ABSTRACT
For all its apparent richness, openness and variety, Japan’s contemporary media is riven with problems. Journalism is still subject to formal and informal restraints and rarely lives up to its watchdog ideal. Self-censorship is rife. Taboos linger over many important areas of public life. Since 2012, the media has come under further strain from a government that has used a range of methods to push a conservative narrative and intimidate and sideline liberal or left-leaning outlets. These problems have not gone unnoticed. Japan’s press-freedom ranking has fallen. The United Nations’ rapporteur on freedom of expression published a sharply critical report in 2016 warning of “serious threats” to media independence.
