Japan's Local Newspapers was researched and written before the triple tragedy of the Great East Japan earthquake of 11 March 2011. How the press will report on pre-disaster planning (or the lack of it), the disaster itself, culpability, recovery, and the future of the nuclear power industry can bolster Rausch's claims concerning the vitality of the local press. Aomori is also home to the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant. There has been local opposition to the plant and its facilities from its planning stage. Moreover, since 2006, Greenpeace has also taken up the call, internationalizing the struggle. It would have been instructive to have examined how Aomori's local newspapers handled this issue. Rausch is certainly correct in elucidating the role of Tōōnippō in helping enlarge and deepen 'revitalization journalism'. Yet perhaps it is in Okinawa that the local press has stood up to Tokyo and served the desires and aspirations of the locality and would serve as a better benchmark.While an East-West divide was a geographic and ideological Cold War struggle, Japan continues to have its own East-West (Jpn., 東西 Tōzai ) dilemma. The power of Tokyo to influence and shape policy and politics is a core fact of political and economic life. Powerful ministries, wire services, and advertisers shape policy and reporting. Regional identities are strong. While the electronic media is diffuse, the print media is specific and as such the struggle for the control over the content and narrative is more intense. With pools of radioactive water and fuel rods dangerously stored, an independent revitalization journalism is critical not only for Japan. The print media matters and Japan's Local Newspapers helps bring this struggle for a meaningful voice into sharper perspective.