Editorial Policy

Last updated: July 20, 2026

This page states how Wasabi POP works: what we publish, how we verify it, how we use AI, how we correct mistakes, and who pays for it. Mirai Konishi, our editor-in-chief, is accountable for everything on this page and everything we publish.

Publishing principles

Wasabi POP reports Japanese anime, manga, music and pop-culture news for readers outside Japan, in English, Spanish, Hindi and Brazilian Portuguese.

Our purpose is narrow and worth stating plainly: a great deal of Japanese entertainment reporting never reaches readers who do not read Japanese, or reaches them days later and second-hand. We read the Japanese press directly and report what it says.

• We report from primary Japanese sources. Our leads come from Japanese outlets and press releases — among them Natalie, Oricon, Anime News Network Japan, Famitsu, Animate Times, anime.eiga.com and PR TIMES — not from English-language aggregation.
• We favour production-side reporting. Studios, voice cast, staff credits, distribution rights, release schedules and licensed merchandise, over rumour and fan speculation.
• We do not republish source text. Every article is written by us. Quotations from Japanese-language material are our own translations and are marked as quotations.
• We credit upstream. Every article names and links the Japanese source it is based on, both in the visible article and in machine-readable form (isBasedOn in our NewsArticle JSON-LD).

Sourcing, verification and fact-checking

• We assert only what is in the source we cite. No invented details, and no speculation presented as fact.
• Voice-actor names, studio credits and prior-work references are checked against authoritative references — the Anime News Network encyclopedia, official titles and studio sites, Animate Times — before publication.
• Name readings are a known failure point when moving between Japanese and Latin script. Where a reading is uncertain we say so in the article rather than guess silently.
• Where a claim rests on a single source, the article says which source.
• We do not use unnamed or anonymous sources. Our reporting is built on published Japanese material and official announcements, and everything we rely on is named and linked. If that ever changes, this page will change first.

Use of AI

We use large language models in our production pipeline, and we would rather say so than have you discover it.

• AI is used to draft from the source material, to translate our articles into our four editions, and to run automated checks against the editorial rules above.
• AI is not used to originate facts. Every factual claim must trace to the cited source; our checks reject articles that introduce details the source does not contain.
• Articles carry the Wasabi POP Editorial byline rather than a personal one, because that byline describes how they are actually made. We do not invent human authors.
• Editorial policy, the sourcing and verification rules, and responsibility for the result are human and belong to the editor-in-chief.

Corrections

We would rather be corrected than be quietly wrong.

• Email [email protected] with the article link and what is wrong. Corrections take priority over other mail and we aim to reply within a few business days.
• Factual errors are fixed as soon as we have confirmed the correct information.
• Where a correction changes the substance of a story, we mark the article with what was corrected and when. Typographical and formatting fixes are made silently.
• If a story turns out to be wrong at its foundation rather than in a detail, we retract it and say why, rather than deleting it.
• If we cannot confirm a claim either way, we say that in the article instead of leaving it to stand.

Ownership and funding

• Wasabi POP is an independent publication of Origami Lab, the studio of Mirai Konishi, based in Los Angeles. Origami Lab is not incorporated; Mirai Konishi owns and operates Wasabi POP personally.
• Wasabi POP is funded by advertising, served through Google AdSense. See our privacy policy for how advertising handles your data.
• We do not accept payment for coverage. No article, placement or headline on this site has been paid for by a studio, publisher, distributor or agency, and we do not run sponsored posts presented as reporting. Should that ever change, it will be labelled on the article and stated here.
• We take no affiliate commission on merchandise or products we write about.
• No studio, publisher or rights holder has any ownership stake in Wasabi POP, and none reviews our coverage before publication.

Independence and conflicts of interest

Our editor-in-chief is a working entertainment journalist and a voting member for the Golden Globe Awards. Those roles concern film and television and are disclosed on his author page. Where any outside role of his intersects with something we cover, the article will say so.

Feedback and contact

• Corrections, story tips, press materials and general editorial feedback: [email protected], or use the contact page.
• We read everything sent to us and aim to respond within a few business days. Corrections are answered first.
• If you believe we have treated a subject unfairly, write to the same address and mark it for the editor-in-chief.