The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

Feb. 2019 Vol. 51 No. 2 ¥400

The

FCCHK
Press
eedom
frunderpressurefrom themainlandIn this issueVol. 51, Number 2

February 2019contact the editors

no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Publisher FCCJTHE FRONT PAGE

From the President by Peter Langan
Freedom of the Press news:
More journalists killed on the job in 2018
by Elana Beiser
From the archives: The controversial
U.N. Secretary-Generalby Charles Pomeroy

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FEATURES

MEMBER EVENTSPRESS CONFERENCE VIDEOS

6

Meet our new culinary teamby Mary Corbett

8Page 8: Meet
Silvano Borroni
and the chef teamof the Club’s
new restaurant
provider.

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO

THE FCCJ ONLINE: www.fccj.or.jp

The press freedom struggle in Hong Kongby Stephen Vines

CLUB CALENDARPROFILE

Michael Stottby Ilgin Yorulmaz

CLUB INFORMATIONSOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

10COLUMNS

Hack's toolbox: Want people to read yourinvestigation? Tell a good story.
by Olga Simanovych

12

Last month in photosby photographer Members

14CLUB NEWSNo. 1 SHIMBUN ONLINEFREEDOM OF THE PRESS INFO

Exhibition: Standing Rock
Join the Film Committee . . .
Hacks & Flacks
New Members, New in the libraryFCCJFEBRUARY 2019

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Editor Gregory Starr
Art Director Andrew Pothecarywww.itsumo-music.jp/design
Editorial Assistant Naomichi Iwamura
Photo Coordinator Akiko Miyake
Publications committee members
Gavin Blair, Freelance (co-chair)
Geoffrey Tudor, Orient Aviation (co-chair)
Daniel Hurst, Freelance
Sonja Blaschke, Freelance
Albert Siegel, Freelance
FCCJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President Peter Langan, Freelance
1st Vice President Abigail Leonard, Freelance
2nd Vice President Robert Whiting, Freelance
Secretary Daniel Hurst, Freelance
Treasurer Willem Kortekaas,
Associate Member
Directors-at-Large Khaldon Azhari,
PanOrient News
Daniel Sloan, Nissan Motor/Freelance
Mary Corbett, Professional Associate Member
Milton Isa, Associate Member
Kanji Kazuo Abiko, Freelance
Associate Kanji Makoto Honjo,
Associate Member
FCCJ COMMITTEE CHAIRSAssociate Members Liaison Keiko Packard,
Harumi Kumagai
Compliance Kunio Hamada, Yoshio Murakami
DeRoy Memorial Scholarship Abigail Leonard,
David SatterwhiteEntertainment Sandra Mori
Exhibition Bruce Osborn
Film Karen Severns
Finance Willem Kortekaas
Food & Beverage Robert Kirschenbaum,
Mehdi Bassiri
Freedom of Press Abigail Leonard
House & Property Peter Langan,
David Satterwhite
Human Resources Willem Kortekaas
Information Technology Albert Siegel
Library, Archives & Workroom
Koichi Ishiyama, Suvendrini Kakuchi
Membership Andrew Horvat, Peter O’Connor
Membership Marketing Ayako Mie
Professional Activities Tetsuo Jimbo,
David McNeill
Public Relations Rosa Argyropoulos
Publications Gavin Blair, Geoff Tudor
Special Projects Haruko Watanabe
Foreign Press in Japan Robin Harding

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
Marunouchi Nijubashi Building 5F
Marunouchi 3-2-3 Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-0005
Tel: (03) 3211-3161 Fax: (03) 3211-3168 fccj.or.jp
Published by the FCCJ All opinions contained within
Number 1 Shimbun are those of the authors. As such,these opinions do not constitute an official positionof Number 1 Shimbun, the editor or the Foreign
Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
Please pitch and send articles and photographs, oraddress comments to no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Read the Number 1 Shimbun online:
fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun
Cover design: Andrew Pothecary3The Front Page

“The state of Maryland was the site of the deadliest single

FROM THE PRESIDENTFREEDOM OF THE PRESS NEWSDEAR FELLOW MEMBERS,The new Club on Jan. 8 played host to
one of the biggest press conferences
ever held at the FCCJ, when Carlos
Ghosn’s lawyers came to speak. The
event attracted all of Japan’s main TV
networks and about 350 people attended.
Demand was such that we had to close the lunch service
early as people spilled over into the Main Bar. The thought thatwent through my mind while seated at the speakers’ table
was the line from the movie Jaws: “We need a bigger boat.”
Why did the lawyers for Ghosn choose the FCCJ for
their first press conference? One reason is the Club’s
reputation, built over 74 years by the efforts of early
members. Another reason is the work of the Professional
Activities Committee. In this I must single out PAC cochair Teddy Jimbo who worked tirelessly to make thishappen and was MC for the event. PAC members willremain focused on keeping the FCCJ a central venue forthis unfolding story.
In other Club news, I announced earlier that Silvano
Borroni’s catering group was the new food and beverage
provider. Silvano started operations in early January with his
executive chef and pastry chef.
At the FCCJ Board meeting on Jan. 21, General Manager
Marcus Fishenden reported that F&B feedback frommembers was generally positive, although some had raisedquestions about prices.
The GM said the first items rolled out are from the more
expensive section of the prior menu focusing on fresh
fish, pasta and good-quality steak. Silvano’s kitchen isbaking fresh bread and a fuller range of menu items will beavailable as we move into February.
The GM and Treasurer Willem Kortekaas reported on thelatest accounts for December, which reflected many of the
one-time costs related to the move. However, I can report
the move came in under budget.
Meantime, the donation drive continues among
members, reaching a total of ¥7 million as of writing, with aparticularly generous ¥3 million donation from an Associate
Member.
The Number 1 Shimbun editor Greg Starr and Publications
Committee Co-Chair Geoff Tudor attended the Board
meeting to give an update on the magazine and how tofund it without sustainable advertising. One consideration
is a ¥300 addition to membership fees, triggering a
discussion on last year’s survey about demand for themagazine among Club members. We need to take a harderlook at that survey and perhaps seek more feedback.
A membership drive is high on the Board’s priority list
and a plan was approved to offer limited one-month guest
memberships with the option to apply for full membership.
Last but not least, we discussed the perennial problemof trying to reach a quorum to hold General Membership
Meetings. You will be hearing more on solutions to thatissue in the weeks ahead of the March GMM.
Best regards,– Peter Langan
4

attack on the media in recent U.S. history”

