The Japanese mass media is absolutely great. Japanese people should be proud of their media. Alas, some people are saying foreigners aren't entitled to look. And now there's one less place where they can. That's a shame.

Maybe J@pan.Inc should restart WaiWai on its site. With the links you've put in, Ms. Kitanaka, you're already doing a great job of spreading the goodies around!

Dear Ms Kitanaka, do you really read French?

Thomas (the author of La Rivière Aux Canards, one of the blogs you quote in your post) is not "attributing" the nationalists anything (actually, his post is one of the most impartial articles on the issue I've read so far; I provide this rough translation from French to English [none of them is my native tongue, so I apologize if there are small mistakes] of one of the paragraphs), he's simply quoting what he found on the net about the issue:

FRENCH: "Complément à 2channel, le blog Hitai News, un des blog les plus lus au Japon selon Technorati Japan. Ce blog revient sur la fermeture de WaiWai, avec ses commentaires anonymes où se mêlent comme toujours, des nationalistes, au mauvais sens du terme et des internautes chevronnés. J'ai pu y trouver l'image ci-dessous, un fake d'une publicité du journal Mainichi. Le slogan est sans équivoque: «On n'a pas besoin d'un journal qui insulte la mère patrie» (si vous avez une meilleure traduction pour 母国, faites-moi signe). Et le logo du journal n'est plus Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞) mais BaiNichi Shinbun (売日新聞) qui devient «Le journal qui vend le Japon»."

ENGLISH: "Besides 2channel, [there is] the blog Hitai (sic) News, one of the most read blogs in Japan according to Technorati Japan. This blog deals with WaiWai's closure, with its usual anonymous comments mixing nationalists, in the worst sense of the word, and the savvy internet users. I managed to find the picture below, a fake of a Mainichi Newspaper's ad. The slogan is unequivocal: "We don't need a newspaper which insults the motherland" (if you have a better translation for 母国, let me know). And the newspaper's logo doesn't read Mainichi Shimbun (毎日新聞) but BaiNichi Shimbun (売日新聞), which would become "The newspaper which sells Japan.""

http://lariviereauxcanards.typepad.com/la_riviere_aux_canards/2008/06/co...

If you continue reading, there's even a criticism on the way J-Cast makes its headlines (they believe Japan speaks Japanese and the rest of the world necessarily reads English, which isn't true). The closing of the article is great, even though I personally think the WaiWai column should be moved to an entirely separate website, just for the reputation of a serious media outlet as Mainichi Shimbun (I'd like, for example, that the Japanese op-ed pieces to be translated into English instead, just like Asahi, Nikkei or Yomiuri do).

"Reste que si l'on est bien éduqué au média, avec un sens critique, les infos de WaiWai, c'était pour rire, seulement pour rire. Mais le sens critique semble se perdre."

"But if you're well-educated in [dealing with] the media, with a critical sense, the information in WaiWai was to laugh, only to laugh. But it seems the critical sense tends to [become] lost".

Julián Ortega Martínez
http://en.equinoxio.org/

"Thomas (the author of La Rivière Aux Canards, one of the blogs you quote in your post) is not "attributing" the nationalists anything"

Well, I think he is, if indirectly attributing it to nationalists, according to your translation:

'The slogan is unequivocal: "We don't need a newspaper which insults the motherland" '

What is funny to me is that at the end Thomas says:

Je voulais juste revenir sur ce titre en faisant remarquer que le reste du monde (hors Japon), ne parlait pas forcément anglais. Ce titre le suggère, c'est classique: au Japon, on parle japonais. Ailleurs, on parle anglais.

"I just want to go back to the slogan here by remarking that the rest of the world (outside of Japan), doesn't necessarily speak English. This slogan is a classic: in Japan people speak Japanese, outside of Japan people speak English."

That sounds like a classic French comment.

But a good blog and a great debate!

On the matter of languages, I am not sure that English is as widespread or useful as people claim. I would like to argue the case for Esperanto as the international language. It is a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states.

Take a look at www.esperanto.net

Esperanto works! I've used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.

All (ones sad to see WaiWai and go and those not),

As a long time reader of the Mainichi Site and WaiWai, I'm really sorry to see it go.

It's really sad that a few NEETs or dare I say extremists, whipping up nationalistic views, have spoiled what was a little window into Japanese Weeklies for us who don't have the reading skills. I think the whole episode is actually a worse testimony to some segments in Japan.

