Information Transmission Compared: Japan and China Whenever I come across the issue of information transmission, I am grieved to see the poor transmission of information from Japan, and I have always wished, in earnest, that this situation would be remedied without delay. Japan is content to rest within the domain of the Japanese language and has been left far behind, when compared with China and South Korea, in transmitting information from Japan in any other language, even today, in this age of globalization. It is enough for me to watch television in my hotel room on my overseas trips as evidence of this situation. Xinhua News Agency, the official press agency of the government of China, has launched its world English TV channel, CNC World, providing service 24 hours a day. It is the CNN of China and can be accessed from mobile telephone and the internet. It covers mainly domestic new, of course, but also news acquired from around the globe by its 600 correspondents stationed at approximately 130 overseas branch offices. But, of course any news that is critical of the Chinese government is rejected. According to the New York Times�f article of June 7. 2010, there has been a new office established specifically for foreign public relations at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the allocated budget for the purpose of having more voices heard by the rest of the world, is a colossal $ 8.7 billion (\696 billion @ \80/$1). This must be equivalent to the amount of Japanese ODA. It is not only the media that is actively involved. The Office of Public Diplomacy Support and the State Council Information Office have been established to invite world executives of news agencies and think tanks, influential commentators who shape public opinion aggressively to China. The Chinese government is desperately trying to improve the image of China to the rest of the world through its diplomacy. Yet, The New York Times points out that without liberalization and respect for human rights in the Chinese society, the whiff of immature propaganda in the Chinese media cannot be completely erased and the efforts made in China will not produce any effect. However, regardless of the fact that the international community has a very critical eye towards the issue of human rights and the rigorous restrictions on free speech, the rating of favorable impression for China is a surprising 5th where Canada and Japan place 1st, according to the BBC survey. It is astonishing that China places above the United Kingdom and the United States. It must be the fruit of their publicity diplomacy.. What then can one say about the Japanese transmission of information. It is far behind that of China and South Korea, despite the efforts made by the Nippon Broadcasting Corporation; NHK (Japan�fs national public broadcasting organization). Professor Taniguchi of Keio University (Japan) sharply points out that NHK World TV is in no way up to the level to call itself an international broadcasting channel. In addition to this, the Sankei Newspaper has reported that the government�fs announcement concerning the current Fukushima nuclear power plant accident �ghas harbored an unamendable distrust among the foreign media�h I would like to cite my article which appeared in the RONTEN (Yomiuri Newspaper editorial), in 2006. I mentioned at that time that there were more than 100 countries receiving information from each of the major international broadcasting companies, namely CNN (US), BBC World (UK), TV5 (France), 78 countries from China CCTV, 63 countries from Arirang TV of South Korea , while only 12 countries from NHK. . Even if we assume that NHK has made great efforts since then, this obvious disparity continues to expand both quantitatively and qualitatively. In this age of globalization, it not only goes without saying how important it is to transmit information to the world to promote correct understanding of Japan, but Japan has lost a great deal of credibility through the incorrectness of information that it had sent out concerning the current nuclear power plant accident. It is indeed of great regret and extremely unfortunate.�@ Yet, in spite of all this, the politicians in Japan have essentially discontinued the support to the JAPANECHO.net which is a tool for what little information the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was transmitting to the world, under the claim of review and prioritization of government programs. If the Chinese government�fs overseas pubic relation budget is likened to the size of a missile that of Japan would not even be the size of a bamboo spear but a mere toothpick. It is truly disappointing..