The separation of powers, which is essential to the modern constitution, playing an important role of protecting individual freedoms from the abuse of governmental powers, has been under a transformation in various aspects. Among remarkable developmonts are corpulence of administrative power and integration of three powers. These phenomena cause malfunction of checks-and-balances system among three powers. Under this change of circumstances, one of the ways to protect individual freedoms effectirely, is to create additional power outside three existing powers. From the beginning of the 19th century an idea of the press as "the Fourth Estate" has prevailed. With the help of this new power in society, there comes out a substantial possibility of effectuating checks-and-balances system among powers in a political commonwealth. However, next problem is how to control the power of the press without excessive governmental intervention. Among the possible systems of social control, the first choice should be to accelerate competition among various kinds of the media. The importance of mutual competition between the press and the broabcasting as the "Fifth Estate" has often been pointed out in the modern democratic countries. And also new communication technologies, which offer much more people much more opportunities to engage in expressing idea and transmitting information, will develop the possilility of activating competition. This, at the same time, means full and effective use of freedom of expression. Various kinds of commentations have been pointed out concerning the justifications for freedom of expression-individual self-fulfillment, discovering truth, cheching govermental activities, etc. The political aspects of this freedom can be developed only by constructing a "structure of the freedom. The foothold for this approach can be found in the philosophy of marketplace of ideas. Althoug this philosophy of a free market has often been criticized as a kind of utopia, it can be renovated as a checks-and-balances system among the influential powers in political society. This means that activating freedom of expression plays a major role of complementing the defects of traditional separation of powers and contribute to protecting individual freedoms.

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1. In November 1945, The General Headquarters for the Allied Forces in Japan ordered the Japanese Government to abrogate 12 laws and ordinances which had restricted the freedom of the press and communication. The Japanese Government, however, assuming it would eventually need these laws and ordinances, merely suspended their validity and did not actually abrogate them. Abrogation was eventually carried out in May 1949. Since that time the geverment several times attempted to pass legislation designed to restrict the freedom of the press ; however, the press itself, along with the Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association has consistently stood against such legislation. The govement has not attempted to regulate the press through legislation since the mid-1950's ; however, attempts at such logislation have been made by members of the Diet who took such action in the interest of the people.The aims of such legislation have been, for example, the restraint of sexual books and magazines, the restriction of military secrets, etc. 2. After World War II, there were two opinions among the members of the Union : (1) a new media should be established to function as a channel for internal communication and as the organ for the transmission of their opinions ; (2) the reconstruction of the established mass media should be considered as more important than the creation of a new media. This opposition has contisued with no obvious solution in sight. Since the 1970's, however, criticism of the mass media has become more comprehensive and many-sided than in previous times. The range of people who criticize the mass media extends to the entire citizenry. Today's problems involve infringemlents upon people's rights with respect to reporting, the contents of television programs for children, etc. 3. At the pressent time, and against the objections of the people, the Japanese Goverment is forcing the privatization of the management of public corporations, reductions in social welfare, the imposition of a consucption tax, the deregulation of enterprises, etc. Under these conditions, the people are not a body from which the government must seek a consensus, but rather are either ignored or are merely an object for manipulation. We may project the possibility that in the future expressions which are anti-conformist, sexual, violent, and etc., will be attacked and restrained by "public opinion", and that such expressions may be restricted by legislation as politicaI power furthers the manipulation of information and public opinion through the mass media.

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Technological progress has produced new information service media within the fields of telecommunications and broadcasting ; however, the Japanese administrative authorities-in both previously enacted legislation and in the proposed revision to the "Broadcast Law" submitted to the Diet in 1989-remain with a framework corresponding to the classical dualism of telecommunications and broadcasting. More critical problems are those involved in the transformation of the telecommunications system resulting from the combination of telecommunications setworks and information processing systems. Along with research into the freedom of expression-and its limitations-we also need detailed research into the freedom of communication-and its limitations- (with public openness as the objective). This study needs to be done in relation to the right of "private communication", a right which is guaranteed by the constitutional prohibition against monitoring or other such infringements. If the dualism involved in the typical treatment of telecommunications and broadcasting leads to diminiscing effectiveness, then the emergence of a new perspective enabling unity between the two poles of the dualism will be required. As one key to the construction of such a perspective, a reexamination and reconstruction of the "right to communicate" is proposed.