I can't say I'm a Japanese expert, but I have spent many trips exploring Japan's traditional sites, some of the less well known ones, and exploring some of the everyday areas of Japan's cities. I have many close Japanese friends in Japan and abroad, so I feel I've had my share of opportunities to delve into some of the hidden (not so hidden) sides of Japan with friends and by myself. Including some of these funny articles. As a well rounded/travelled person I feel we the readers are in the best position to judge what these articles are and who they are written for... They are really written for the Japanese male, who loves this kind of titillation, so what is wrong with us foreigners learning about this... We know these stories are sensationalized, just like in our own countries. Hey we live in a free and open world, these people need to worry what kind of country they really live in.

I love Japan and it's people, but yes I do have some strong views about some of the close minded people there. This story sadly just cements them in my mind. I'm just glad I know there are some really great people there as well, but unfortunately history tells us it's the close minded ones that do the most damage.

So it's a shame the Mainichi has pulled this segment and not had the guts to stand up to these people, are they going to stop publishing all their local papers who run these stories?... Are the foreigners eyes too sensitive to this...

# "Panty sellers roll in the cash by rolling off their soiled skimpies in disabled toilets", Mainichi Daily News, October 23, 2007. Connell, Ryann.
# "Pin-up girls Yinling of Joytoy, Yoko Kamon have intimates bared after MPD file leak", Mainichi Shimbun, June 22, 2007. Connell, Ryann.
# "Porno actor Chocoball Mukai to bite into world of professional wrestling", Mainichi Shimbun, December 28, 2005. Connell, Ryann.
# "Porno queen's mysterious death -- murder or suicide?", mainichi-msn.co.jp, July 11, 2005. Connell, Ryann.
# "Present-hunting parents say domo arigato, Mr. Airboto", Mainichi Shimbun, December 19, 2007. Connell, Ryann.
# "Preserve Japan's tacky shag shacks as World Heritage sites, says love hotel aficionado", Mainichi Shimbun, August 31, 2007. Connell, Ryann.
# "Razor Ramon slices along Japan's cutting edge." Mainichi Daily News, January 22, 2007, Connell, Ryann.
# "Sexy Kano sisters flash the flesh but men denied a peek", Mainichi Daily News, 5 April 2006. Connell, Ryann.
# "Sexy thespian Tomoko Yamaguchi uses booby trap to snare audience for TV show", Mainichi Shimbun, January 11, 2008. Connell, Ryann.

The Japanese mass media, especially quality papers, have emphasized the negative sides of the internet for long time. They have warned that people have to be careful in giving infromations through the internet because such informations tend to be easily exaggerated, intendedly distorted and spread among billions of unspecified people in the world out of control.

The Japanese Media have also condemned sexial harrasments and child pornography on the web. If they find such articles written about a particular person or district in Japan on the Japanese web site, they will accuse the writer.

Mainichi Shinbun is associated with the anti-child pornography movement. I am disgusted that they themselves scatterd these articles over the world.

Is anyone protesting the stores being published in Japanese?

Looks like No stores are protested.
but sponsors of mainichi are protested.

According to 2ch , some of them removed their ads.
I don't know the way to find out which one is removed, because its slot might already be filled with other ads.

Is anyone paying the protesters to be there?

I love Japan very much but could not help but cringe when I heard of Mainichi's cowardly actions. What happened to the famed samurai spirit???????? Surrendering to a bunch of right wing otaku???????

It seems a lot of 2chers suffer from a collective "small man syndrome" or inferiority complex. They are overly concerned with what "gaijin" think of them and their culture.

"The gaijin ar laughing at we Japanese!!!!!!!! My god...........we are pure.....innocent........everything is perfect in this country........we must show the world that Japan is the sweetest happiest place on earth..........like disneyland"

Waiwai was so over the top it was absolutely hilarious. It was a brilliant piss take that obviously flew right over the head of those folk at 2ch. Maybe the humour was not obvious to non-native English speakers.

