INCITING FALSE JOURNALISM IN THE JAPAN TIMES!

[CheGuevara]

I read the following article in the Japan Times today:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20071120a1.html

EDITED: After spending a day fuming at the above report, it turns out to be phony baloney! In the printed edition, unlike the online edition, there was no footnote explaining that it was fictitious. I don't expect much from the Japan Times, but at 180 yen, I do expect serious journalism and precise editorial decisions. They may have lost a reader.

[sampler]

at the bottom....
Note: This is a fictitious e-mail from a fictitious government official.

[CheGuevara]

Note: This is a fictitious e-mail from a fictitious government official.

How do you know?

[CheGuevara]

They didn't print the bottom note in the printed edition. NOT FUNNY!!!

[CheGuevara]

Thanks. That is a relief, as I have been mightily pissed off all day by it. The post note should have been printed in the Japan Times. I must admit, I found it too over-the-top believe, but it got phones ring and text messages flying about all day. SHIT JOURNALISM!

[Wage Slave]

I read the following article in the Japan Times today:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20071120a1.html

Is he for real, or is this phony baloney? Reading it, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. .......

This line at the end of the feature article answers your question I think:

Note: This is a fictitious e-mail from a fictitious government official.

It is satire, but a bit close to the bone perhaps.

Edit to add: Whoops too late!

[CheGuevara]

The footnote did not appear in the printed edition. Trust me, I love and appreciate satire, but the way things are changing here, you can never be sure.

[allblacks]

Th Japan Times used to be 150 yen until recently. They have given nothing extra as far as Im concerned to raise the price to 180. Same people doing the same thing and nearly missing the whole Nova thing completely.

The other day I saw on their website that they will deliver it for a week for free as a sales thing. So I signed up. When the guy came around trying to get me to keep going, I told him that I wasnt interested. Its just shit quality. Not worth 180 or even 150. I would rather pay 120 for the yomiuri and put up with their bs (not!)

Oh well. You cant get a decent newspaper here.

[CheGuevara]

Th Japan Times used to be 150 yen until recently. They have given nothing extra as far as Im concerned to raise the price to 180. Same people doing the same thing and nearly missing the whole Nova thing completely.

The other day I saw on their website that they will deliver it for a week for free as a sales thing. So I signed up. When the guy came around trying to get me to keep going, I told him that I wasnt interested. Its just shit quality. Not worth 180 or even 150. I would rather pay 120 for the yomiuri and put up with their bs (not!)

Oh well. You cant get a decent newspaper here.

You are right. Indeed, it will be the Yomiuri tomorrow. The JT is not worth 180 yen.

[MacGyver]

At 180 yen its by far the most expensive daily newspaper in Japan and with the Internet providing free news, its not even close to worth the price. In fact, most of the news I want to read about the JT doesn't have. Monday's classifieds used to be good but now they suck. I thought that at 150 yen it was expensive and rarely bought it. Now I don't even bother. They aren't getting my money.

[Haywood Jablome]

That was a lame attempt to be like The Onion.

[HagiwaraMai]

Th Japan Times used to be 150 yen until recently. They have given nothing extra as far as Im concerned to raise the price to 180. Same people doing the same thing and nearly missing the whole Nova thing completely.

The other day I saw on their website that they will deliver it for a week for free as a sales thing. So I signed up. When the guy came around trying to get me to keep going, I told him that I wasnt interested. Its just shit quality. Not worth 180 or even 150. I would rather pay 120 for the yomiuri and put up with their bs (not!)

Oh well. You cant get a decent newspaper here.

I've just done exactly the same thing. Finished yesterday. And like you I won't be renewing, especially as the JLPT is coming up and I can't be wasting time walking to the rubbish bin and back. Haven't had a guy come round and try to persuade me to continue though.

[allblacks]

Th Japan Times used to be 150 yen until recently. They have given nothing extra as far as Im concerned to raise the price to 180. Same people doing the same thing and nearly missing the whole Nova thing completely.

The other day I saw on their website that they will deliver it for a week for free as a sales thing. So I signed up. When the guy came around trying to get me to keep going, I told him that I wasnt interested. Its just shit quality. Not worth 180 or even 150. I would rather pay 120 for the yomiuri and put up with their bs (not!)

Oh well. You cant get a decent newspaper here.

I've just done exactly the same thing. Finished yesterday. And like you I won't be renewing, especially as the JLPT is coming up and I can't be wasting time walking to the rubbish bin and back. Haven't had a guy come round and try to persuade me to continue though.