FROM THE ARCHIVES

More journalists killedon the job in 2018

The controversial U.N.
Secretary-General

By Elana Beiser
THE NUMBER OF JOURNALISTS targeted for murder in
reprisal for their reporting nearly doubled in 2018 froma year earlier, driving up the overall count of journalists
killed on the job. At least 53 journalists were killed aroundthe world between Jan. 1 and Dec. 14, 2018, of whom atleast 34 were singled out for murder.
The Committee to Protect Journalists tracks three types
of journalists’ deaths on the job: reprisal murders; deaths
in combat or crossfire (11 last year, the lowest since 2011);
and deaths on other dangerous assignments, such as
covering protests that turn violent (eight last year). The
total is up from 47 killed in all of last year, of whom 18 were
pinpointed for murder. A total of 50 were killed in 2016.
The recent uptick in killings follows two years of decline,
but comes as the jailing of journalists hits a sustained high– adding up to a profound global crisis of press freedom.
The context for the crisis is varied and complex, andclosely tied to changes in technology that have allowed
more people to practice journalism even as it has madejournalists expendable to the political and criminal groups
who once needed the news media to spread their message.
ANOTHER SIGNIFICANT FACTOR IS a lack of international
leadership on journalists’ rights and safety. The mostillustrative case is the brazen murder of Washington Post
columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Arabian consulate
in Istanbul in October by Saudi agents. Khashoggi had
been strongly critical of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammedbin Salman. Ironically, the most vocal head of state in
Khashoggi’s case has been Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, whose government has effectively shut down the
independent media and is jailing more journalists than any
other around the world for the third consecutive year.
The White House, traditionally a strong defender ofglobal press freedom, equivocated on the blame for
Khashoggi’s murder despite, according to the Post, CIAconclusions that only the crown prince could have orderedsuch an operation. President Trump essentially signaled
that countries that do enough business with the UnitedStates are free to murder journalists without consequence.
The state of Maryland was the site of the deadliest single
attack on the media in recent U.S. history. On June 28, agunman entered the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in
the city of Annapolis and shot dead four journalists anda sales associate. The alleged killer, Jarrod Ramos, hadissued repeated threats to the paper after a defamation
lawsuit he filed against it in 2012 failed. Ramos faces fivecounts of first-degree murder and other charges, andis scheduled to go on trial June 3, 2019, according to theCapital Gazette. The day after the massacre, Trump told
reporters, “Journalists, like all Americans, should be freefrom the fear of being violently attacked while doing theirjob.” But within days, he had resumed his characteristic
FEBRUARY 2019

FCCJ

attacks on the press, calling the media“fake news” and journalists “enemies of thepeople” on social media and at rallies.
TRUMP’S BROADSIDES CAME AS the European
Union grapples with its own crisis ofjournalist safety. Ján Kuciak, a 27-yearold investigative reporter looking into
corruption in Slovakia who was shot deadalongside his fiancée in February, was thesecond journalist murdered for his workin the bloc after Malta’s Daphne Caruana
Galizia was killed by a bomb placed on her
car in October 2017.
The deadliest country for journalists
in 2018, Afghanistan, is a mainstay on
CPJ’s annual global Impunity Index, which
spotlights places where journalists are
regularly murdered and their killers go free.
The 13 journalists killed in Afghanistan in2018 were the most in any year since CPJ
began keeping track – including 2001, when
the U.S. attacked the country and nine
journalists were killed.
Journalists continue to die working inother war-torn countries, such as Syria andYemen, but the number of journalists killedin combat or crossfire fell to its lowest since2011, as journalists’ access is diminished or
the risks become too grave to bear, leading
to self-censorship, exile, or abandoning
the work. In Syria, at least nine journalists
were killed in 2018, compared with a highof 31 in 2012. In Yemen, three journalists
were killed in 2018, and in Iraq, CPJ has notconfirmed that any journalists were killed
because of their work for the first time since2012. Elsewhere in the Middle East, twoPalestinian journalists were shot and killed
by Israeli soldiers while covering protests in
the Gaza strip.
Other findings from CPJ’s research:• Three women were killed, compared witheight in 2017. Historically, about 7 percent ofjournalists killed are women.
• Political groups, which includes extremists
like Islamic State, were the most frequentsuspected perpetrators, in 53 percent of cases.
• Politics was the most dangerous beat,covered by 62 percent of journalists killed.
• Broadcast reporter was the mostdangerous job. ❶Elana Beiser is editorial director of theCommittee to Protect Journalists.
FCCJ

