I was going to write another snarky piece about a TIME online article that began with Prime Minister Abe coming back from the "Asia Pacific Forum (sic)"when I went online, but first, I opened my email and found a message from Sam Jameson that ended abruptly with the information that he had to sign off because the Prime Minister had just resigned while he – Sam, Not Mr. Abe - was writing the email. And that was it for me.
Now, I'm ready, and, whaddya know, the TIME article is no longer there.
If I hear a tree fall in the forest, but there isn't even a stump when I get there…
Actually, TIME does have a fairly good article by the same writer in the economic-recovery sub-genre with overtones from the Japan-is-funny mega-genre. As always, I have problems with the anecdote-only approach, but maybe that's just me.
Jun, No, its not only you who tires of the "Japan is funny mega genre". As the world shrinks, and countries need to cooperate with each other much more, I think this genre has the potential to be very damaging to initiatives by those who would seek Japan's friendship. Its also just plain parochial. T
ReplyDeleteT: I am somewhat more forgiving of the X-Is-Funny giga-genre. I believe that people from different cultures should be able laugh with each other, even when the laugh is on you. I also understand the professional need for those journalists to get their stories into print.
ReplyDeleteIt's when I see hackwork that I see red. Like, shading or, as in the case of a piece on the Nishiyama affair that I wrote about on this blog, hiding and misrepresenting the facts to suit a preconceived, destructive storyline. I am also irritated when I see a story that makes interesting assertions but backs them up by nothing more that a couple of lines out of a single interview, expert or non-, and asks up to trust the reporter for the rest. Well, I don't. And we shouldn't. Remember the war in Iraq.