This chapter explores media scandals in contemporary Japanese society. In shedding new light on the study of scandal in Japan, the study offers a novel view of scandal as a highly mediatized ‘social ritual’ which tends to preserve the status quo while generating commercial profit. Media and society are analyzed largely in terms of social performances, while the focus is on how Japanese transgressors talk and act when explaining their scandals to the public. The analysis describes the ritualized means of public apology and the cultural realities of public shaming in Japan. Thereby the chapter illustrates how the ritual of confession, apology and exclusion is turned into an orchestrated pseudo-event with a high degree of spectacle in Japanese society.