Japanese media groups routinely stage sports and other events and promote them through their commercial outlets. The Yomiuri sports pages, for example, reads like a Yomiuri Giants fanzine. The media can be a harsh taskmaster as well. The rapid deterioration of the Yomiuri-to-Kawasaki-to-Tokyo Verdy soccer team is directly traceable to the Yomiuri family’s decision to drop the team when the J-League did not allow them to use it as a promotional vehicle for their commercial interests.
The Fuji-Sankei Group is no exception. In this particular case, Fuji TV, the crown jewels of the Fuji-Sankei multimedia group, held Japanese broadcasting rights to the Four Continents 2008, staged in Seoul, South Korea. Yomiuri did cover the competition itself, but ignored the exhibition altogether as a non-event, which, for them, it was exactly that.
* The (mostly) Andō photos are currently ranked nos.1 through 9 among the most popular images on the Sankei website.
Seriously, I can’t help repeating: Sankei has hands-down the most reader-friendly media website in Japan. In fact, with all the accompanying visual bells and whistles, it’s better than its hardcopy version. I don’t understand how this is driving revenue, though I suppose fourth-place Sankei has less to lose. Still, I’d like to see how Asahi, Yomiuri and Mainichi respond (or not). They’d better hurry up; are they trying to make a Japaneo-con out of me or what?
2 comments:
It was Mao, not her sister Mai, who won the event, no?
I don't follow skating much at all, but I've been sad to see the disappearance of that scion of Nobunaga from the men's side and I was happy to see all those wild fans of Japanese skaters doing their cheering and autograph-seeking in Korea.
Mao, yes. Yes, you're right. Thanks, Durf. But you do see how little attention I pay to, um... Let's put it this way, who really cares about Nancy Kerrigan? It's the same thing; you have to set priorities.
Oda has done penance; he should be back next season.
And yes, I understand that they went over very well. I think there are several reasons for this. Little Mao's porcelain beauty is a classic Korean look. Miki Andō's broad cheekbones on a broad, expressive face is very Kansai, and thus would look very familiar in a Korean crowd. That their own hometown favorite was not available made it easier for them to watch the Japanese excell. More broadly, the South Korea-Japan coalition that took down the Middle East stranglehold on handball, a South Korean favorite, at the expense of Japanese aspirations for a second Tokyo Olympics, surely has turned South Korean sports sentiment in favor of its neighbor/rival. Add to that a general reduction in bilateral tension since the Abe administration...
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