Local Newspapers - where are they

[MB]

Would I be wrong in thinking that most Japanese locales do not have their own local newspapers (emphasis on 'news rather than merely community centre Ikebana classes)?

I lived (UK) in a town / city called Manchester (yes - Beckham, Beckham Beckham for any excited girlies out there) with a local evening daily, countless weeky area papers (free) and, by the late 90s, daily free papers supported by advertising alone - given out at junctions and stations. Not too dissimilar to Headline Today really but daily.

Thing is - my then home had a population of around 450k and the place I live now has 640 odd thousand but nothing approaching a local 'NEWS'paper. Bi-monthly 'events and a community centre thing with about 8 pages is about it. Local news such as a bloke sat trouserless (painted on! shorts) in a park or another guy caught having grabbed a 6-year old girl in recent weeks plus a myriad of other events of local, if not national, newsworthy events are missed and people who live near the incidents above have no idea as to when, why and what happened.

Besides leading to what I would deem a 'false sense of security' and 'safe' society, the problem seems somewhat like 'th's' comments on the Iraq war a while ago which went along the lines of the - if it ain't local it ain't worth bothering with attitude.

Any views - do you - foreign boys and girls, know more local news than your Japanese friends and neighbors and feel as weird as me for it?

[Anonymous]

Most of the J people I have met have no idea what is going on in their communities. The events are only reported in the paper (from city hall) after the fact. They know about an event because they might be helping to organize the event or they have a relative involved with the event. I have no idea about crime in my area because unless the crime is extremely severe it isn't reported. I find out because it just so happens to make it to the national paper.


I haven't seen a local paper only national japanese papers. In this paper there is only a very small section ( 1 or 2 columns of news) regarding specific cities and events. If you happen to live in Tokyo there are many free magazines or circulars given out (many in engish).

[Glenski]

I have found that TV news repeats so much stuff that I can't watch it anymore. Endless identical reports from the same news station, showing the same 10-second film clip over and over while the reporter repeats news that is days old, plus you get the weekend update which is little more than a dramatic recreation of the events (complete with loud, pulse-pounding background mood music).

I live in Sapporo, and up here there is the Hokkaido Shimbun. However, it's in Japanese, so I am unable to read it. I have to read The Japan Times or Asahi Shimbun in print, or go online for other newspapers. I suspect you are in a similar situation. Have you tried the local library?

Then, again, what passes for news is little more than what you (MB) wrote about the trouserless man. Go with the flow, and don't expect too much in the way of editorials or groundbreaking stories in English.

[bshabu]

Hello,

I just changed jobs. Now I am in a small town in Gifu.

This is not like in the USA. I come for near a town of 15,000 in America. and every evening and night there a local broadcast of LOCAL news. As well as many newspaper, free and otherwise. It is hard to find out whats going on even in your own area. If you ask a local, they might not know either.

I agree with Glenski. I am sick of watching the same news everyday. But I have gotting used to it. Thank God for the internet. One might find something on the internet if one knows where to look.

The City Hall newspaper goed straight to the recycle bin. I read it once, But then, I don't care about some meeting that already happened.

But at least we know how Ichiro and Matsui are doing!