BBC on Japan

I gathered up some general information from BBC's website that is useful to knowing a little more about Japan:

Full name: Japan

Population: 127.2 million (UN, 2009)

Capital: Tokyo

Area: 377,864 sq km (145,894 sq miles)

Major language: Japanese

Major religions: Shintoism, Buddhism

Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 86 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: yen

Main exports: Vehicles, computer parts, chemicals, scientific instruments and watches

GNI per capita: US $38,210 (World Bank, 2008)

Internet domain: .jp

International dialling code: +81

The press

• Asahi Shimbun - daily, English-language pages
• Yomiuri Shimbun - daily, English-language pages
• Mainichi Daily News - English-language pages
• Sankei Shimbun - daily
• Nikkei Net - English-language pages
• The Japan Times - English-language

Television

• NHK - public, operates the General TV, Educational TV channels. NHK also runs satellite channels BS-1 and BS-2 and high-definition TV (HDTV) network Digital Hi-Vision. NHK World is the organisation's international English-language channel.
• TV Asahi - national commercial network
• Fuji TV - national commercial network
• Nippon TV (NTV) - national commercial network
• Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) - national commercial network

Radio

• NHK - public, operates news/speech-based Radio 1, cultural/educational network Radio 2, classical music-based network FM Radio, external service Radio Japan
• Inter FM - Tokyo commercial music station
• J-Wave - Tokyo commercial music station
• Tokyo FM - Tokyo-based commercial network
• TBS Radio - network operated by Tokyo Broadcasting System

News agency

• Kyodo - English-language pages

To find out more, click here

こんにちは!

Konichiwa! Welcome to my blog on Japan and its media. I chose chose not because I am half Japanese, but because I have always been interested in Japan. It is synonymous for many things, one of them being fashion and another being technology. I am interested in both, and because of this, I chose Japan as my country of study.

Japan is referred to as the "Land of the Rising Sun". It is an island located in East Asia which consists of over 6,800 different islands. Japan has the world's second largest economy, which is probably due to its large population of 128 million. Japan has the world's highest life expectancy and a very high standard of living. It has many different areas within the country from the beautiful mountainsides to its skyscraper metropolitans.

The media is Japan is similar to ours here in the U.S.. Television, newspapers, magazines, and radio are all mediums that are used to spread the word. Just like over here, the rise and overall takeover of the Internet has lead to many changes in the way media is transmitted. Japan is pretty much free as a country in terms of journalism, which is great and how it should be.

Throughout this blog, I will be discussing many areas of interest. Most importantly, I will blog about how Japan's media relates to different topics that are discussed in our journalism class. Throughout the semester we will be going over different global media topics and with everything that we go through, Japan has its own way of doing things.