Japan Today supports Church of Scientology

By Ken Y-N ( April 25, 2008 at 22:27) · Filed under Opinion

Starting about two weeks ago, Japan Today has been publishing video ads through Google AdSense for the Church of Scientology, much to the annoyance of some of their readership. Although it is perfectly easy for Japan Today to block these advertisements (despite claiming they cannot - see the 434th comment labeled “sailwind at 11:45 PM JST - 19th April”), the adverts ran for at least a week indicating that the management at Japan Today prefers the income over any hackles promotion of that wonderful organisation might raise within their audience.

(As a side note, I posted a follow-up message to point out that the JT Editor was wrong in his or her observation about being unable to block advertisements, but they deleted my message.)

Next, they ran an open thread on why people join cults, which more than a few of the regulars found quite ironic considering they had been running adverts for the not in the least bit cultish Church of Scientology.

However, the final straw was the commentary piece published today, Japan in need of moral education, by Peter Zimmatore. I read it and thought the whole article sounded a bit fishy, so I did a web search for the Metempiric Foundation and turned up just one other hit, an event that sounds like some sort of vaguely religious gathering. This caused me to merely roll my eyes, but searching for the author’s name turns up a lot of Scientology-related hits. Whilst I fully understand that there may be other people in the world with the same name as him and I am most willing to be corrected in my assumptions, I can only conclude that this article has been written by a member of the Church of Scientology.

Further evidence from the article includes:

This was a transplant from the world of therapy (Carl Rogers/Abraham Maslow) and their psychology-based influence.

The Church of Scientology is well-known for its opposition to both psychiatry and psychology.

For teenagers and young parents, we need to have a technique that makes them able to confront and handle the defects they have developed and to redirect them to the need and desire to want to live a virtuous life.

This description sounds like Scientology’s auditing process.

Why is Japan Today publishing articles that have a hidden agenda? Is it willingly or unwittingly supporting the Church of Scientology? I have emailed the editor of Japan Today to ask him or her to clarify the web site’s position, but I am yet to receive a reply. However, I did notice that they deleted three comments by people making jokey comments directed at the aforementioned article appearing to be a Scientology plant, which is not a good sign.

Update: Between writing this article and publishing it, Japan Today has seen fit to remove all bar one comment (perhaps they missed that one?) associating that article or the author with the Church of Scientology, using not the usual method that sends an email to the comment author with a reason for deleting, but with a purge that does not notify the poster.

Japan Today is also in need of moral education. Was Japan Today paid to publish that commentary? A more honourable site would have at least left the comments standing to help the reader understand where the article is coming from.

How will this affect your usage of Japan Today?

Note: Although I am no fan of Scientology, they have the right to a presence on the internet and to try to publicise their message. It is Japan Today alone that I hold responsible for this.

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Sandre said,

April 26, 2008 @ 01:08

Hello there,

I have two questions:

Question 1:
“Which answer option fits better a person who is not interested in and almost never visiting Japan Today “?

Question 2:
“Why do you think I am asking this?”

billywest said,

April 26, 2008 @ 02:55

Unfortunately, as I read this post, I can see a Scientology promo in your Ad Sense. (Not joking)

Louis said,

April 26, 2008 @ 03:33

That’s just because of Google’s content search adsense to keep ads relevant Billy.

As far as I know the video advertisements are restricted to a select few high traffic sites. They are new, and obviously pay well. With religion being such an iffy topic, you would think a high profile news resource would be a little more careful with what they allow to be advertised on their site.

Shane said,

April 26, 2008 @ 06:24

It’s ironic that this post may actually drive traffic to Japan Today. I have been to the site a few times and while some of the news reported was interesting there never seemed to be a lot of depth provided. I also found that the comments tended to be very narrow minded and argumentative rather than informative.

Nice article Ken, I think what most people hate the most is when people aren’t up front with them and as a site presenting the news I think it becomes even more offensive.

