Traditional media outlets are still more influential than news sites. Mainstream newspapers and broadcasters are owned by the country’s five major media conglomerates: Yomiuri, Asahi, Nihon-Keizai, Mainichi and Fuji-Sankei. Yomiuri and Asahi are the most widely circulated newspapers in the world, with 5.3 million and 3.2 million copies sold per day, respectively. Meanwhile, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is one of the world’s largest public broadcasters.

Since 2012 and the nationalist right’s rise to power, journalists have reported distrust and even hostility towards the press. This is compounded by the kisha club (“reporters’ club”) system, which continues to regulate access to information. While some clubs — such as those attached to courts and prosecutors' offices, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — allow freelancers and journalists from alternative media outlets to attend press briefings along with civil society organisations, access to press conferences with ministers and senior officials is often restricted to club members only. This selective access reinforces hierarchies within the media landscape and can encourage self-censorship, while continuing to marginalise freelancers and non-mainstream news outlets, including foreign reporters.

Several legal and regulatory factors impact journalists’ ability to report on the ground. For example, due to the vague wording used in the Land Use Regulation Act, journalists do not have access to 583 zones in close proximity to defence facilities, in addition to other sites deemed of “interest to national security,” such as nuclear power plants and military bases, even though reporting on these sites could be of public interest. Violations of this law are punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 2 million yen (11,000 EUR). The government also refuses to amend a law on the protection of specially designated secrets, which punishes the publication of information obtained “illegally” by up to ten years in prison. 

Print newspapers are still major players in the media market, with one of the highest distribution rates in the world per capita. However, even in Japan — the country home to the world’s oldest population — the future of the newspaper industry is uncertain, with readership in decline and online media outlets on the rise. Japan does not regulate against the cross ownership of newspapers and broadcasting groups, which has led to extreme media concentration and the growth of media groups of considerable size, such as the newspaper Nikkei Business Daily, which employs more than 1,500 reporters.

In Japan, the government and corporations routinely exert pressure on the management of mainstream media, resulting in heavy self-censorship on topics that could be deemed sensitive, such as corruption, sexual harassment, health issues and pollution. In recent years, the government has slashed the number of journalists invited to its press conferences, citing health measures linked to the pandemic and has added public broadcaster NHK to the list of organisations required to follow its “instructions” in the event of a major national crisis.

While Japanese journalists operate in a relatively safe working environment, some have been sued by politicians for retweeting content deemed “defamatory.” On social media, nationalist groups also routinely harass journalists who criticise the government or cover “unpatriotic” subjects, such as the slow response to the Noto disaster or using the term “treated radioactive water” to designate Fukushima water.