Mainichi's English site shuts down one column criticized for being 'too vulgar'

Thursday 26th June, 12:48 AM JST

TOKYO —

The Mainichi Shimbun said in its Wednesday morning edition that it has closed part of its English language website, called Mainichi Daily News, in the wake of criticism that it carried articles that are ‘‘too vulgar’’ and ‘‘debauching Japan.’’ The WaiWai section on Mainichi Daily News introduced Japanese customs and social issues citing translations of articles in Japanese magazines since the 2001 establishment of the site, but since a few years ago, it increasingly carried articles pertaining to sex.

‘‘We regret that our assessment procedure was not satisfactory and we apologize for it,’’ the Mainichi Shimbun said. The newspaper said it is planning to punish the head of the Digital Media Division, which is responsible for overseeing the site, and the manager responsible for the section, as well as the editor involved with the stories, according to its website.

Criticism has been growing since late May and the paper closed WaiWai on Saturday, according to the Mainichi.

About 300 complaints and opinions have been sent via email or phone to the Mainichi Daily News editorial department as of Monday.

The opinions included such comments as ‘‘Have you thought of any possible effects of your reporting these articles to the world in English?’’ or ‘‘You are disseminating content that would mislead readers about Japan.’’

‘‘Mainichi Daily News, and its publisher the Mainichi Newspapers Co, sincerely accept readers’ criticism and will work to provide, edit and publish reliable information,’’ the paper said.

Latest 15 of 62 Total Comments Show All

flammenwerfer at 09:43 PM JST - 25th June

Sigh, the wai wai was a good laugh, the Puritans finally won out huh? I bet they a smugly happy with themselves in their sanitized happy little world...

perhaps an independent wai wai replacement will pop up.
Pukey2 at 09:44 PM JST - 25th June

It'll be sorely missed. I haven't checked waiwai for a long time, but it was always a good read. Don't these people realize that they were merely translations or do they only want Japanese to have access to these gossippy stories? As for Koreans gaining access to these stories, why on earth would removing the English version make any difference? Lots of Koreans are proficient in Japanese. I'd like to see these irate people try and stop publication of those magazines which originally printed the articles.

I didn't hear anything from the Japanese community when that racist book was sold at 7-11 using the N word, amongst other things.
Pukey2 at 09:47 PM JST - 25th June

gavinova:

http://www9.atwiki.jp/mainichiwaiwai/pages/16.html

I see they translated some of the waiwai articles into Japanese. Perhaps someone should have told them they could have saved a lot of time had they just pasted the original Japanese article.
TokyoGas at 09:49 PM JST - 25th June

wai wai was great! Many scandal stories for all to review. Let's shed a tear for the demise of a longtime website. :(
Molenir at 01:01 AM JST - 26th June

I always liked reading wai wai. Hate that they caved in and pulled it. Especially when you can apparently still read it in Japanese. Well, if you can read Japanese.
tenguleavings at 01:08 AM JST - 26th June

What you guys are not understanding was that the Mainichi English site posted the smutty, tabloid articles under the same section as the regular news. Sometimes those articles made the front headline.

Absolutely incorrect. This idea that the WaiWai stories were right there with the national headlines is completely wrong, as anyone who had actually visited the site could tell you. They were in their own clearly marked section with a disclaimer. Also, the national Japanese headlines are rarely too far removed from what you'd see in the WaiWai anyway, and the rest were obvious concoctions (yet fun nevertheless) that no one with half a brain could possibly misconstrue as somehow representative of Japan or any other nation. Please make some attempt at accuracy, won't you? Otherwise, the Ni-Channel thought police may take aim at you next.

The simple fact is that a small vociferous minority made a lot of complaints in a short amount of time and the Mainichi not only totally caved in, but made the outrageous claim that they were unaware of what was going on with the one thing that was buttering their bread for literally years, and furthermore vowed to actually punish the people they were paying to produce it. Regardless of how you felt about the feature, this kind of cowardice and willful stupidity speaks much more poorly about Japan than any dodgy sex tale.