FEBRUARY 2019

United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali makes ahumorous point at a professional luncheon at the FCCJ on December 20,
1993. Then-President Lew Simons (Knight-Ridder) smiles in response.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali, born on Nov. 14, 1922, in Cairo, was thefirst Arab as well as the first African to head the United Nations. A
Coptic Christian who graduated from Cairo University in 1946, hereceived a Ph.D. in international law from the University of Paris in1949 and then became a professor at Cairo University. He later held
positions lecturing on law and international affairs at a wide range ofuniversities and institutes around the world.
Boutros-Ghali entered government in 1977 as Egypt’s minister offoreign affairs. But he was no stranger to politics: his father had earlier
served as Egyptian finance minister and his namesake grandfather as
Egyptian prime minister until assassinated in 1910. Under President
Anwar Sadat, Boutros-Ghali played a role in the Israeli-Egyptian
rapprochement that resulted in the Camp David Accords of 1978. In
1991, he briefly became deputy foreign minister before moving on to
the United Nations, where he became secretary-general in 1992.
Boutros-Ghali’s five-year UN term included the peace-keeping
operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the breakup of
Yugoslavia. The most notable controversies during his term were theperceived inaction by the U.N. during the Angolan civil war and the1994 Rwandan genocide. On the other hand, he was credited for writing“An Agenda for Peace” for the Security Council in 1992, emphasizing
the importance of post-conflict peacebuilding to prevent a relapse into
violence. The celebration of the 50th anniversary of the United Nationsin 1995 also took place during his term.
His independent espousing of certain policies led to a veto of asecond term by the U.S. in 1996. He continued in his international
activities, however, chairing a francophone think tank for developing
countries and heading Egypt’s human rights council.
Boutros Boutros-Ghali was the recipient of well over two dozen
foreign honors in addition to three national honors from Egypt, andsome 17 honorary degrees from international universities and institutes.
He died in a Cairo hospital on February 16, 2016, at the age of 93.

– Charles Pomeroy
editor of Foreign Correspondents in Japan,
a history of the Club that is available at the front desk5

Feature: FCCHK

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IT HAS BECOME EVIDENT THAT LOCAL MEDIA ARE EXERCISING SELF-■■■■■■■■■■The press freedom
struggle in Hong Kong
By Stephen Vines

Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has
grown increasingly intolerant of freedom of expression. Unsurprisingly, the cold winds from the north
have gusted down to Hong Kong, as what has been a welcoming attitude by the local authorities toward the Hong Kong
Foreign Correspondents’ Club has turned distinctly chilly.
In rapid succession we witnessed the expulsion of Victor
Mallet, the Financial Times Asia news editor, followed by aseries of threats to evict the Club from its governmentowned premises, a historic building that has been lovingly
preserved. There was even a spell of what looked suspiciously
like rent-a-crowd demonstrations outside the FCC premisesdenouncing the Club and its “foreign dog” members.
Maybe foreign correspondents in Hong Kong have become
far too complacent. The former British colony has long been ahospitable international media center, the reason that many
international media organizations based themselves here tofacilitate wider Asian region coverage. Hong Kong has also

Victor Mallet, the Club’s vice-president, got caught up in all
this for no greater reason than that the FCC president happened to be away on holiday. As an articulate spokesman for
the FCC, Mallet became the public face of this dispute and,for reasons yet to be officially explained, had the renewal of
his work permit denied. The government then refused him
readmission to Hong Kong following an overseas trip – thekind of treatment that has never before been used against aforeign correspondent.
So far most overseas media organizations are adopting a
wait and see attitude over their response to this new hostileatmosphere. There is some hope that excessive zeal on behalfof officials keen to gain brownie points in Beijing might give
way to a less aggressive approach.
While one major news organization with its regional
headquarters in Hong Kong has already discussed relocation internally, it has yet to take any decision on the matter.
It is hard to gauge how individual correspondents working
here will respond. One European journalist, for example, hasdecided to steer clear of reporting on Hong Kong politicalson, asked for the meetings with state and Communist Party
officials handling Hong Kong and media matters. After doing
the rounds in Beijing, the delegation returned and there wasmuch talk about how Hong Kong’s media freedom, which isenshrined in law, was to be maintained. No longer would it beunfettered, it was said: red lines – though not clearly spelled
out – were being drawn, and should not be crossed.
This hardly came as a surprise. It has become increasingly
evident that the local media are exercising a high degree ofself-censorship and that sensitive topics such as coverage ofHong Kong’s independence movement (which, incidentally, isminiscule) are being handled with extra care. The same goesfor Taiwan coverage and the disputes with other countries
such as Japan and South Korea. Overshadowing this, and perhaps more significant, is the increasing mainstream media
hostility shown towards Hong Kong’s democracy movement
and political parties.
On paper, and indeed in reality, the bulk of Hong Kong’s
mass media is not under direct control of the Communist
Party. But changes in ownership have ensured that theseoutlets have become a useful conduit for party propaganda,
while carefully maintaining a distance from direct state control that gives them a dose of credibility.
Despite local broadcasting rules which specify that only

SO FAR, HONG KONG HAS ESCAPED THE RIGID CONTROL OVER THE ■■■■■■■■
WHICH THE REST OF CHINA EXPERIENCES
pressures are condemning themselves to a poorer quality ofcontent. Those who do not bend will not axiomatically produce better content but have more hope of fulfilling publicdemand for information and analysis.

Club news
The FCCbuilding in
Hong Kong

THE FCC ITSELF HAS HAS NOT TAKEN UP THE INVITATION TO ■■■■■■■■■
provided excellent opportunities for covering the vast China
story without the many hassles of being based in the Chinese
mainland. Moreover, the Hong Kong government made iteasy to get visas and did not impose restrictions on journalists doing their jobs.
The swirl of activity targeting the Club began with the hosting of an event featuring a speech by Andy Chan, the leader ofthe Hong Kong Independence Party (HKIP). Representations
had been made to the FCC by China’s foreign ministry overwhat it described as separatist activity, and there was talkin the air of a ban on the party, including the imposition ofpenalties for reporting on its activities. (The ban went into
effect after the event.)
The Club took the view that providing a platform for all
shades of opinion could not be equated with support for any
particular opinion and was part of its mission to facilitate
freedom of expression. Inevitably this argument got somewhat lost after a vigorous and highly effective campaign was
launched by Leung Chun-yin, Hong Kong’s previous Chief
Executive, who now appears intent on proving that he is theforemost super patriot in Hong Kong.
6

