In the world today, media is presented in many diverse ways. Through radio, television, magazines, books, newspapers, and the Internet, media is everywhere. Freedom of the press and media does not come as easily for some countries of the world as it does for others such as the United States. Japan, Mongolia, and North Korea are examples of how vastly different press freedom can differ between countries.
             Japan is a small island chain in Eastern Asia. It is located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, east of the Korean peninsula. The islands include the Bonin Islands, Daitoshoto, Minami-jima, Okinotori-shima, Ryukyu Islands, and Kazan-retto the volcanic islands. A proportional area of Japans total size could be somewhat smaller than California. Japan is entirely surrounded by water and borders no countries ("Japan Geography" 1996, p.1).
             The freedom of the press in Japan is considered completely free. Political parties and government organizations do not control the press in Japan, but some unofficial associations between the press and political figures exist (Karlekar & Sussman, 2002, p.34). In 1945, at the end of World War II, the Japanese surrendered to the
             Americans, and American occupation began. The American occupation of Japan was a seven-year period in which the Americans restructured the Japanese government. The constitution was rewritten during this time, and communism ended (Costa, 1997, p.1). Japan became a free country and even gave its media freedom of the press. American occupation ended in 1952 and Japan was left to command itself (Penna, 2002, p.1).
             The size of Japan's media structure is massive. They have the biggest newspaper audience in the world (Fujimoto, Kitada, & Scuka, 2001, p. 1). With five national daily newspapers, 65 larger regional papers, over 70,000 books published every year, thousands of weekly and monthly magazines, television, and broadcast radio,...