Eijū kikoku jitsugen no shisei zenmen ni - modokashii daihyō shyuzai," Shinbun kenkyū no. 617 (December 2002), pp. 32-34.
54. "Hazukashiku omou - Kang Chae-on Hanazono dai kyakuin kyōju," Mainichi Shinbun, 18 September 2002.
55. See for example, Yamagiwa Sumio, Rachi no kairyū (Tokyo: Fusōsha, 2004) esp. pp. 47-93. Wada has responded in print.
56. See for example, Wada Haruki, Dōjidai hihyō: Nitchō kankei to rachi mondai (Tokyo: Sairyūsha, 2005), esp. pp. 101-49.
57. Robert Entman, Prections of Power: Framing News, Public Opinion, and U.S. Foreign Policy (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004), pp. 29-49;
58. and Jonathan Mermin, Debating War and Peace: Media Coverage of U.S. Intervention in the Post-Vietnam Era (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999), p. 7.
59. "Rachi Giren memba- kyūzo, chōtōha sankasha 188-nin ni," Yomiuri Shinbun, 31 January 2004.
60. "Kengi ga Rachi Giren setsuritsu he, 40-nin ijō sanka," Iwate Shinpō, 30 June 2006.
61. See Jon Hein, Jump the Shark: When Good Things Go Bad (New York: Dutton Studios, 2002), pp. ix-x.
62. The source of the vast majority of information has been a former North Korean spy, An Myōngjin, whose testimony has triggered a range of reactions about its veracity. His memoir has been translated into Japanese. See An Myǒng-jin, Kita Chōsen rachi kōsakuin (Tokyo: Tokuma shoten, 1998).
63. The Sukuukai and the historical revisionism movement held a joint assembly, according to a liberal weekly. Takashima Nobuyoshi, "Sukuukai to Tsukurukai o musubu ito," Shūkan kinyōbi, no. 444 (24 January 2003), pp. 12-13. Several members of the Rachi Giren also have some connections to the movement for historical revisionism.
64. For example, the Yokotas' visit to United States in April 2006, and South Korea in May 2006, was given considerable coverage on television and in the printed press. See for example, Editorial, "Bei-daitōryō to menkai-sekai ni rachi mondai shien o," Chūgoku Shinbun, 30 April 2006;
65. and "Yokota Shigeru san 'Kankoku no yoron takametai' - hō-Kan mae no shinkyō kataru," Yomiuri Shinbun, 13 May 2006. The results of the DNA tests were originally made public on December 8, 2004.
66. See, for example, "Jiko awazu - Yokota fūfu hitei," Asahi Shinbun, 29 June 2006.
67. Irving Janis and Seymour Feshback, "Effects of Fear-Arousing Communications," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, no. 48 (1953), pp. 78-92;
68. and David Altheide, Creating Fear: News and the Construction of Crisis (New York: Aldine De Gruyter, 2002), pp. 2-4, 37-38, 63.
69. Koizumi complained that media coverage of the five returnees was a "nuisance" (meiwaku) on November 15, 2002. Hattori Takaaki, "'Rachi' hōdō to kenryoku kanshi jyanarizumu no sonzai," Gekkan minpō, vol. 33, no. 2 (February 2003), pp. 6-8.
70. Among the additional list of possible abductees made public by the Sukuukai, at least eleven of them were discovered to be living in Japan. See "Kita Chosen, matamo Chōsaki o hinan," Tokutei shissōsha mondai chōsakai nyūxu, vol. 219 (16 February 2005), , last accessed 24 September 2006.
71. See for example, the press conference of the Japanese Foreign Affairs secretary, 28 October 2005, , last accessed 24 September 2006;
72. and that of the vice prime minister, 24 October 2005, , last accessed 24 September 2006.
73. See, for example, Watanabe Kojiro, "'Rachi'shuzai ga teiki shita mono," Gekkan minpō, vol. 33, no. 2 (February 2003), pp. 15-17.
74. Japanese foreign minister, 23 October 2002, speech available at , last accessed 24 September 2006.
75. See, for example, US ambassador to Japan Howard Baker's comments, "Nichi-Bei kankei, ima ga sairyō no toki," Yomiuri Shinbun, 17, February 2005;
76. and the statement by Vitit Muntarbhorn, "Kita Chosen wa rachi higaisha ni hoshō o∓ - Kokuren jinken tokubetsu hōkokusha," Asahi Shinbun, 4 March 2005.
77. There is also a much less publicized 2004 declaration by the Japanese International Lawyers' Association opposing economic sanctions against North Korea. See Nihon kokusai hōritsuka kyōkai, "'Kita Chōsen' ni taisuru keizai seisai ni hantai suru seimei" (11 December 2004), .
78. Sukuukai, "Rachi higaisha kyūshutsu no tame no sōki sōki hatsudō ni kansuru zenrikkōhosha anke-to kekka," , last accessed 24 September 2006;
79. see also Hirasawa Katsuei, Rachi mondai (Tokyo: PHP, 2004), pp. 130-132.
80. "Taepodong no keikai zokkō, Abe kanbōchōkan, hassha nara seisai kentō," Seiron, 19 June 2006, , last accessed 24 September 2006.
81. Article 41 reads, "The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures. These may include complete or partial interruption of economic relations and of rail, sea, air, postal, telegraphic, radio, and other means of communication, and the severance of diplomatic relations."
82. "Rachi mo seisai no riyū, Sōren 6 kanbu mo taishō - Abe kanbō chōkan," Sukuukai zenkoku kyogikai nyūzu, 7 July 2006, , last accessed 24 October 2006;
83. and "Seisai wa tanpo sareta - Umeda sanjikan," Sukuukai zenkoku kyogikai nyūzu, 18 July 2006, , last accessed 24 September 2006.
84. "80% in poll favor strong reaction to North Korea's missile launches," Japan Times, 9 July 2006;
85. and "Ilbon ch'ongni nǒmbonun Abe kangsǒng ǔi ppuri," Chosǒn Ilbo, 12 July 2006.
86. "Kazokukai, Sukuukai, raigetsu hō-Chū rachi kaiketsu he ugokikake," Seiron, 29 July 2006, , last accessed 24 September 2006.
87. Harold Lasswell, World Politics and Personal Insecurity (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1935), p. 187.
88. Yamashita Haruko, "Kokusai ryūtsū kara mita Higashi-Ajia no media yūgō," in Sugya Minoru, ed., Higashi Ajia no media kontentsu ryūtsū (Tokyo: Keiō gijuku daigaku shuppankai, 2005), pp. 70-77.
89. George Orwell, The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, vol. III (New York: Penguin, 1968), p. 133.