matters, mirroring the approach toward local news taken bysome foreign media reporters based in Singapore, which has
a far longer history of intolerance towards criticism. However
most people seem to have decided to carry on with businessas usual until this becomes untenable.
The FCC itself has reaffirmed its commitment to the principles of freedom of expression and has not taken up the invitation to apologize as suggested by pro-government politicians.
It is, nevertheless, taking a lower profile for the time being.
THESE NEW ATTACKS ON overseas media come at a time whenmany worrying developments are affecting the local media,
as well. Around the same time that the FCC was getting into
hot water, the owners and editors of Hong Kong’s major
news media companies were summoned to Beijing (only one,the opposition-friendly Apple Daily newspaper, was excluded from this event). As ever when it comes to the way that
the Chinese government handles these matters, much was
unclear, including why this high level delegation was evenin Beijing. Company executives claimed that far from being
summoned, it was they who had, for some unspecified reaFEBRUARY 2019

FCCJ

with the kind of credibility that is required to get people to
pay attention to their turgid contents.
The drift towards pro-government conformity in the mainstream media has been matched by a strong upsurge of online
media, where relatively small organizations are attracting
very large audiences and beating the long-established media
outlets when it comes to breaking news stories. So far, Hong
Kong has also escaped the rigid control over the internet
which the rest of China experiences.
The mainstream media’s first response was to shrug off
or deny the existence of these new media outlets that range
from the Chinese-language FactWire (a consistent breaker ofnews stories) to Stand News and the increasingly influential
English-language Hong Kong Free Press. The high level of popularity of radio in Hong Kong has also led to the emergence ofa bevy of lively and popular online radio stations.
This burgeoning of new media in Hong Kong coincides
with wider developments in the news industry where, even
without the impact of official hostility to freedom of expression, traditional media is facing many threats to its existence.
Even as the mainstream media scrambles to get onboard thedigital age, the reality is that media success is ultimately
determined by content. The pressures facing freedom of
expression in Hong Kong mean that those who bend to these

local residents can control television stations, Hong Kong’s
main commercial television station is now controlled bymainland businessmen. More recently, the main Englishlanguage newspaper, the South China Morning Post, has comeunder the control of Jack Ma, a Communist Party member
who is also believed to be China’s richest individual (a juxtaposition that is hardly unknown in the new China). Most
other local newspapers are run by individuals and companies
that have worked hard to get on the right side of Beijing andproudly display their loyalty credentials.
THIS STILL LEAVES THE Communist Party’s propaganda
machine with a problem: although it is easy to seize control ofthe media, it is far harder to furnish state-controlled outlets
FCCJ

FEBRUARY 2019

IT IS HARD TO judge how far authorities will go to control all
the local media, but past actions don’t offer much hope forpress freedom’s future. After all, none of this even vaguely
approaches the level of media censorship on the Chinese
mainland, where controls, already strict, are actually tightening as a small army patrols the internet to ensure that critical voices are quickly snubbed out. The limited space thatonce existed for critical commentary in official publications
has also been extinguished and there is no such thing as nonstate controlled media.
Hong Kong media may also want to avoid the fate of thelocal book-publishing industry, which seemed to be of particular concern to Beijing. So-called dissident books can nolonger find a printer, let alone outlets for their sale. A numberof book publishers have been kidnapped from Hong Kong andthrown in jail across the border, and the biggest bookshop
chain in Hong Kong is now under mainland control.
Optimism about the media’s future in Hong Kong is in
short supply. And while international media organizations
have the option of relocating, the local media does not enjoy
the luxury. ❶Steven Vines is a Hong Kong-based broadcaster and columnist, andformer President of the HKFCC.

7

YOSHIKAZU TSUNO

Feature: Club Food & Beverages“MY ROLE NOW IS TO EARN THE
LOYALTY OF ITS MEMBERS, AS I HAVEALWAYS STRIVED TO DO WITH MYRESTAURANT CUSTOMERS.”
The Borroni brand continued to flourish, as bars and restaurants opened in Jiyugaoka and Akasaka: 180 employees
were working for him, even as Japan’s economy struggled
its way into the 21st century. His search for perfection neverwavered. After numerous trips back to Italy in search of his
dream chef, Borroni convinced Bianconi, at the time runninga renowned boutique hotel in Tuscany with a Michelin caliber
food reputation, to come to Japan as his executive chef at Il
Buttero. It was the proverbial match made in heaven. Borroni then recruited Simone Giannini, who had been working
in Akita, to join the team in Tokyo.

Meet ournew culinary
team

The dream team:(right to left)
Silvano Borroni,
executive chef
Noe Bianconi, souschef Simone Giannini
and the rest of the
kitchen staff.

A host of talented experts
comes to the Club to invigorate
the dining experience.

By Mary CorbettT

he long wait is over.
Silvano Borroni has arrived at our new Marunouchi
location with executive chef Noe Bianconi and souschef Simone Giannini to start an exciting new chapter in the
FCCJ’s culinary evolution. Those who know of their legendary
collaboration at Ristorante Il Buttero in Hiroo know we are in
for a very special treat, as they take over the task of being theClub’s new food-service provider.
Founder and president of B Plan International, Borroni ispassionate about food. But his interests are as broad as histaste in culinary creations. As a teenager in Tuscany, he wassmitten with Japanese culture and language, in particular,
and the earliest goal he can remember was to travel to Japan.
8

