[ continued from Vol. 128 ]

The third issue of "Courrier Japon" is out now. Next to reports on Iraq, a special on the bird flu and an article titled "Asia is watching Abe Shinzo", there are some rather plain articles including "Francis Fukuyama: I was against the Irak War", "Charismatic gamers for Singapore", and "Welcome to Nollywood, film capital of the world". "Nollywood", by the way, is how they call the Nigerian cinema industry. Below are some more questions and answers from my interview with editor Koga.

 

What’s your present official circulation?

 

200,000 copies. In Tokyo the inaugural issue sold out completely, and nationwide about 70-80%.

 

And what circulation are you aiming at?

 

We hope the number will level out somewhere between 150 and 200,000.

 

Isn't that a bit high? (laughs)

 

Well, of the "International" edition more than 200,000 copies are being sold alone in France, a country with half the population of Japan, so we think it’s not impossible.

 

I heard that, when "International" was launched, and even now, about two thirds of its readership are regular subscribers, so I guess it will be important to increase the number of subscribers for you too.

 

Yes you're right. With the first issue we got about eight or nine hundred subscriptions, and I hope we can build up on that.

 

I also sent Suzuki Hidenobu, the "chef du service Asie" of the International edition, an email with a few questions. He is the only Japanese in the International team, and as I wrote last time, he is a founding member of "Courrier International". For "Japon" he has been functioning as an advisor.

 

Was there any specific request from Kodansha?

 

No, nothing in particular. Both the teams in Tokyo and Paris have been aware from the beginning that the magazine won't work in Japan if it’s exactly the same as the International edition, as the readership here is different from that in France.

 

How would you judge the first two issues of the Japanese edition?

 

I think it’s well-done. Everybody took their time without hurrying to get the magazine out, and the Courrier we have now in Japan is different from that in Paris. It’s of course a different format and a different layout, including the use of photographs. There are quite some fresh new elements, also seen from our perspective. There are of course a couple of little problems in the details, but you have to understand that making an entire magazine out of translated material is much trickier than it seems, especially when it’s about translating texts into Japanese.

 

Are there any personal comments, or remarks from your company’s side?

 

Courrier International, which celebrated its 15th birthday last November, started as a completely unknown magazine with a readership of only some ten thousand. That it has been around for so many years now and reached a circulation of 200,000 has to be credited to the concept and quality the magazine maintained. Thanks to this the number of fans and subscribers increased little by little. About two thirds of the readers were subscribers when the magazine was launched, and it’s still the same percentage now. I think the success of Courrier Japon will depend on whether the magazine is able to build up a similar base of fans.

 

According to both Koga and Suzuki, the affiliation between "International" and "Japon" is only an affiliation of concepts and networks, which means that "Japon" doesn't buy a certain amount of articles from "International" and produce the same magazine, but editorial matters of are all settled here in Japan. When comparing both editions, they have in fact little in common. "Japon" has its exclusive articles, and they don't even make those deals via "International", but negotiations are being made directly with the affiliated media in each country. As I wrote before, without judging their quality, fact is that there are a number of exclusive reports in "Courrier Japon".

 

Various Japanese media, including the rather rebellious ones, are serving nationalism. As long as they are produced in Japan, and in Japanese, that’s a perfectly natural consequence. However, when news are requested from overseas sources, that "service" gets a little weaker. What’s important here is the absolute amount of different sources.

 

In times where one never knows whose soil is polluted, the only way not to drink (or at least drink less) milk that might contain contaminants is reportedly to drink milk from as many different areas as possible. In other words, a diversification of risk, and the same technique can in fact be employed also with media reports. The smaller the number of sources, the lower the chance to compare, and only comparison of a large number of different media saves you from getting brainwashed by propaganda-like material, and most probably get the better — if only slightly– result.

 

In this sense, we can expect from "Courrier Japon" to function as a hub of rare news sources from various Asian countries. Articles from over 100 countries, bought from over 1,000 magazines: impressive figures indeed. However, the machineries of capitalism are mighty, and their influence affects also editorial policies, plus, this nation’s "cultural level" is highly precarious. On my question, "Don't you think you're a little too optimistic?", Mr. Suzuki from "International" replied, "I agree with you that it’s not that easy to have success. But Mr. Koga put so much love and effort into the magazine and convinced the executive floor of Kodansha, and with his enthusiasm and a good editorial team I am sure "Japon" will be able to gather enough fans to make it." It may be a preseumptious remark, but while on one hand supporting the editorial team’s spirit, I'll be following the magazine carefully to see where it’s heading.