Upload: 23 December 2018, Last update: 30 December 2018
When it comes to the image of demonstration, Japanese have traditional stereotypes. The image of demonstration is quite negative for them.
Particularly, take a look at the recent case in France, in November 2018, the Yellow vests movement started. Then the number of supporters for this movement increased day by day. Originally the aim was protesting against the raise of tax for fuel, as times passed it expanded.
Of course, Japanese media covered it. But as Junko Takasaki, Japanese writer, explains in her article, they mostly focused on violent scenes, and they didn’t focus on important points which is demonstrations in France enables communication with politicians through this action[1].
After the several weeks of large scale manifestations, the Prime Minster Édouard Philippe announced they are not going to raise the tax for fuel and the President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech on TV. However the points that most of Japanese media reported was just the damages of this movement which causes negative impressions to Japanese people. Moreover, since the Japanese media have been reporting in this way, quite a lof of Japanese people gaining information from only TV have been misunderstanding.
This old-fashioned culture began to change thanks to the advance of the Internet and I imagine this decreases the number of TV viewers. Certainly, TV stations do not spread false information, but they do not step in deeper parts of news. And they report quite limited ranges and viewpoints. It is sure that there’s information gap between TV and the Internet in Japan.
The impression of demonstration created by Japanese media is still influencing Japanese citizens. If TVs continues to report this way, people would be far from TVs. The media in Japan needs to catch up with the global trends, otherwise they will be left behind.
[1]https://gendai.ismedia.jp/articles/-/58845 Accessed 30 December 2018
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