He arrived in Tokyo in the mid-80s, intent on studying
Japanese in earnest, and he took on jobs teaching and waiting on tables while attending classes. Soon his Japanese wasproficient to a level at which he was commanding rich fees asa trilingual interpreter, helping high-profile bubble billionaires set up businesses in Europe. Heady days indeed for ayoung man who had hardly set foot outside Italy, and foundhimself flying to exotic locales assisting an America’s Cup
sponsor one day in Italy, Italian investors in Japan the next.
All the while, his base and future in Tokyo continued togain traction. Unimpressed by the food offerings most Japanese believed was Italian cooking, Borroni made his first
foray into the food service industry in 1989, creating whatmany fans still fondly remember as the first authentic trattoria in Tokyo.
FEBRUARY 2019

FCCJ

OPENED IN 1989 ON a backstreet not far from Ebisu station,
Il Boccalone was an instant sensation, redefining Japan’s
understanding of Italian food, with pizzas coming straightout of a genuine Italian wood fired oven, lovingly built with his
own hands. The success enabled him to explore opportunities
in the United States, but he soon realized his heart remainedin Tokyo. In 1983, his second restaurant, Trattoria La Baracca,
opened in Toritsu Daigaku, followed quickly by Il Buttero in1994. The latter, located just off Hiroo’s main shopping street,became a landmark destination for its worth-a-detour food. Its
exquisite al fresco dining was a rarity in its day, a game changer that attracted the burgeoning wedding reception market,
hitherto confined within the staid, cookie-cutter walls of the
traditional wedding halls. Overnight, the restaurant becamea celebrity hot spot in Tokyo, with long waits for reservations.
FCCJFEBRUARY 2019

IN THE END, THE combination of attractive opportunities
knocking relentlessly at his door and the restaurants, soclosely associated with his personal style and meticulous
management, became too much to run day-to-day on his own.
As new businesses and property holdings expanded outside
Japan, Borroni made the decision recently to divest, and soldall his directly controlled restaurants in Tokyo. Fortunately,
he kept the crown jewels of his culinary team for the various
projects he continued to oversee. That is when the fortuitouscrossing of their path and FCCJ’s occurred.
Borroni and Bianconi do not take the new challenges
lightly. They are bringing the same passion they have always
brought to their work to the creation of a food legacy the Club
will soon be proud to call its own. One would be hard pressedto find the most humble of aubergine recipes, or risotto prepared to finer finish as in the assured hands of Noe. There
will also be a selection of old Club favorites, not to mention
delights awaiting the most demanding of curry purists, or themost discerning of cheese connoisseurs.
“I’m very lucky to have been given this opportunity,” Borroni says. “My role now is to earn the loyalty of its members,
as I have always strived to do with my restaurant customers.”
74 YEARS AGO, THE founders of the FCCJ created a food destination and spectacularly popular watering hole which wasfor many years the most eclectic and sought after dining
experience in Japan . . . some would have argued in all ofAsia. While traditions must be respected and tended withloving care, ample innovation is necessary to entice andenhance. With no handover to speak of, the new team is having to adapt to the yet largely untested service logistics of abrand-new facility, while vagaries of the kitchen design stillrequire considerable work.
Borroni says that’s precisely the FCCJ legacy he wants toenshrine: the best of new and old, good value while remaining
gloriously international in the scope of delicious food offerings. To this end, he has assembled what looks like a dream
team of seasoned artisans who have travelled the seven seas
to bring us the best of Indonesian, Moroccan, French, Indian,
Peruvian . . . and did we already mention Italian? ❶Mary Corbett is a writer and documentary producer based in Tokyo and isa member of the FCCJ’s Board of Directors.
9Series: Profile