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It passed nearly 40 years since the broadcasting system in Japan was formed. During these years, both inner and outer factors surrounding broadcasting as a mass-medium had been changed drastically, and the actual condition of broadcasting now is leaving its registrative frame on and on. 1) At firstI overlook changes the actual condition of broadcasting. In this report, fundamental trend is summarized as "compositness and amalgamation" and "multi-channelize." 2) In 1988, the Broadcast Law and the Radio Law were revised in a rather big scale. I summarized therefore, characteristic points and problems of reformation as target of revision. 3) Based upon above-mentioned discussion, remaining major issues toward next reformation are pointed out.

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This paper describes historical developments in both the official regulation of advertising by administmative means and the self-restraint of the advertising media which have resulted from the adverse criticism or critical evaluation of advertising. The method involves a descriptive treatment of interrelated casen in both America and Japan. To begin with, concerning "deceptive advertising and its regulation", the paper describes (1) the establishment of the American Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the Fifth Article of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act in the United Soates, and (2) the dewelopments in Japan in the enactment of the "Law for the Prevention False Premiums and False Advertising". Following this, on the subject of "consumerism and the legitimacy of consumer information", the paper deals with (1) the severe movement to regulate advertising in the 1960's and 1970's-in particular with the drastic policies of the FTC symbolized by "counter-advertising", and their influence on Japanese consumer protection policy, and (2) with the increased obligations of advertisern in the area of product description. Concerning the "debate over advertising tax and the regulation or control of 'quantity'", the paper describes chiefly how, in Japan, the debate over "advertising tax" has been developed on the basis of arguments over "excessive" and "wasteful" advertising. Finally, the paper pursues the topic of the regulation of television advertising directed at children by focusing on the movement to criticize and regulate television as an advertising medium.

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Freedom of INformation Act is not established in Japan yet. However, many local goverments in Japan have already established Freedam of Information Ordinances and citizens are utilizing effectively these ordinances. in protesting nuclear power plant, in claiming medicinal checks'in detecting illegal expenses of public funds etc. The web now is widely accepted on local level. On the other hand, however, there cames out cases in which the local geverment tries to hide their specific informations there by devaluing the ordinance itself, and the citizens have been complaining about it. There are following three patterns of "information hiding". 1) To reject demand of information for the reason of the enforcement date of ordinance. 2) Not to make documents, or not to mention details. 3) To return preserved documents. Common point of above mentioned "information hiding" pattern in not to let the citizen make demand of information based on ordinance. It is not only hiding but also preventing complaint. To keep Information freedom against "information hiding", we need to watch administration on the one hand and need to establish system in the future that clarify production, access and dispose of information on the other. Of course, it is essential for public officials to recognize the signficance of information freedom.

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As the new media has made remarkable progress, the conflict between owners and users rights of the intellectual property beeome mere serious. There are various aspects of the conflict, One of them is that they hold different views of public nature of the intellectual property. Owners of the rights claim the protection of the rights for economic reasons, while users want those claims to be supressed since intellectual property has public nature. The conflict has from the com;licated political, historical and economic backgrounds. Considering origin and the purpose of the right of intellectual property, it is necessary to fully analyse its public nature. Otherwise, the conflict will never be solved. We need to define what the public nature is. Public nature in accompanied by public domain nature. They are not same however and they should not be confused. If we define the public domain nature of the rights from the analysis of the public nature. then we may be able to adjust the protection and the restraint of the rights, and find the significance and the social implication of restraint on them "The protection" of the intellectual property needs elaborate system of applrcation. General system will not be able to meet the requirement. Accordingly, regulation system will take complicated form too. However, there rises question to leave the matter to the official power ? Isn't it possible to develop new value and establish new self regulation system which is independent from official power ? That is difficult, but it is the time for the new challenge.

