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What do you think of Japanese media coverage of the Winter Olympics?

16 Comments

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In my experience, coverage is OK until Japan gets a medal, and from then on, it will be just endless repeats of the moment of victory, totally ignoring the opportunity to show actual sport.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japanese coverage is NARROW but going back to the States and watching the Olympics there a few times after being in Japan showed me that the US' coverage wasn't much better. Its just that the US had so many more medal contenders that the coverage was a bit broader but just like Japan, they only focused on the winners.

The best coverage I've ever seen of the Olympics was the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. They had short interesting biographies of many different athletes. Whenever there was a lull or break between events they'd introduce an athlete from somewhere around the world and what it took for them to get there. It was so inspiring.

I heard Canada's coverage is much more universal than many other countries'. Maybe Canadians can chime in on this one.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Worse than normal. It was decent until Takagi Miho won the silver in speed skating. After that, it went downhill extremely quickly. And of course after Hanyu's gold it became the all-Hanyu channel, all time. Japanese athletes were "subarashi", everyone else, including the gold medal winner if not Japanese, was not worth much. Even pictures in the media of the figure skating showed only two at the podium in some shots, as though Fernandez, who has the same coach as Hanyu, did not exist.

When a Japanese does not medal or is not in the event; Hanyu time again. In Canada we get a lot of American TV channels and I thought they were pretty bad when it came to coverage compared to Canada, but Japan is far worse. The commentary, excuses, lack of objectivity, and everything else has just become awful.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Wow, the NHK site even has English Commentary! Why didn't I know about this before! Thanks RiskyMosiac!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

They seem to finally be slowing down on North Korea things which is a plus.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I love the way how the Japanese media makes it look like Japan drinks everybody's milkshake at the Olympics. If Japan wins it's all you see on the news, and if they lose... here's footage of yesterdays gold medal!

The last time I went abroad I remember turning the sports news on and seeing Japanese athletes that neither my Japanese wife nor I had ever seen before on Japanese TV - it was then that I realized how awful Japanese media coverage of sport is.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Like most Japanese coverage of sports in other countries, it is very Japan-centric. I was shocked to discover that there are other countries and teams at the Olympics besides the Japanese.

It's gotten better with time though. When Nomo was pitching in the MLB, stations would stop broadcasting the game when he was taken out; often in the third or fourth inning. The winners? How did the game go? Who cares, Nomo isn't in it.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

MarkX is spot on. NHK is bad, but the commercial channels still manage to be way worse.

One of the morning shows on a commercial channel now starts with the two female presenters flanking a cardboard cutout of its "comedian" presenter, who is away at the games. He is so important that the women cannot be allowed to start the show on their own. Their Olympic coverage is mostly about the bloke's reaction when sitting in the crowd.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

I hate to say it but it's poor compared to previous games. I mean, well done, and all that to the Japanese participants but I hope coverage is a bit more inclusive for 2020.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Agree with the above comments. What always strikes me is how at odds the attitude of the Japanese media towards sport is (endlessly gloating over victories and medals and showing carefully edited highlights, particularly of football matches, to give the impression that Japan played a lot better than they actually did) with the actual athletes and ordinary Japanese people who I've played sport against, who are invariably modest in victory and gracious in defeat.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I have to say I was expecting much, much worse (and I have seen much worse elsewhere!). Agree with others though, like most other nations, they do focus on very few of their  'stars' and give close to zero airtime to other disciplines or even J athletes who aren't expected to bring back any medal.

Overall, I am reasonably pleased with what I have seen on J tv (watched most of the O online anyway).

4 ( +5 / -1 )

What I hate is the way that we always have to see the reaction of the "so called" analysts! Who cares how they feel or what they have to say. NHK tries to use former athletes, but commercial broadcasters always use some washed up talent or has been to run the show. This time, it's the former tennis player, Shuzo Matsuoka who is in Korea, and he is so annoying. They hardly ever focus on the athletes or families who have sacrificed, they make it all about themselves and the athletes who medal.

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Abysmal.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Awful, they only show events with Japanese participants, and rarely show all the others taking part in the event. The obsession with medals, rather than the performance and achievements of the athletes, is childish.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

In Japan, it's terrible. The spotlight seems suck exclusively on Japanese athletes. When they compete, the japanese media often can't even be bothered to mention the names or countries of the gaijins they competed against.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

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