Michael Stott
By Ilgin Yorulmaz

10

FEBRUARY 2019

FCCJ

RODRICO REYES MARIN

A

notes. “Phenomena like Trump and Brexit have seriously chals a rookie correspondent on his first foreign posting
lenged conventional wisdom.” For this reason – and despite theto Reuters’ Bonn bureau, one of Michael Stott’s earlyfact that foreign bureaus are the first to be slashed in budget
assignments was to cover the Cold War.
cuts – he is adamant that the need for foreign correspondents
One summer evening in 1987, he and some veteran journalremains as great as ever.
ists from various news outlets had crowded into a bar in what
“We understand each other less well around the world than
was then West Berlin. Earlier in the day, they had watched
we did 20 years ago, partly due to the rise in fake news andU.S. president Ronald Reagan stand in front of the Berlin
misinformation, but also because there’s been a decline in theWall and call for Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union leader,number of foreign corresponto “Tear down this wall!”dents,” he says. “Our duty is to“Almost everybody there said
question conventional wisdom,‘What a fool this guy Reagan
HE AND COLLEAGUES PUTto spot potentially interestingis,’” remembers Stott. “They said,
TOGETHER A FEATURE ON TRUMP’S people, new trends and senti‘There is no prospect of thisments, even pursue stories thatever happening . . . it’s totally
RUSSIAN CONNECTIONS . . .
seem ridiculous or far-fetched.”
unrealistic.’”“THIS IS SO FAR-FETCHED;
Late the following year, theIT’S THE STUFF OF A FILM PLOT.”STOTT HAS BEEN LIVING in Japanwall began to fall.
for the past two years, follow“That was a great experienceing the Financial Times’ purchase by the Nikkei Group. He
for a young correspondent to have, because it taught me that
regrets not having mastered the Japanese language, but it’sconventional wisdom can be enormously wrong,” says Stott.
clear he’s been instrumental in the international expansion
The same principle has guided the 55-year-old British jourand digital transformation of the Nikkei brand and the Niknalist and current managing editor of the Nikkei Asian Review
kei Asian Review.
throughout his life-long career spanning three continents
The flagship English language publication focuses on theand three decades.
vibrant Asian business scene – especially the entrepreneurAfter West Germany, Stott returned to London as an energy
ial vigor in the fast-growing Southeast Asian economies asreporter, followed by a posting to Brazil during the Collor govChina slows down – and highlights the region’s dynamism.
ernment. He then became the Reuters bureau chief in Bogota,
In Europe and America, people have no idea of “how cutColombia at the end of the heyday of drug lord Pablo Escobar.
ting-edge some of the [Asian] startups are, and how much
From Mexico, he also reported on the birth of NAFTA and themoney they’re making,” Stott says. “China has dozens of elecpeso crash, and later – as regional editor for Europe, Middle
tric vehicle startups, and there’s a startup in Indonesia that’s
East and Africa – helped cover Yasser Arafat and the Intifada.
trying to create the technology to enable the world’s first
crypto currency in retail transactions.”
A BRIEF TIME WITH Reuters’ global news marketing conHe also has an interesting observation on young Asian convinced Stott that he loved journalism more than business. So
sumers: “They want to buy Asian brands, fashion, products,
he went to Moscow as bureau chief in 2006 for a stint thateven food.” On a visit to Ho Chi Minh City last year, he wasincluded reporting on Vladimir Putin’s declaration of war on
walking late one night and noticed that
Georgia in 2008.
nearly all the casual dining places were
A decade after his Moscow assignment,
Asian food concepts. “Taiwanese bubble
Stott had left Reuters, and was working astea, Korean BBQ, Japanese sushi, Chinese
the UK editor for the Financial Times in LonSzechuan. It shows the maturing of Asian
don. Stott had learned to speak fluent Ruseconomies, and that people no longer necsian during his time there. (He also speaks
essarily aspire to the same Western luxury
French, German, Spanish, and Portuguese).
brands as their parents,” he says.
He decided to use his linguistic skills to
And in the news realm, Stott reckons, they
investigate a U.S. presidential candidate – awant Asian media to tell the story for them.
real estate developer named Donald J. Trump. It was the earlyStott travels in Southeast Asia a few times a month. He has
days of the highly charged 2016 election campaign.
been hiring writers and editors who know the Asian perspecRight before the election, he and a couple of colleagues
tive, and are equally ready to challenge the conventional wisput together a big feature on Trump’s Russian connections
dom. “Working in a media that’s got politics and business inthat extended over 30 years – from Gorbachev to Putin. Stott
its focus, our reporters tell us that they feel appreciated andremembers people telling him, “This is so far-fetched; it’svalued,” he says. ❶the stuff of a film plot.” Yet recent leaks from the ongoing
Mueller investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election seem to say otherwise.
Ilgin Yorulmaz is a freelance journalist and a regular contributor to BBC“The world is changing very quickly and very radically,” Stott
World Turkish-language service.

FCCJFEBRUARY 201911

Hacks’ tool box

Want people to read your investigation?
Tell a good story.

Title Title Title Title Title Title
Ebis estet int essimperum experspiento vendio inculluptat ut molorum ipsaped quis ipitaturest dolorrovid eos
nienian tiberest quas same si nobis verum et pla volorum
rentiunt am et quo quibus explam aut la doloritati atur?
Um quia dolectum recatquiam, solore idel ent re,officiumquid ma aut officipsunt reius. At pliqui as aut
dita inctotatati sitatin eius sam eius magnatem il mostianimporibus, que serspit doloris dolut ea qui dolorem rest
magnimint pa dolupta evellam aut facit omniant eossi core
minci ut quost, cum fuga.

An experienced journalist/editor shares tips on writing an
investigative report that will have an impact on readers

By Olga Simanovych
GREAT INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING OFTEN
turns into difficult, hard-to-readarticles. At best, these stories areboring; at worst, they are impossible
to understand. Sadly, they end up
having little or no impact, meaning
months of difficult investigative work
has been largely wasted.
It’s not difficult to work out whether
your story is understandable or not:if your grandmother can’t grasp
it, you have failed. And complex
subject matter is no excuse. While
writers like to blame readers for notunderstanding or caring about theirwork, lack of clarity is always thewriter’s (and their editor’s) fault. Oneof the keys to good journalism is tomake the important interesting, andthe solution is better storytelling. You
must tell stories in a way that helps
impose order on messy realities andinspires empathy in your readers.
At this summer’s annual
investigative journalism festival in
Kiev, Ilya Lozovsky, managing editor of
the Organized Crime and Corruption
Reporting Project, shared some tips tohelp investigative journalists do justthat. Here are his top 12 tips on how tocraft a compelling story:

1. Explain your story in one sentence.
You have to figure out what your story
is before you start writing. Can you
convey its essence in a tweet? If not,you probably aren’t ready to write. Youmight need additional reporting. Work
backward in time. Ask yourself: Whatcaused the event you are reportingon to happen? What were the factors
in the environment – legislative,social, political – that made the event
possible? Who – and how – were thekey people involved?

2. Select facts that matter.
You have probably uncovered
thousands of facts in your research.
12

But you can’t throw them all at thereader, and expect them to absorb
them all. When we tell our friends
something that happened to us, wedon’t just recite every single fact. We
pick the most relevant ones, tell themin order and explain what they mean.
One of the most important parts ofstorytelling is being selective – eachfact needs to be there for a reason, andyou have to explain that reason to youraudience. It’s not a failure to use only 5
percent of what you found.
Remember to always think fromthe perspective of the reader: Is
this sentence helping them better
understand the story? Does it advancethe story? Also, try limiting names

should care. Sometimes your story will
have obvious victims, but many times
it won’t. You need to explain who has
been hurt and how.
In investigative reporting, it’s often
the citizens or the country’s budget
which are the victims. But it can be
more nebulous. Is it your country’s
reputation? Democratic norms andinstitutions? Societal trust?
When it is money that is lost or
stolen, you’ll need to explain what thatamount means. Your grandmotherdoesn’t know how much a billion is,because she has never seen that muchmoney. You need to explain it in a way
she’ll understand. How many hospitals
can be built with that amount of“Remember to always think from theperspective of the reader: Is this sentence
helping them better understand the story?”and numbers to no more than two perparagraph so you don’t bog down or
confuse your reader.

money? Can you compare the amount tothe average annual salary of a teacher?