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This essay raises the question as to how women's sexuality, personality and role are, should be, and could depicted in the mass media. The issue is raised by the introduction of an American active feminist lawyer's theory and practice concerngng pornography. Discussion of the concept, theory and practice of the "freedom of the press" or "freedom of expression" should become more fruitful through realization of the overwhelming power of the "Invisible viewpoint" of the "Japanese WASP man"-highly educated males who do not identify with any discriminaetd against group. This discussion should also be of more value through active listening to the criticism of those people whose viewpoing has been neglected.

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The Supreme Court in Japan used "public welfare" test to restrict freedom of speech many times in the 1940's and 50's. However,lately the Court uses other "tests" instead. For example, once in the Hakata-eki(station) case (1969), the Court adopted ad-hoc balancing test in "privilege" context in (subpoenaing of video tapes of the media) and, in the Inspection by the Custom case(1984), the Court said "the article 21 section 2 of the constitution absolutely inhibits censorship". The Court, nowadays, seemingly admits "preferred position" of freedom of speech, but it is not clear what kind of restriction on speech is banned by the Constitztion and what is not, On the other hand, the pmoblem concerning defamation and privacy is one of the most disputable problems in Japan. The Court has established some precedents on this problem. Proof of truth (see article 230 II of the criminal law) is one of the most important defenses but it is said that this is becoming a difficulty for the media to clear.

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The self-control of the mass media is an autonomous act required by the social responsibility which accompanies the "freedom of expression". Through the practice of such self-control, the mass media responds to the recipients "right to know", ensures their confidence, and eliminates the unwarranted interference of public powers. It has been said that the idea of the "freedom and responsibility of the press" was born in Great Britfin and America during the closing years of World War II. In Japan, Freedom of the press was established by the General Headquarters of the Allied Forces (GHQ) after Japan's defeat, and it is included in the "fmeedom of expression" guaranteed by ohe Japanese Constituton. In this, the GHQ played a significant role. The Report of the American Commission on the Freedom of the Press and the recommendations of the British Royal Commission on the Press also had a considerable influence in this area. This paper presents a general survey of the ways in which the self-control of the mass redia has been shaped and practiced-including both merits and demerits-as a result of the media's beisg caught between the interference of public power and social criticism during the forty some years since the end of World War II. Finally, with an eye towards the future, the paper raises several problems which must be addressed.

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In communication between those whose social backgrounds are different, we can expect much misunderstanding because of the difference of background knowledge, background experience, vocabulary, mays to construct conversation, and so on. In those societies that contain different social groups. we must assume 'discommunication' -communication in which inteneded meanings are not transmitted- to be the prevailing mode of communication. The theme of this article is to speculate on the social consequences of the discommunicative social situation at the level of social structure. It we accept the fact that every society has some social cleavages and that despite the existence of such cleavages the society is still one society, not two or more, then we can suspect that the discommunicative social situation contributes to social unity. Usually, every social group has its own value system that supports its social activities. The value system may be constructed as a system of meanings, or a self-evident world. Discommunication will prevent each social group's self-evident world from having real contacts with others, which may give steadiness to the self-evident worlds, and which may permit the coexistence of different elements of society. Indeed, we can expect the variety of social groups to have their own value systems, but it would be false to presume that social groups can freely have their own as they like. A group's value system usually fits the group's position in the social structure, such as the division of labor. So we must assume a mechanism that makes for coincidence between people's value system and the socially reguired value system. For this purpose, in this article I propose an ecological model of the social distribution of knowledge that is the base of the value system. The model follows a logistic-curve diffusion model which is applicable to the discommunicative social situation. As an emergent property of such a situation, such coincidence may be achieved to certain extent. In this article, there are some additional references to other emergent properties relating to the discommunicative social situation. With them, as a whole, this article can be a step toward a social theory of discommunication.

