ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the process of Japan’s change from an information-importing country to an information-exporting country in the fields of news reporting and popular culture. In addition, the factors and mechanisms of this change are discussed. It is confirmed that there are many factors that caused imbalanced international information flow, and that they differed from one kind of information to another. The influence of Japan’s change on Japanese cultural identity is discussed. It is suggested that the Japanese people are more self-confident today than they were in the past and that the problems of cultural identity, including those of historical continuity, seem to be practically overcome. Two existing comprehensive theories on international information flow, the media imperialism and dependency theories and the theory of “free competition in a free market,” are examined and their strengths and deficiencies discussed. As an alternative, the influence of political and economic competition among nations on international information flow is analyzed.
