International Student Interview on Media

I chatted with my suitemate named Yu from Japan about the media differences in the US and Japan. She said that Japanese media really has one opinion, or one central theme, whereas the media in the US has numerous opinions and angles. For example, in the Presidential election coverage, US media says whatever they want about the candidates. In Japan the people just accept their leader and no one disrespects him/her. The TV shows in Japan are based on US trends and are dominated with music videos. Technology in Japan is actually more advanced that in the US. She said that just as many people in Japan have cell phones as people in the US, and the cell phones are much smaller and more advanced. ( That really suprised me.) Although, she said that not all Japanese people have the other advances that we have, such as laptops, i-pods, and GPS devices. The first thing that Yu noticed about the US media was how people say whatever they want and it is accepted. In Japan, if someone said something alternative to the majority, they would be shunned by society. She also said that Americans take their freedom of speech for granted alot. She believes that the freedom is wonderful, though and is thankful to be able to be in this country.