Waiwai will never die. It will return. More ridiculously brilliant than ever. Mark my words!

p.s. my favourite story was the McDonalds sex romp. Pure genius!!!!!

http://www.stippy.com/category/japan-waiwai-archives/

Stippy.com is calling out to the gaijin community for any waiwai articles that you may have. Please submit them (with the original published date on mainichi site) here:
http://www.stippy.com/contact/

Stippy is trying desperately to let the waiwai good times live on... Please help them so we can go back over our beloved waiwai forever.

Fight the good fight Stippy!!!!!!

Instead of posting old WaiWai items from the archives that are just going to get its writer in more trouble, why don't you go out, buy a couple of sleazy japanese weeklies, and try your hand at summarizing the stories? There's plenty of new stuff, and now that more people are alerted to it, there's a business opportunity for someone!

Mainichi newspaper has also been forcing the companies with forums that they can put pressure on to delete all posts by members that have anything at all to do with waiwai. The posts go back even 3 years. this does not seem in the spirit of free speech. free speech which allowed Mainichi to grow as a newspaper. I am surprised this website still has anything about waiwai.

Once they're finished with Waiwai, they can move on to The Comedy Channel's half-hour summary of quirky game shows "Sushi TV" - a TV program with much much wider reach than Waiwai.

So some of you should explan the "humour obvious to native English speakers" to OAS,
they did not seem to get it.
Official International Organization referred to the article as "TRUTH".
Now some heads should role for sure.

http://www.oas.org/atip/PDFs/Rapid%20Assessment%20(English).pdf

Indeed, what Mainichi is doing now is destruction of evidence, or violation of free speech! Mainichi requests Japanese major forums to delete copies of waiwai articles and most messages about the issue, and now curiously 2channeler is struggling to collect all of the past waiwai articles.

... that foreigners believe these tabloid stories?

Or maybe it's that the protesters believe them?

Do they honestly think that foreigners believe the waiting time between pig slaughtered and roast pork dinner is an hour or two!? If they do, then the real issue here is their contempt for foreigners

If these protesters really want to control what foreigners say or think about them, perhaps they should be turning their disapproving gazes inward; because these WaiWai articles have got nothing on the "live-action" octopus and eel porn that's readily available from Japan, let alone the rape movies and under-aged "girl-idol" DVDs.

These articles may be tasteless or even plain stupid, but I feel confident that the majority who read them fully realized they are fantasy, those that didn't realize are to unintelligent to count.

And lets face it, Japan is not innocent of practicing fantastic ideas about foreign people and cultures. I know; I live here.

The reality is the only people actually hurt by these stories are those at Mainichi Shinbun and their reputation.

Perhaps the protesters have an interest there? Hmmm :/

Why are Japanese so determined to put blinders over foreigners' eyes and prevent them from seeing aspects about this country that might be a little embarrassing? Even respectable magazines like Bungei Shunju have run stories about sex and low-lifes. Maybe the Mainichi won't be covering it any more, but it's going to be hard to cover it up. Same goes for ero-manga, Japanese adult videos and the maid cafes in Akihabara. It's all part of human sexuality. Japan is not Saudi Arabia; foreigners here have a "right to know." You're going to have to learn to live with it.

I believe WaiWai's stated purpose was not necessarily tabloid, but to show examples of interesting stories appearing in Japanese magazines. Some of its stories were respectable human-interest stories. Others were risque. But it's pretty clear that most of the critics of the page seem to be engaging in sweeping accusations, which suggests they are making commentary based on hearsay, without having ever read the stories themselves. As far as suggesting that certain publications are "unpopular," I don't know their circulation figures, but I do know that the sports tabloid newspapers and manga, including girls' manga, are full of sex. All I have to do is look at what the person sitting next to me on the train is reading!

To think that that kind of risque articles were shown on a Japanese Newspaper site is what was horrible.
----------
If the issue is really about these risque things showing up an inappropriate place, then why was the reason they were taken down not "these types of articles are not appropriate for the publication"? Where did this explanation about a bad image about Japan to the world come from? That seems a little bit out of left field, no? I'm certainly not an expert on the Japan, although I have studied Japanese culture, but I did not realize they were this preoccupied with their image. This whole thing seems completely bizarre to me.

nickfromavvo
Free legal advice

The problem with Waiwai is what it was on the Mainichi’s website. After hearing about the end of Waiwai, I’ve finally realized that Waiwai conditioned me to never take the Mainichi seriously- and I absolutely never go to it for real news, even in the Japanese version.
Regards,
NoraN