The role of a professional identity for journalists around the world is part of what allows them to act as the watchdogs on power that society expects. How and where is this identity acquired? Is Japan different? If so does this explain the idiosyncratic nature of journalistic activity in Japan? Furthermore, how does the identity formation of Japanese journalists equip them to deal with an increasingly pressured relationship with Japan's political leaders?
NB. The main paper is written in pandoc markdown so there are certain elements which are not rendered by Github; in particular, citations, the reference list, table and chart captions, and footnotes.