3. Choose the sequence of yourreporting.

Characters don’t have to be people– places or things can be characters,
too! – but they usually are people ininvestigative reporting. Remember,
every character mentioned must be
introduced, and their motivations
and involvement in the story has to be
explained.
Who are they? And why are they inthe story?
Be sure to write “there he met James
Smith, a banker from New York,” andnot just, “there he met James Smith.”

A story is a highly selective sequence of
relevant events that have significancefor your reader; all stories should havea clear beginning, middle and an end.
If you’re lucky, your story will beobvious. It will feel like it is writing
itself. But most of the time, it’s notthat simple. You have a whole lot offacts, but facts themselves do notmake a story – and if you write thatway, you’ll just end up with a list offacts that most people will never read.
Chronological order is almost
always the best way to tell a complex
investigative story. Some stories may
be told in other ways, but only in
special circumstances.

4. Give readers a reason to empathize.
Readers need to understand why they

5. Highlight and introduce characters.

6. Show us the map first, then take uson the journey.
Signposts signal where the story willgo. Here’s how a typical story can be
set up:• The “lede” is what sets up the story
and takes the reader in.
• The “nut graf” shows the reader whereFEBRUARY 2019FCCJ

SECTION 1
Dolupti doluptassum nost eum corestis et maiost illupta
tiaest re volorem volest, utatempos con est qui odi qui
omnienis quiae rest, occupta tibus.
Ullabo. Ad maion nonse omnis quam as is rerrovit,
secaerum dis sita sinim enim fuga.
Ut quissequae si nonecto ium arciliquam elluptissi volum
voloreped eicillaces nimolor itaspe nonet harum dolupta
eum apiscipis nimolor itaspe nonet harum sinim.
SECTION 2
Ebis estet int essimperum experspiento vendio inculluptat ut molorum ipsaped quis ipitaturest dolorrovid eos
nienian tiberest quas same si nobis verum et pla volorum
rentiunt am et quo quibus explam aut la doloritati atur?
Um quia dolectum recatquiam, solore idel ent re,officiumquid ma aut officipsunt reius. At pliqui as aut dita
inctotatati sitatin eius sam eius magnatem il.
Mostian imporibus, que serspit doloris dolut ea qui
dolorem rest magnimint pa dolupta evellam aut facit
omniant eossi core minci ut quost, cum fuga.
SECTION 2
Dolupti doluptassum nost eum corestis et maiost illupta
tiaest re volorem volest, utatempos con est qui odi qui
omnienis quiae rest, occupta tibus.
Ullabo. Ad maion nonse omnis quam as is rerrovit,
secaerum dis sita sinim enim fuga.
Ut quissequae si nonecto ium arciliquam elluptissi volum
voloreped eicillaces nimolor itaspe nonet harum dolupta
eum apiscipis

you’re going. This is where you tell thereader what you’re going to tell them; yoursingle sentence that explains your story
comes in handy here. The lede and the nut
graph make up the beginning of your story.
• The body of the piece – the middle– is where you explain your story. Thisis usually broken up into several sections
where you make your key points andoutline the facts that back-up yournut graph.
• In your ending, you tell them what
you just told them, summing it all up.

7. No surprises!
Some journalists like to “reveal”
surprises in the second half of thestory. This violates the rule of “guiding
the reader.” Assume most readers
won’t get there!
When new elements are introduced,
their connection to previous elements
should be clear. Is it the same criminalFCCJFEBRUARY 2019

LEDE
NUT GRAF
complex set of transactions, it’s great tohave a specialist say: “This is obviously abribe,” especially if they can explain why.

SECTION I

SECTION II

10. Use simple language.
• Go for concrete language overabstract.
• Avoid jargon.
• Active voice is better than passive
voice.
• Use lots of verbs and nouns, and lessadjectives. Avoid adverbs!
• Variation: Mix long sentences withshort ones.

11. Be creative with supplementing thetext in order to avoid interrupting thenarrative.

SECTION III

case or a different one? If you havewritten “charged three times withbribery” at the beginning of the story
and you mention “arrested for bribery”
again later, make it clear whether it’s
one of the three.

8. Color your story.
Show how something looked. Show
how someone acted. Write about
smells, colors and sounds. Make
people and places come alive. While
this may appear to violate the rule
about “no extra details,” these are, infact, serving a purpose. Storytelling is
nothing without story.

9. Involve an expert.
Get independent specialists to offer
comments on the subject of your story. It
can assist with explaining the complex;
oftentimes experts can say things you
can’t. For example, after describing a• Charts and graphs• Infographics• Boxes• Sidebars

12. Don’t pay too much attention to
the end of your story.
How do you end a story? The truth is,
it doesn’t matter as much as you think
it does. On longer reads, most people
won’t read to the end; 80 percent of
your writing effort should go towards
the top 20 percent of the story. Really.
As an editor, if I had a bad draft andonly an hour before publication, I would
just focus on the lede and nut graf.
And here’s some bonus tips from an
editor’s perspective:• Take a break before sitting down towrite. Always write with fresh eyes.
• “Write drunk. Edit sober.”• Read out loud – do you stumble overanything? Fix those awkward places.
• Editors are your friends. They will see
things you won’t. ❶Olga Simanovych is the Russian-language

editor of the Global Investigative Journalism
Network. She has worked as a screenwriter,
media trainer, managing editor, TV news
reporter for Vikna-Novyny and has
participated in international investigations.
This article originally appeared on the GIJN
website and is used with permission.
13

Photographer Members

Lastmonth inphotosHigh skill
Right, members of the Edo Firemanship
Preservation Associa tion perform ladderstunt as part of Tokyo’s Fire department’s
New Year review
by Yoshikazu Tsuno

A throwaway idea
Watching a trash crane from the window of the Gomi-Pit Bar
in Tokyo. The temporary bar is inside the facilities of Musashino
Clean Center and aims to raise awareness of environmental andwaste disposal issues. By Rodrigo Reyes Marin
14

A barrier too far
Landfill work off the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa, forthe relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma station. The
relocation is the subject of a referendum this month.
by Richard Atrero de Guzman/Nur PhotoFEBRUARY 2019

FCCJ

Club NewsJOIN THE FILM COMMITTEE. . .

