Why the Sony hack isn't big news in Japan

The Sony hacking story isn't big in Japan because Sony is a major advertiser in the media, besides being politically-connected. Remember the Olympus scandal a couple years ago? It was front-page news in New York and London, but it was page 8 news in Japan. And then the Japanese papers printed Olympus' side of the story, "regrettably, Mr Woodford, who had recently been appointed CEO, was not able to adapt to Japanese business culture, and so after careful consideration, it was thought best that..."

No news story which shows any shortcoming or serious problems with tha major Japanese companies is printed until the event is no longer news.

Here are a few reasons why the story hasn’t gotten major play in Japan’s mainstream media

One more reason: The Japanese press lags behind the mass media by a significant amount of time after developments break. Just a few minutes ago the Japanese morning news (and fluff) program I was watching featured a somewhat lengthy segment on this story.

It is because Japan's security is not jeopardized by the hacking. Also, the movie itself does not attent attentions of the Japanese people. The movie was made to the interest of Americans or other nationals. After all, North Korea outsmarted. In cyberspace, successful hackers are winners of the game.

Yes its because the Japanese are EASILY confused!

And because media in Japan have always highly censored what they put out for the masses!!

This is just SOP for the "media" in Japan

"Like hacking. Nobuyuki Hayashi, a veteran freelance tech journalist and consultant based in Tokyo, said the tendency stems from reporters and editors who often don’t have a deep understanding of technology. And neither do their aging readers."

Funny this isn't what Japan tells the rest of the world. According to Japan Inc, Japan is light years and uniquely, unique to the rest of the world. Go figure, more lack of consistency.

It's unfortunate that it's not being covered more - as it's widely known that both Japan's government and civilian IT infrastructure is significantly less protected than those in the US - and if the nK can do this, they could wreck havoc within Japan - to include possibly the Nikkei stock exchange and Japan's nuclear power plants.......

Funny this isn't what Japan tells the rest of the world. According to Japan Inc, Japan is light years and uniquely, unique to the rest of the world.

I've only ever heard this from foreigners, not from Japanese people.

It seems that most Japanese are just not interested in such news though everyone knows it, but they would like to watch the comedy movie sooner or later.

Because the story is "state secret" in Japan?

Japan's biggest newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun, featured a story about Sony Corp on its website Friday. It wasn't about hacking. It was about the company’s struggling tablet business.

Here is a list of some of the Yomiuri articles on Sony cyber attack.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/it/20141209-OYT1T50018.html

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/20141216-OYT1T50040.html

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/20141220-OYT1T50137.html

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/world/20141221-OYT1T50063.html

It is technically true that Yomiuri reported business results of Sony on Friday, but that does not mean it is not reporting cyber attack. You may want a grain of salt.

While politically interesting for the US and American's, it's less so for Japanese. Maybe the proper amount of attention lies in the middle.

What's with all the hating on Japan on this site? Maybe nobody cares about because it doesn't matter to the people here. Maybe nobody cares about it because after a long history of the petulant kingdom shooting missiles over Japan and kidnapping it citizens, an IT hack of SONY over a movie that, from the looks of things would've bombed anyway just doesn't seem all that important.

Being a critical thinker and being a critical ass are two different things, people.

By large, Japan’s major news outlets avoid any news that would make Japan look bad or hurt Japanese business entities’ and people’s pride. At the same time, the anther end of the spectrum would hold true too. (if any news would boost Japan’s pride, the new agencies would give a full fun). Case in point, when Ms. Obokata claimed she made stem cell breakthrough, the Japan’s media machines were in full swing, yet last week after disgraced Ms. Obokata resigned, news agencies in Japan paid litle attention to the big news.

Nowadays, Japan seems to be run by elder people who don’t want to change and don’t want to hear and read less pleasant news even they are the facts and the truth. The worst part is that as Japan further turns greyer and greyer, the news outlets will cater to seniors' reading appetite and tolerance threaholds even more.

Probably not a big news story in Japan since they don't have the same comcept of "Free Speech" as Americans. In America, you can make a movie about killing a world leader. Probably not a good idea and it could cause you problems as we have seen, but the bottom line is if a studio wants to do such a thing, then they can do it. Whether it will be successful or not will depend on if the American people will go see it.

With Japan and a lot of other countries, that inherent right of "making a distasteful" movie is not there. I doubt that the studios would allow such a project to go through, and if it did, someone from the government would be there to put a stop to it. Look at Canada, they are a free people, but there you could not ge this movie made since it probably could be broguth up on hate speech.

What upsets Americans the most is not the fact that Sony was hacked, evevn by a foreign country, but the fact that some other country can dictate what we can see by making threats about possible harm to theaters that show the move,who in turn looked at what liability that they would incur if something did happen and made a business decision to pull the showings. Was this a much anticipated movie what was going to shatter all records and win a lot of Oscars, I doubt it. But the fact that Americans will not be able to see it, because of the rantings of a government not of their own is what makes this much more of a story than in Japan, since here from what I have seen, studios and media will try to shy away from controversy as much as possible.

I am sure that the honchos in Tokyo at Sony are not too happy with the US FBI looking into this, since all it does is keep it in the news and they can't just make this go away.

Look at Canada, they are a free people, but there you could not ge this movie made since it probably could be broguth up on hate speech.

Ironic, considering this movie actually was made in Canada. http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/12/interview-cancelled-sony-pictures/

Here is a partial list of NHK coverage of Sony cyber attack.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141217/k10014045271000.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141218/k10014083401000.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141220/t10014141681000.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141220/k10014142241000.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141220/k10014145851000.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141220/k10014153321000.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141221/k10014158481000.html

Older links are not working because NHK closes free access to its articles one week old or older.

