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Paper short abstract

This presentation examines how the Japanese publishing industry find the attractiveness of “hate articles”, such as anti-Chinese or Koreans, or LGBTQ, for magazine readers, and how such articles gain the popularity. The research is based on the exploratory interviews with editors.

Paper long abstract

In 2018, an anti-LGBTQ article written by Mio Sugita, a Diet member of Japan, provoked a sensational controversy, which gathered more attention because its publisher, Shinchosha, was one of the Japanese general and traditional publishers well known for their literature series. Eventually, Shincho 45, which published the article, was forced to cease the publication of the magazine. Seven years later in 2025, Shinchosha is being involved in a serious controversy again about an anti-Korean article in Shukan Shincho, while protesting action by insiders of the publishing industry keep going even though Shukan Shincho printed an apology in the magazine.

Looking back the history of the industry, Japanese tabloid magazines published by large general publishers have repeatedly published such articles since the late 1990s. The questions of this presentation are: how did the Japanese publishing industry find their attractiveness of “hate articles” for magazine readers, and how did such articles gain the popularity? Several commentators have pointed out that the rise of such articles resulted from the publishing industry’s slump, especially magazines’ since the second half of the 1990s, which is largely due to the emergence of the internet. To get out of the slump, tabloid magazines began publishing such articles as one of the genres of entertainment.

However, the attitude of the editors who elicited readers’ emotion by producing such articles has never been investigated. This presentation analyses editors' attitudes towards such articles, their expertise in eliciting emotion, and the decision-making structure within publishing houses. The analysis is based on qualitative content analysis of academic and non-academic literature on hate books and exploratory interviews with 30 editors including former and current chief editors of leading magazines, especially embracing the last chief editor of Shincho 45 who oversaw Mio Sugita’s article. On the other hand, Members of BLAR (Book Lovers Against Racism) who consists of counter activism protesting against Shinchosha are also included in the interviewees for examining possibilities for industry-led self-regulation.