When Ken Takeuchi was mayor of Kamakura, he rode in a chauffeur-driven limousine, presided over a staff of 1,800 and was responsible for an annual budget equivalent to $500 million. Today, as CEO of the nonprofit Japan Internet News, he oversees a skeleton staff of five in the modest ninth-floor quarters of an aging Tokyo office building. He couldn't be happier. "Being mayor was a very significant life experience, a wonderful time of learning," says the soft-spoken Takeuchi. "But JanJan is my real lifework."
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With nearly a million dollars in funding and a team that boasts a track record in liberal politics, JanJan appears to be the first serious alternative online newspaper in Japan. |
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Launched in February, JanJan is a free daily Internet newspaper "of, by and for the people," whose goal is to "completely rework the traditional concept of media," according to promotional material from Japan Internet News.With nearly a million dollars in startup funding and support from a team that boasts a solid track record in liberal politics, JanJan appears to be the first serious alternative online newspaper in Japan. The Japanese word jan-jan means "a vigorous, continuing activity," as in the constant ringing of a bell. The English meaning attached to JanJan is "Japan Alternative News for Justice and New Culture." The English name, no doubt forged without intervention by native speakers, makes JanJan sound something like a cross between the Japan Communist Party and Greenpeace. But this is no strident radical rag. JanJan's antiestablishment bent is tempered with a polite tone; JanJan intends to coexist peacefully with the media establishment it hopes to change. JanJan -- which is written by volunteer "citizen journalists" -- is everything that traditional Japanese newspapers are not. The dailies operated by Japan's five media powerhouses lack a tradition of hard-nosed reporting; their articles often faithfully retain the original spin of press materials by released by government and business organizations. JanJan questions authority at every turn. While traditional papers cover politics with "seikyoku" articles -- stories focused on interparty squabbles or on the rise and fall of politicians and their factions -- JanJan writes about what proposed laws will mean to consumers. "Most Japanese couldn't care less whether Koizumi or Mori is prime minister," says Takeuchi. "More important is whether the government is continuing to waste money on public works projects and destroying the environment. We focus on issues of importance to the everyday lives of Japan's citizens."
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