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141209/k10013836071000.html

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20141214/k10013958211000.html

You can read Sony cyber attack news ONLY from English media. So, stay tuned. Do not waste your time and money reading other media. Same can be said of Fukushima NPP accident.

Remember the Olympus scandal a couple years ago? It was front-page news in New York and London, but it was page 8 news in Japan.

Do you have any support for this absurd claim?

also no one in sony in Japan was writing anything that anyone else wanted to know about or that appealed to the tabloid press

As for the news about Sony, I recall seeing on the news on TV at least twice. So all of the conspiracy theories are so much hogwash. Oh, good work CH3CHO.

A more accurate "story" is why Sony in AMERICA made the movie, or why their security was lax, or why certain members feel the need to send such silly emails, etc.

And most people in Japan is already aware of how dangerous and nasty NK is. In the US, it might be a big shock, but not here.

Because Japan is used to getting hacked and giving in to terrorists apparently.

"But for Japan, the movie’s demise hardly matters. Sony Pictures never planned to show the film there."

According to AP, an international plot to steal massive amounts of data from a corporation isn't interesting to Japanese readership. The citizens of Japan are not concerned about data vulnerability. And, the idea that North Korea was behind this plot makes it even more unimportant. All the pieces of the puzzle fall neatly in to place.

My guess is that the Japanese-language news media have remained virtualy silent because North Korea is allegedly involved in this issue. They keep themselves away from this issue to protect themselves.

What's with all the hating on Japan on this site? most of it isnt hate its called constructive critisim, something that is lacking in Japan, without it you get very little change.

@Gene Wheeler

What's with all the hating on Japan on this site?

This site is pretty known as an anti-Japan forum among Japanese people and sometimes gets translated and quoted by big name blogs.

I enjoy every comments, though. An opinion is an opinion where we like it or not.

Yeah CH3CHO has shown people are well aware of it in Japan, the Olympus scandal was widely reported too and many newspapers are critical of the government.

Sorry Folks; but you're all " Asleep @ the Wheel " Again: This is viewed as an " AMERICAN " problem, because, of course, Sony in USA isn't REALLY Sony .

@Gene Wheeler... It's a Japan Today forum. I read the posts if I want to be angry. Anyway, I'm not sure how to judge if something is big news. I thought the Sony story is. I don't read newspapers but I've seen this story on Japanese news for... I don't know... the past week?

I'll sum it up for you. See if you can connect the dots:

"Too technologically complex" - the elderly "Highest newspaper circulation in the world" - the elderly Doesn't relate to Japan and therefore doesn't need mentioning - the elderly

I could go on...

Majority of Japan's voting demographic - the elderly Return to patriotism - the elderly

or...

Incessant train announcements - for the elderly

Let's face it, they run this country.

Ironic, considering this movie actually was made in Canada. http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2014/12/interview-cancelled-sony-pictures/

@ strangland: Sure it was filmed, but no Candian company would green light it or if they did, they could face a hate crime law. More recently, some guy in Canada was brought up on charges of offensive speech and I hate to bring it up, but Fox News is not allowed on Canadidan TV. It may have been filmed there, but not by a Canadian company.

the tendency stems from reporters and editors who often don’t have a deep understanding of technology. And neither do their ag€€ing readers.

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Maybe reporters and journalist know many Japanese readers know how it is hacked?

@WA4TKG I don't know if you are serious or not, but this movie was cancelled in Japan even before it was cancelled in the US. Censorship is very much a Japanese problem as well.

Scipantheist

I don't know if you are serious or not, but this movie was cancelled in Japan even before it was cancelled in the US. Censorship is very much a Japanese problem as well.

It's pretty rare for foreign comedies to get a theatre release in Japan (or the rest of Asia for that matter). Straight to DVD after a year or so.

Marketing probably had a lot more to do with the decision.

this movie was cancelled in Japan even before it was cancelled in the US.

I don't believe it was ever scheduled in Japan in the first place.

@sighclopsDEC. 22, 2014 - 11:48AM JST I'll sum it up for you. See if you can connect the dots: "Too technologically complex" - the elderly "Highest newspaper circulation in the world" - the elderly Doesn't relate to Japan and therefore doesn't need mentioning - the elderly I could go on... Majority of Japan's voting demographic - the elderly Return to patriotism - the elderly or... Incessant train announcements - for the elderly Let's face it, they run this country

You are not aware older generation people created Japan Inc in USA while your kind of people are so conceited that not doing anything but to concentrate on N Korea.

.

Hog wash!!! The reason I think is not because it's hard for people to understand I think it's the fact that it's Korea or rather North Korea hacked a japanese company and that makes (Japan ) or a Japanese company look weak or incompetent to protect their technology....

Japanese news does not ever want to report things that make them look weak or stupid.

Latest news I got in USA is that USA is looking for help from China, not Japan or S Lorea. And sanction to N Korea. Obama npw sxays ig is not terroism It is vandalism. Cyber wix says he us bit syre uN Korea is inv ikved if not, I an watching CBB 20. SONY srory us stukk ib, /siny fascukity in B K was vamdalized, others are repeat/

Sony headquarters itself, officials have refused all comment and referred questions about Sony Pictures to the movie division’s headquarters in Culver City, California.

Working at a Japanese company subsidiary here in San Diego, I recognize this as to mean, "We will tell the division's headquarters what to say."

No Way! Sony Pictures did NOT make that decision.....

because Why the Sony hack isn't big news in Japan

Becausae it happened in USA, not in Japan.