An article in Gendai Business calls the mushomei kiji, the article that the reporter does not sign, the mainstream of Japanese newspapers.
A column in a journalism review published by the Kanagawa Shimbun notes a change. Signed articles are increasing, even for so-called objective reports.
On September 22, 1987, Emperor Shōwa had abdominal surgery at the Imperial Household Agency hospital. The agency announced chronic pancreatitis. In fact, it was cancer.
Reporters at a television network later said that they had confirmed early on that it was cancer. They had held back, they said, because of the question of telling the emperor himself and his family, and because of the social impact. On January 7, 1989, his chief physician announced the final diagnosis: a tumor around the duodenal papilla.
Japanese ministries and other public offices house kisha kurabu, press clubs. The encyclopedia Imidas calls them a system specific to Japan: voluntary organizations of reporters based in government offices. It notes criticism of their exclusiveness, their closed nature and their sense of privilege, and reports that the European Union called for their abolition.
In 2002, the Japan Newspaper Association revised its view of the clubs. It dropped their old description as social bodies and called them open organizations.
On the evening of February 3, 2023, Arai Masayoshi, a secretary to Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, spoke to reporters off the record. He said he would not even want to see same-sex couples, and that if same-sex marriage were allowed, some people would abandon Japan. The Mainichi Shimbun reported the remarks under his name. Kishida dismissed him the next day.
In July 2011, the minister for reconstruction, Matsumoto Ryū, berated the governor of Miyagi in front of cameras. Then he told the reporters: Kaitara, mō sono sha wa owari dakara. If you write this, that company is finished. A local broadcaster aired the scene, and he resigned on July 5.
In 2000, milk products from Snow Brand caused mass food poisoning in the Kansai region, with 14,780 people affected. Pressed by reporters, president Ishikawa Tetsurō snapped: Sonna koto ittatte nē, watashi wa nete inai n da yo!! “Say what you like, I haven’t slept!”
He apologized at once. The exchange was broadcast widely and drew public condemnation. After the press conference, all Snow Brand Group products were pulled from sale for a time.
In September 2013, an editorial in the Global Times welcomed senior officials’ public criticism and self-criticism, piping yu ziwo piping. It also noted a habit of the opposite kind. “For some time, ‘praise and self-praise’ has been popular among some Chinese officials and even in mainstream society. Its negative effects go without saying.”
In 2015, an article from the Economic Observer on the “whole art” of officials’ self-criticism described the routine: “At the meeting, criticism and self-criticism, praise and mutual comfort are all fine. In short, congratulations on passing this time. After the meeting, don’t ask whether anything was carried out. You know.”
In December 2011, the Hangzhou newspaper Daily Business ran a feature titled “How Do You Criticize Your Superior?” One employee, Zhu Jun, told his department head at a full staff meeting that a decision was wrong. This time the head rebutted him without sparing his feelings and kept the plan. Afterwards, Zhu found that the head rarely asked his opinion.
Another employee, Li Fang, also criticized a superior in front of others. The superior looked displeased and embarrassed, but accepted the point and corrected the decision at once. Later the superior spoke with Li: “Thank you very much for the suggestion. But from now on, in private, it is fine to be direct. When many people are present, give me a little face.”
In October 2025, a commentary on the People’s Forum website described two phrases that had become common in some places and offices facing a public controversy: “wait for notice from above” and “follow the leader’s arrangements.” Even matters clearly within an office’s own authority, it said, “must wait for a superior to speak.”
The commentary quoted Xinhua, which called this way of handling public opinion “looking only upward and not at the facts.”
On July 23, 2011, the high-speed train D301 ran into the back of the train D3115 on a bridge near Wenzhou. The Railway Ministry later said that 40 people died. On the evening of July 24, the ministry’s spokesman Wang Yongping explained why the front of a train had been buried at the site. It was to make the rescue easier, he said, and added: “Whether you believe it or not, I believe it anyway.”
On December 28, 2011, the investigation report approved by the State Council was published. It named serious design defects in the train control equipment, lax review before the equipment was used, and a poor emergency response after lightning caused a fault. Fifty-four people were held responsible, among them the former Minister of Railways, Liu Zhijun.
People’s Daily prints its most important commentaries under the name Ren Zhongping (任仲平). The name belongs to no single person. It is an abbreviated homophone of Renmin Ribao zhongyao pinglun, “People’s Daily important commentary,” and the articles are written by a team. A former deputy editor-in-chief has written that he set up the column and gave it this name.
In September 2025, a Ren Zhongping article marked the 80th anniversary of victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan. Its title: “Justice Will Prevail, Peace Will Prevail, the People Will Prevail.”