FCCJ EXHIBITION. . . on Wed., Feb. 6 at 6:45
pm for the omnibus feature
21st Century Girl, created by
15 of Japan’s emerging female
directors. These self-described“defiant films dedicated to girls
in the 21st century” approach
the subject of sexuality andgender through a dizzying
range of styles, visions, themes
and genres. The eight-minuteshorts are beautifully shot,with top-notch production
and costume design, andstar some of Japan’s mostpopular actresses, including Kaho Minami, Ai Hashimoto, Shizuka Ishibashi, Kiki Sugino, Sairi Itoh and Serena Motola. Five of thedirectors, Aya Igashi, Ayaka Kato, Risa Takeuchi, Yuka Yasukawa and the producer-director behind the project, U-ki Yamato, will
join us for the Q&A session after the screening. (Japan, 2018; 117 minutes; in Japanese with English subtitles.)– Karen Severns

Standing RockPhotography by Nob Toshi Mizushima
THE DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE is a 1,172-mile-longunderground oil pipeline project in the U.S. thatcrosses the states of North Dakota, South Dakota,
Iowa and Illinois. A protest movement began in early2016 by Standing Rock Sioux elders with concerns
about the environmental impact to land sacred to
Native Americans and the polluting of the Missouri
River and Lake Oahe, which is a reservoir for theStanding Rock Reservation.
They started a camp as a center for culturalpreservation and spiritual resistance to the pipeline.
After some protesters were arrested, a huge numberof protesters – veterans, hippies, environmentalgroups and other volunteers – joined the camp. The
next year, under the Trump administration, law
enforcement officials chased off the protesters anddestroyed the camps. The pipeline was completedsoon after and began transporting oil in April 2017. ❶CLUB DIARY DATE

2/16

#K
at
eT
oo

Saturday Lunchwith Shakespeare
THE TAMING OF
THE SHREW

Nob Toshi Mizushima

was born in Tokyo but
moved to New York in
the early 1990s. After
dropping out of theInternational Center of
Photography’s school in
2007, he began work as afreelance journalist. Basedin Santa Fe, New Mexico,
his interests are ethnic,
environmental, energy
and economic issues.
16

Italian lunch and a BBC
TV performance that
includes John Cleeseas Petruchio and Sarah
Badel as Katherine.
¥2,00003-3211-3161

FEBRUARY 2019

FCCJ

FCCJ

FEBRUARY 2019“In a case of a suspected breach of trust in regards tomoney being paid by a certain company . . .
FOR AN ARREST TO BE MADE OF SOMEONE OF
THE STATURE OF MR. GHOSN WITHOUT ACTUALLY
LISTENING TO THOSE WHOM THE PAYMENT WAS
BEING MADE TO IS RATHER UNPRECEDENTED.”
Motonari Otsuru,
Carlos Ghosn’s chief lawyer,
at the FCCJ, Jan. 8 2019

The 350 attendees at this press conference
set a record at the new facilities

PITCH USYOUR STORY

Please send your story ideas tono.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp, and be sure
to note whether you have (or haveaccess to) visuals.
Our rates are ¥20 per published word17

Club news

NEW IN THE LIBRARY

Reporter: A Memoir
Seymour M. Hersh
Allen Lane
Mixed
The event was wellattended – as it always is.

Hacks&
FlacksSmashedClub President Peter
Langan, Club GM
Marcus Fishenden,
House of Councillors
member Mitsuko Ishii,journalist Bobbie vander List and Director-atLarge Dan Sloan smash
the saké barrel provided
by Born saké, whose
owner Atsuhide Katogave a speech (left).

Journalists, PR executives andothers mingled at the FCCJ’s
yearly bash on Jan. 25.

Sterling Content’s Kathryn Wortley, Telegraphcorrespondent Julian Ryall and Hiroshi Iki,senior marketing manager, KEF Japan Inc.

18

Sōseki : Modern Japan’sGreatest Novelist (Asia
Perspectives: History, Society,and Culture)
John Nathan
Columbia University Press
EBSCO*

StirredALSOK Lion Dance Teamgave a performance.
ALL PHOTOS BY ALBERT SIEGELThe Club’s Special Projects Committee
chair Haruko Watanabe, soprano
Mayumi Torikoshi and Meiko Ninomiya.

ARD German Radio’s Kathrin Erdmann,freelance journalist Jake Adelstein,
and the Washington Post’s Simon Denyer.

FEBRUARY 2019

FCCJ

ORIX Corp’s communications
assistant manager Yuka Kanaoka andfreelance writer William Sposato.

FCCJFEBRUARY 2019

The Times correspondent Richard Lloyd
Parry, Prothom Alo’s Monzurul Huq andfreelancer Asger Røjle Christensen.

A Shameful Life: (Ningen
Shikkaku)
Osamu Dazai
Mark Gibeau (trans.)
Stone Bridge Press
EBSCO** EBSCO is an e-library systemprovider. Members are able toborrow books from anywhere
via the FCCJ Library’s EBSCO
account.
The system works in a similar
way to the lending system of
the print-book library in that
only one person can borrowthese books at a time. But
after due dates borrowers will
not be able to open the book.
Members will need their own
ID and password to use theservice.
Full guidance for using thesebooks will be explained toMembers.
19m