Andre’s Reviews > A Public Betrayed: An Inside Look at Japanese Media Atrocities and Their Warnings to the West > Status Update

The rest of the book was luckily a much better read and I did not feel the urge to skip passages of superfluous information.

Yet the fact remains that U.S. aid to Japan, including critical diplomatic and military support, has been instrumental in allowing Japan to evade its wartime responsibilities.
You could say the same about Turkey.

I had to skip several passages. And now from antisemitism to war denial.

Does the author subscribe to the "anti-Israel/Israel-criticism = antisemitism" logic?

The Merchant of Venice, common-ancestry theories in which Japanese are claimed to be the descendants of Jews, Japanese are the ancestors of Jews, Japan is an important unnamed biblical place, "The theories derive much of their power, the authors say, from the idea of a divinely "chosen people"-a fundamental tenet of both Judaism and Japanese indigenous beliefs. " Holy shit!!!

By telling the reader who Simon Wiesenthal was and not saying that he only lend the Simon Wiesenthal Center his name but was never a member or organizer of it the author gives a false impression and omits the clashes Wiesenthal had with the center over the years. One issue in particular also betrays the alleged message of tolerance as the center has a bad history of denying the Romani holocaust.

Boy that Kono got a raw end of the deal.

In the U.S., there was a good tradition of skepticism toward authorities and officials and a healthy respect for the role of journalism in democratic societies. There were fundamental principles recognized by most good journalists. Now it seems that it has become an information industry, not journalism. This situation has become even worse since September 11, 2001.

I really think this has too much information on the history and environment of the papers. This has interesting information but it almost drowns among all the superfluous stuff. AT least that is how I feel about it. Thankfully I am almost a third into the actual text.