THE PRESS OF JAPAN

Cromwell Argus, Volume L, Issue 2646, 27 October 1919, Page 2

THE PRESS OF JAPAN

HUGE CIRCULATIONS.

[By Mr Adam .M‘Cav, Editor of the ‘ Syd uey Sun.’]

'The current statement among men is that there are 60 different smells in Japan, and a Sixty-first Smell (with a capital S) which outweighs and conquers them all. But neither the little smells nor The Smell itself could defeat what I sniffed —wet printing paper and printer’s ink. 1 knew 1 was there. I knew I was at the office of the Tokio ‘Jiji,’ where the foreign editor, Air Kawadzura, was waiting to show me round. When 1 first saw him he was at a party, in such a frock coat and silk hat as never Australian pressman wore. But this night he was an ordinary mortal; just a newspaper man, and with the smell of the ink and the sight of the dusty wooden staircase (all newspaper staircases in the world look the same) I wanted to take him to my heart. ! asked him the circulation of the ‘ Jiji ’ in comparison with that of the ‘ .Mainichi ’ and the ‘Hochi.’ He answered apologetically that the circulation was a secret, so then I knew that his paper’s was the smaller. He was .a good newspaper man. He would not tell a ho to brother in the craft. SLOW METHODS OF SETTING. The Japanese newspapers remain a marvel to the visiting pressman. With the immense toil of their setting-up, how the dickens do they ever get the paper out? They cannot use linotype machines, because where we have an alphabet of 26 letters they print in Chinese character, and in the daily routine of the paper there are about 3.500 different characters in use ! In Japan you cannot rush a very late story into print, unless it' is a very short one, because “ copy closes ” —that is to say. the reporter must stop writing—a couple of hours before the edition goes to press. The interval is given to the compositor and to a somewhat slow but reasonably well-equipped stereotyping room. A compositor is more than a compositor, because he cannot always find close at hand the character which he wants—out of 3,500! Therefore he is assisted by “pickers,” and may set a boy running along the composing room (sometimes it is a girl) to get the special piece of type which is not at his elbow. Printers will know how he leaves an indication in his “ take ” that a missing character lias to be inserted. A SYLLABLE ALPHABET.

Japan has invented an alphabet. It contains 48 symbols, which represent syllables —ya, ma, ko, kn, and so on—liecause the Japanese language is like the Maqri: it trios to put a vowel between every two consonants. Translating “ Scotland,” the Japanese make it “ Suknturando,” as the Maoris turned the English Queen’s name into “Wikitoria.” Tn Japanese, by the way, there is no “ 1,” and if your name is Blight you must expect to be called Buraitu San. The first foreigner whom I heard talking Japanese used the word “kokotairu,” which is “ cocktail ” very much gone wrong. But though the syllable alphabet is invented it is not generally read, and a. curious system has been adopted. ' Tbe Japanese syllable is printed alongside the Chinese character, and is cast on the same piece of metal, so you have them both together. Hince one reads Japanese and Chinese downwards instead of across the pace this device is possible. There is vague talk of introducing spelling reform and even of using Roman characters : but the task is tremendous. There are newspapers which are respectable and newspapers which are not respectable. lam sure that X have been so far* only in the offices of tlio respectable ones. I was first shown round the premises of the Kobe ‘ Yushin Nippo ’ by its chief editor, Mr Rinbi Tanaka, a journalist for 22 years, and I am sure so grave and polite a man never brought a blush to the most delicate cheek. Mr Kawadznra at the ‘ Jiji ’ matlw me feel equally reassured, and 1 am convinced that I have been in associations as lofty ns if I had called on the ‘ Sydney Morning Herald ’ or the ‘ Argus.’ That confidence came when I talked with Mr Kawadznra about his Pago Three. PERSONAL GOSSIP.

