"Sensational sex scandals"

On Mainichi Shimbun’s English language website today is the headline

“Vending machine porn man busted for dirty DVDs done dirt cheap.”

It is fair to say that this headline is sensational and tabloid-esque. For some inexplicable reason, when looking at the Japanese original version, the headlines are not as lurid as the English version…

If you accurately translate the Japanese headline, the English should read:

“Man arrested for selling obscene images.”

Here are just some of the headlines for the relating articles listed below—note especially the language of the last one:

“Nagoya government worker fired for fondling welfare recipient”

“Beauty parlor operator molests woman, tells her it will help her lose weight”

“Frisky judge quits after biting sex shop employee”

“Driving instructor nabbed for molesting girl during lesson”

“Professional cyclist caught breaking into high school on molestation misson”

“Kiddy fiddlers quivering after teacher's arrest blows lid on Hokkaido child porn biz”

Mainichi imitates Weekly Playboy magazine

I don’t know of any respectable newspaper that would call pedophiles “kiddy fiddlers” unless it is a tabloid, which the Mainichi is not. Actually, this article is an English version taken from the original in the Japanese Weekly Playboy magazine and the body of the article is factual and toned down. It seems that the Mainichi Shimbun just like to make the headlines as brash and vulgar as possible.