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Modern mass media contain news of various kinds and levels of "deviancies". In this article, the author proposes a research framework for news analysis, which focuses on the social function of the news ; by making "deviancies" open to the public the news defines and controls the boundaries and substance of "commonsense knowledge" in society. This framework is based on two concerns ; (1) when one assumes that news of deviancies constitutes an essential part of daily news output, what social conditions support such news production and "news values"?, and (2) what is the significance for society behind this? To examine these, the author introduces a social process model of news of deviancies, which puts into sequence news content, its production, and its social functions. These phases of the news process have been independently explored in some earlier studies on "mass media and deviance". Content analyses reveal that some "deviant behaviors" are stereotypically portrayed in particular ways. Studies on news production processes prove an institutionalised cennection between news media and their regular news sources, which frequently leads the former to depend on the latter in defining what's deviant and this has news value. These two approaches would be effective in explicating how the media work on news of deviancies while a third approach, that of S.Hall, J.Young, or some "Consensual Paradigm" theorists, tries to explain the social significance and functions of such news ; news media and their authorised soureces, by referring to each other, legitimize their definitions of "deviancies" and establish a pseudo-consensus on common social values. This approach, partly based on Lavelling Theory, suggests that this process of signifying deviance is one where a monolithic, however tacitly divergent, "commonsensual world" comes to appear in public. But in fact, news media, actual or potential soureces, and the public could all have their own "commonsenses". Through evaluating these three approaches from the standpoint of setting up a news process model, the author concludes that the key task for such news analysis is to investigate how and where the news media have these "commonsenses" converge into one.

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Japan Cable Television, or JCTV, is a licensed CATV operator under the Japanese Cable Television Law, enacted in 1974. It is rather unique in that it, alone among cable television operators, is permitted to lease its cable network from Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corporation ( NTT ); the ministry of Posts & Telecommunications ( MPT ) generally requires cable operators to own their own networks, although the law does not make such a stipulation. Such freedom from vast capital investment is one of the major factors becind JCTV's success. JCTV was established in 1971, funded mainly by the Asahi Shimbun group, in order to supply an EngliSh-language channel to closed circuit systems of Tokyo's most prestigious hotels. At that time it was practically impossible for various regulatory reasons to build a new cable network, especially in Tokyo ; leasing its cables from NTT made JCTV viable. In 1974 JCTV embarked upon a new venture, so-called "mansion network" broadcasts to individual Tokyo subrcribers. Due to the high montyly charge, however, this service was mainly limited to foreign businesses. While JCTV charged its subscribers \3,000 per month, subscribers were forced to pay an average of \100,000 monthly to NTT to maintain their line. Even with such exorbitant fees, JCTV managed to gain 5,000 new subscribers by the mid 198O's. In 1982 JCTV formed a partnership with Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) of Atlanta, Georgia (USA) and began a systematic program exchange. A direct satellite link established in 1984 not only added proglams from CNN (Cable News Network) to JCTV programming but allowed JCTV to supply CNN 24 hours a day as an alternative service available on subscribers' request. In addition, JCTV produced a Japanese version of "Daywatch" and similar programming for Asahi National Broad-casting Company, Ltd. (ANB), one of the four nation-wide private TV network orgenizers in Japan and a major JCTV shareholder. ANB, in turn, began selling these programs to its local network operators.

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The onset of modern newspapers in many countries of Asia involved the participation in one form or another of Christian missionaries from the West. This paper considers the press activities in India of William Carey (the "father of modern missions") and his two colleagues, Joshua Marshman and William Ward. These three early-nineteenth-century missionaries were known as the Selampore Trio. India was the first Asian country visited by Christian missionaries following the discovery of sea routes from Europe. This paper will first take a general look at press-related activities of missionaries to India who preceded the Serampore Trio. Then, the important place of press activities in the Trio's "Five Principles of Missions" ; their missionary work under the missions ban imposed by the Governor General of Bengal ; their development of a font in the Devanagari alphabet in Serampore, which was under Danish control ; and their use of this in the printing of the Bible in the more than 20 languages of India was discussed. The author has presented materials to support his argument that the Bible printed with moveable metal type in Serampore was printed slightly earlier than Robert Morrison's Chinese tranlation which also was printed on moveable metal type in Amoi. Additionally, the weekly newspaper Sunchar-Durpan and the monthly Gig-Dursan (both published by the Trio), the press regulations in Bengal of the time, and articles in the Trio's English-Language quarterly, Friend of India, against the practice of sati and on Japan-related matters will be examined. In general, the present article shows that the Trio's press activities as part of their missions policy weere the forerunner of such activities in other countries of Asia, and presents their work as a typical case of such activities.

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