Also take note that as of right now, not a single comment exists on the Mainichi's forum, pro or con, on this topic. Tells you everything you need to know about their integrity.
ca1ic0cat at 01:22 AM JST - 26th June

so the question is, will JT pick up the slack?
pimpninja1 at 04:07 AM JST - 26th June

I'm torn. When I first came back to the states from my japan travels in 04, I found wai wai to be a humorous take on the behind the scenes. Its no different from the tabloids in the grocery stores that housewives obsess over. On the other hand, even though intelligent people understand to take what they read with a grain of salt. To put it politely though, not everyone on the web is intelligent. I get what they were trying to do, but this seems a an act of cowardice to those of us that fall in the intelligent category.

Pimpninja say, if no one knows 15 year old have affair with gay married clown, does it not still happen?
Zen_Builder at 07:00 AM JST - 26th June

More/New info on the Mainichi site:

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/culture/waiwai/
Honne at 08:11 AM JST - 26th June

J-bloggers and ni-channelers were initially the ones who were complaining about the WaiWai section for awhile (going on for several months). One recent posting along with a link to where the ongoing "discussion" was taking place on 2ちゃん.

http://blog.livedoor.jp/tonchamon/archives/51930175.html

Their previous complaints to MDN only resulted in minor changes or article deletions which did not make these folks happy because they wanted it shutdown completely. MDN pretty much just blew them off. The noise only got louder (what do you expect once a bunch of ni-channelers start organizing) especially after one particular article ran about how mothers would give their sons sexual favors in exchange for doing well on their exams. J-CAST on Friday decided to cover the story about WaiWai.

http://www.j-cast.com/2008/06/20022225.html

The article appeared on Yahoo! Japan shortly

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20080620-00000003-jct-sci

This exposure was all that was needed to get MDN to pull the plug. There are unconfirmed rumors that some MDN staff members and families received threatening phone calls.

MDN shutdown WaiWai fairly quickly but initially left just a very terse statement on June 21. That statement is posted at the end of the new longer message they put up the next day. The original statement was not acceptable to the complainers because they demanded a FULL apology and also asked that Ryan Connell reflect on what he had done. The detailed one you now see on their website including the statement about punishing the people involved is a result of the complaints that came in AFTER the site was already pulled.

Ni-channelers (the ones in the society threads are the worst) have gotten their way in the past before so this isn't anything new. Each win only emboldens them. What they are not aware of YET are the translated Shukan Post articles that exist on this site or the Tokyo Confidential articles over at the Japan Times. Once they learn about them, the same thing could happen because they've already mentioned this in previous threads to report back on sites that have such material.
TJrandom at 08:26 AM JST - 26th June

I provided a very polite disagreement with their removal of WaiWai on the Mainichi Readers Forum. (I assure you that it would have passed the JT Mod’s high standards.)

My comment was not accepted. It seems that they really do not want any constructive criticism, in spite of saying that they encourage readers to post.
Pukey2 at 09:57 PM JST - 26th June

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainichi_Shimbun

The disappearance of waiwai is also documented on wikipedia. Anybody interested in re-editing it?
GJDailleult at 11:21 PM JST - 26th June

Just checked the Wikipedia site, and just want to say this, and it is not a Japan specific point. There are few things more pathetic in life than seeing self-appointed protectors of their country's image attempt to do so in a foreign language and in a foreign culture setting that they clearly don't understand. But as the person or persons who put up the information on Wikipedia appear to understand English well enough to be possibly reading this site, I will offer the following sincere and heartfelt advice. If you really care about Japan's image in the world, shut up.
tenguleavings at 01:30 AM JST - 27th June

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mainichi_Shimbun

The re-edit appears to be complete.
presto345 at 07:41 PM JST - 27th June

This is a very sad development. The MDN bowing to a couple of uptight prudes trying to dictate their pathetic convictions. And on top of that immediately naming a scapegoat for something that brought lots of visitors to the site. Well, these visitors will sign off en masse. Goodbye.