JapanToday.com - Sponsored By The Church Of Scientology? | Japan Probe said,

April 26, 2008 @ 07:58

[…] Y-N has investigated recent incidents over at JapanToday.com and has found a bizarre connection between the site and the Church of Scientology. In addition to running Scientology advertisements that the Japan Today editors claimed could not […]

Ikeda D. said,

April 26, 2008 @ 09:18

This is like the Soka-Gakkai relation to Japan Times.

Vimy said,

April 26, 2008 @ 11:09

One article and a handful of ads doesn’t make a hidden agenda, Ken. I think you’re worry about nothing. JT is not a great website for information, and even if it were, their support of Scientology is their business. If you feel reading the JT will somehow indoctrinate you to Scientology, don’t visit the website.

Global Voices Online » Japan: Japan Today supports Scientology said,

April 26, 2008 @ 15:51

[…] at What Japan Thinks writes about opposition from readers of Japan Today to video ads for the Church of Scientology. Posted by Chris Salzberg Share […]

Ken Y-N said,

April 26, 2008 @ 16:57

billywest, thanks for pointing that out! I’ve set up a block on that URL, so hopefully Google will stop showing them soon.

Shane, well, yes, there will be a slight spike of visits to JT, I suppose. Yes, it’s the lack of transparency and the deletion of adverse comments that makes me suspicious.

Vimy, I am/was a fan of their site, and as I said to Shane, if it had just been the ads and the article I’d have given them the benefit of the doubt, but to remove all negative comments on that story is most fishy indeed. In other stories they give full reign to diverse views, including one or two Nazi-sympathising tin-foil hatters.

songboom.com said,

April 26, 2008 @ 17:53

Of all of the bad things about Scientology, this isn’t one of the things I’d worry about.

Taro 3Yen.com said,

April 26, 2008 @ 19:22

>I did a web search for the Metempiric Foundation and turned up just one other hit,
>an event that sounds like some sort of vaguely religious gathering.

Ha, ha, did that Scientology stalking-horse, Peter Zimmatore, really represent himself as part of the “Metempiric Foundation”?

Occultism & Parapsychology Encyclopedia: Metempiric
Term proposed in the 1970s to denote unexplained phenomena such as UFOs, ghosts, alien creatures, mysterious fires, and unusual falls from the sky, usually classified as Fortean phenomena after the writer Charles Hoy Fort, who pioneered the study of such things. The term never became popular and largely passed out of use in favor of “anomalistics.”

somereader said,

April 27, 2008 @ 02:46

Most of Japan Today’s articles and news are ridiculously written with a sensationalist bent. Steer clear altogether because it isn’t the best source for news about Japan.

April 27, 2008 @ 08:54

“Vimy, I am/was a fan of their site, and as I said to Shane, if it had just been the ads and the article I’d have given them the benefit of the doubt, but to remove all negative comments on that story is most fishy indeed. In other stories they give full reign to diverse views, including one or two Nazi-sympathising tin-foil hatters.”

Still doesn’t add up to a hidden agenda to me. It sounds more like a problem with poor comment moderation.

Brent said,

April 27, 2008 @ 10:07

Yeah it is stupid but I don’t see what the big deal is. People want the ads removed but then they complain that their comments got deleted. Doesn’t Japan Probe have a right to leave their ads just as you think you have a right to not have your comments deleted. In this world, people have different beliefs but there is also something called tolerance. Welcome to the internet, don’t take things seriously.

Xenu said,

May 3, 2008 @ 13:37

I used to look at Japan Today daily. Since they made it uglier and more difficult to read, I no longer do so. Related to this has been a progressive undercurrent that I had been putting down to hapless grasping for “monetization”. Having them now shill for Scientology comes as no surprise, and will simply stop me from even taking a look every week or so.

Xenu is coming back, and he’s p*ssed!

John Davis said,

May 12, 2008 @ 00:15

What is all the fuss about? There is NOTHING in this article about Scientology and even if there were, so what? In your world doesn’t Scientology have a right to speak?

John Davis