Michael Anti: Blogging the gap between China and Japan · Global Voices
Scilla Alecci

At the end of a three-month stay in Japan as a visiting fellow at the University of Tokyo, Michael Anti, the Chinese journalist, researcher, media activist and blogger, talked to GV Japan about his current mission: facilitating understanding between Japan and China.
Real China, according to Anti, is the one that shows through the Chinese blogs, bulletin boards and independent Internet media whose authors are often professional journalists, and it has nothing to do with the one propagandized by the government through the “standard” media.
But the Japanese media has yet to understand the lesson.
Stuck in their old (almost obsolete) system, they don't trust the Internet media, and of course they would never rely on bloggers to get their news. And there's the rub! You cannot think to report on what really happens in China unless you turn your attention away from propaganda to people's voices.
And vice versa. The Chinese people will understand Japan only when they stop reading biased bulletin boards like 2channel and visit Japan.
With wit and humor, Michael Anti explained to us why the Chinese and Japanese bloggers are the diplomats of the future.
Michael Anti
What was the purpose of your trip, and what did you accomplish?
As a result, I talked to many people in the media, many politicians, and all the “big” bloggers and Japanese people. I think I changed some of their ideas. Now, we will do some more activities in the next year; for example, inviting Chinese bloggers to visit Japan. And there will be other initiatives like this to give more chances to both sides to understand each other better.
Is there anything that disappointed you, coming here?
Was there something that surprised you?
How about China instead?
What do you think Chinese should know about Japan, that they can’t know because, as you said, the Japanese mainstream media?
Now that you’re going back to China, if you had a conference right now, what would be the first message you give to your audience?
What would be your advice to Japanese media to improve the connection to Japanese civil society?
Do you think things will change?
Will you miss Japan?
Michael Anti tweets in Chinese at @mranti.