Be a good young man when you come to Japan, or you may find yourself on Page Three. It is a page devoted to light personal gossip. It will print a photograph of “Mademoiselle Tsidoku oan, th© charming geisha whom the Minister for Bicc Crops has taken under his protection.” You may be pleasantly surprised to hear from Page Three just how much you won from Captain Kokodoko before the police raided' the gambling house. “ The personal par we decidedly bar in the beautiful valley of Bhnng,” but not in the populous plain of Tokio. But in the ‘ Jiji, ’ as I heard, Pago Three contained no scandal; only an interesting light miscellany. Yon cannot be certain of your papers, even though you read extracts from them in the English-printed Press. On© day I lit upon such a gorgeous piece of Eoyalist jingoism, such an unblushing panegyric on the Imperial Family as the heaven-sent saviour of the world, that 1 cut it out as a supreme sample of the- Emperor-worship they teach here in the schools. I was wrong. On closer inquiry I learn that this paper—■with no great circulation—mixes with its ordinary business of selling news and opinions just a little high-minded blackmail. It is one of those papers which wishes to purify the morals of society, and will show the sinner a proof slip of what it hopes to print for its conscience’ sake. If the sinner views the matter reasonably, the story is not printed. Then I understood the noble outbreak of loyalty and religion. That was the newspaper’s own little bit of whitewash for itself. It is a fixed rule for the Press which goes down into the gutter the worse the blackmail, the finer the sentiments. Again, Tokio has the Miyako. the paper circulated especially among the geisha girls. That sounded -ike a very highly peppered chutney. I consulted English experts who could read Japanese, and found the ‘ Miyako ’ labelled comparatively harmless. lis jokes were not the jokes of an English drawingroom, but wouldn’t set fire to anything. They would make a- tea-house girl giggle. But anything would make a tea-house girl giggle. Japan has 360 persons to 'the square mile, and 360,000 giggles. POLITICS AND OBSESSION.

Polities—•especially foreign polities—is the obsession of the editorial staffs; but the news editors know their busi-

ness. The wrestling matches are in progress in Tokio, and the live paj>ers post the results outside the offices. At the race meetings they carry the telephony right, from the office' to the reporter's elbow in his press seal. Ami, like all perverted pressmen, they know that their readers will just eat up' a good “ Society Sensation." They are still talking of a ®far rtmy of a‘long time ago. The daughter of a Privy Councillor doped with her •chauffeur. That was a news item ; but more was to follow. The lovers foresaw pursuit and disappointment; and a Japanese youth and maiden have only one way of acting when love fails. They leave the world, and try to leave it together. This Pomoo and Juliet threw themselves in front of a iailwav train. The man was killed ; the girl, though injured, was saved, and put into an automobile to bo taken to hospital. That is where tho ruthless Japanese re porter began, his work. At the hospital entrance there was a line of motor ears, each holding its reporter and photographer. Other, cars scouted further away.

The car with the injured girl was sighted, but it did not come to the hospital ; it turned elsewhere. There was a chase: but the girl's car was the Lister, and it got away. Subsequently it was found that she had been taken to a temple. The end of the story was that the girl's father, in consequence of the scandal, had to resign from ins public office. Japan may have learned its military policy from Gevmanj. bat its reporters learned their news instinct from America. Tire leaderwriters invented their own methods Full cable services arc received by the Japanese press. There is an associated service called the Kukusai, and the werld-widc organisation of Reuter is busy ; in addition the big papers have many special corresnondents in big cities of the world, and there is no parsimony in their despatches. I have seen very long cables from Sydney, including a three-quarlcr-coliimn extract from an article in ‘The Sun.’ HIGH PROFITS DENIED. The papers say that they cannot make high profits. The cost of production—especially of com|»osing—and the high prices of cabling are then - chief tumbles—but they use many more reporters than wo would to cover the same job. One and all they declare that they arc completely independent, but often some of them seem to work adroitly in harmony with one of the political groups—or even one of the commercial groups. All are keenly interested in Australia, especially in its politics and its labor organisation : and the big papers up hero will send delegates to the Press Contereme to be held in Sydney in 1920. They arc slick in special editions —a “gowai’' I think is the name. They are small single sheets, and the boys run them furiously round the streets, ringing a little set of hells not unlik# a child's rattle. There is no mistaking the sound. At Shizouka we had a “gowai” for the Tokio fire, issuing a few hours after the outbreak in the capital city. Even as I write, a boy is ringing a. “gowai” along the street outside the hotel, yelling blue murder as he runs. What has happened; We shall go-lonk-seo. as they say in Hongkong, but not in Jamil, where there is no pulguiEnglish. It was the wrestling results for this Sunday afternoon.