Slight bump of old thread.

I began to notice after a while that the Japan Times reports on McDonalds burger deals a little too often for it to be a newspaper. Anyone else notice that? A few years ago it was the cheap hamburger and cheeseburger deals and then the Megamac earlier this year. Not news.

I am also annoyed by the views from the steet segment. Seems to be a little too programmed for my liking. Not to mention that Amy Chavez idiot. Her "comedy" is just too silly to be taken seriously. I was really pissed off with her after a race based comedy thing a while ago and wrote her. Thats another story.

For me ALL THE NEWS WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR just isnt this newspaper. The Herald Tribune is too serious and just drips with American stuff. Thats fine for some but I am not really into it. Yomiuri is a joke. The net is my only friend?

ABs

[PanicInducingGaijin]

For me ALL THE NEWS WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOR just isnt this newspaper. The Herald Tribune is too serious and just drips with American stuff. Thats fine for some but I am not really into it. Yomiuri is a joke. The net is my only friend?

The Herald Tribune is the international version of the New York Times.

But yeah, why bother coughing up 160 or 180 yen a day when you can get the news for free online.

[PanicInducingGaijin]

Not to mention that Amy Chavez idiot. Her "comedy" is just too silly to be taken seriously.

I think she hit a new low with her most recent column.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 105cz.html

This has got to be the single worst thing I've ever read in a newspaper.

[mrgazpacho]

This has got to be the single worst thing I've ever read in a newspaper.

That might have been amusing for a 6-year-old...

[shiisa]

That was cringe-inducingly pathetic.

From elsewhere online:

Straight out of Japan and onto your computer screens, Amy Chavez unleashes a special brand of wit and wisdom...

Yeah, I'll say it's "special" all right.

[Tokyo_Joe]

Oh, Christ.

I have nothing in particular to add, except the fact that Amy Chavez (assumedly) gets paid to write, and would generally be considered a 'journalist', makes my blood boil.

[Haywood Jablome]

That was retarded.
I mean the "column" she wrote.

[Wage Slave]

Yep, diabolically lame and so idiotically, near gurningly twee with it.

[indoctrin8]

that woman should be taken outside and shot.

[HagiwaraMai]

Oh my fucking God... she deserves her own Charisma Woman cartoon

[wtfysc]

...what the fuck was that?
Kill her.

[Level3]

It was always a toss up as to which column was worse, Amy Chavez or that socialite Jane Reeves(sp?) who drops more names than a clumsy receptionist distributing ID tags at the National Parkinson's Disease Sufferer's Conference.
(That was an example of an extremely lame joke, but it is still better than anything Chavez ever, ever, ever wrote. Along with 99% of the jokes on this board.)

Chavez wins. She's worse.

She is the worst professional paid humorist in possibly all of the English-speaking world, which explains why she has her nice little rut working for the Japan Times, rather than in any English-speaking country.

I heard she lives on one of those islands in the inland sea in Okayama Pref., any gaijin who is unfortunate enough to travel there and visit the local bar soon regrets it.

[T.D.]

WTF? That's supposed to be humourous? It perfectly explains why she's a journalist in Japan, and not in her home country.

[Examination_Hell]

I'd like to know who is she writing for in the Japan times? Are her articles aimed at native speakers or Japanese readers?

[Level3]

I couldn't read past the first couple paragraphs (seriously, I couldn't), but it seemed like she was trying to use the word "rat" to make a bunch of puns. Yet still not being able to make even groan-worthy puns using a mere 3 of the most common letters in the English language. I hear her next trick will be to use as many words as possible containing the letter "e".

How about some letters to the editor using the word "rat" in a much more clever way? Such as, I wish someone would strap a RAT cage to her head a la the movie/novel "1984"
By coincidence, the year 1984 is the last time anyone laughed WITH Chavez rather than AT her.

Someone once said:
"A mediocre talent makes you think, "I could do that." While a genius makes you think, "I wish I could do that."

In Chavez's case, we all seem to agree, "She gets PAID to do THAT?"
(Does she get paid? Maybe she does it for free, and that's why they publish her?)

[W.Pep]

I wonder what her per word rat(e) is?

She must be really, really lonely.

[wilde_oscar]

It just gets worse.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 112cz.html

You are what you eat. Japanese are descended from fish. This is the worst attempt at humour I have ever read.

If anyone reading this is responsible for Chavez getting published please punch yourself in the face right now.

[sampler]

...unreal...

she can't be getting paid for this.