The magazine of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

July 2021 · Volume 53 · No. 7

TOKYO’S
OLYMPICGAMBLEFood for thought

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03 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

In this issue
July 2021 · Volume 53 · No. 7
Contact the Editors
no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Publisher FCCJ
Editor Justin McCurry
Designer Julio Shiiki
Editorial Assistant Naomichi Iwamura
Photo coordination Hiroko Moriwaki, Norio Muroi
Publications Committee
Justin McCurry (Chair), Peter O'Connor, Suvendrini
Kakuchi,Monzurul Huq, Robert Whiting, David McNeill
FC C J B OA R D O F D I R EC TO R S
President Isabel Reynolds, Bloomberg L.P.
Special Advisor to the President
Monzurul Huq, Prothom Alo, Dhaka
1st Vice President Andy Sharp, Nikkei Asian Review
2nd Vice President Walter Sim, Straits Times
Treasurer Mehdi Bassiri, O.B.M. Co., Ltd
Secretary Ilgin Yorulmaz,
Freelance/BBC World Service Turkish
Directors-at-LargePeter O’Connor, Freelance
Simon Farrell, Custom Media K.K.
Mary Corbett, Cresner Media
Daniel J. Sloan, Freelance/Nissan Motor
Kanji Gregory Clark, Freelance
Associate Kanji Vicki L. Beyer, Freelance
Ex-officio Khaldon Azhari, PanOrient News
Regular Reserve Director: Pio d'Emilia, SKY TG 24
FC C J C O M M I T T E E C H A I R SDiversity Co-Chair and Board, Liaison: Ilgin Yorulmaz
Co-Chair and Board Liaison: Walter Sim
Publications Chair: Justin McCurry,
Board Liaison: Peter O’Connor
Website Chair and Board Liaison: Simon Farrell
Associate Members’ Liaison Chair: TBA
Board Liaison: TBA
Entertainment Chair: Sandra Mori,
Board Liaison: Walter Sim
Exhibition Chair: Bruce Osborn,
Board Liaison: Peter O'Connor
Film Chair: Karen Severns, Board Liaison: Dan Sloan
Finance Chair and Board Liaison: Mehdi Bassiri
Food & Beverage Co-Chair: Robert Kirschenbaum,
Co-Chair: Pio d'Emilia, Board Liaison: Mary Corbett
Freedom of Press Co-Chair: Justin McCurry,
Co-Chair: Simon Denyer, Board Liaison: Ilgin Yorulmaz
House & Property Chair and Board Liaison: Andy Sharp
Human Resources Chair and Board Liaison: Walter Sim
Information Technology Chair: TBA
Board Liaison: TBA
LAW Co-Chair: Koichi Ishiyama,
Co-Chair: Suvendrini Kakuchi
Board Liaison: Peter O’Connor
Public Relations (incorporating Marketing
Membership)
Chair and Board Liaison: Simon Farrell
Membership Co-Chair: Andrew Horvat
Co-Chair: Monzurul Huq, Board Liaison: Peter O'Connor
Professional Activities Co-Chair: Tetsu Jimbo
Co-Chair: David McNeill, Board Liaison: Andy Sharp
Special Projects Chair: Haruko Watanabe,
Board Liaison: TBA
DeRoy Memorial Scholarship Co-Chair: Abby Leonard
Co-Chair: Kazu Takada, Board Liaison: Ilgin Yorulmaz
Compliance Chair: Kunio Hamada, Board Liaison: TBA
Election Chair: Reed Stevenson

JUSTIN McCURRY

A

fter months of fierce debate, resignations and recriminations, it now
looks certain that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will open, as planned,on July 23. The June issue of the Number 1 Shimbun looked at whylarge sections of the Japanese media had failed to reflect widespread
opposition to holding the Games during a global health emergency and, as
our deadline approached, amid rising cases in the host city. While much couldchange in the coming weeks, this feels like the right time for writers to outline
their hopes and fears for the Olympics. Here too, consensus is impossible, with
our four contributors – Monzurul Huq, Sean Carroll, Jeremy Walker and Jeff
Kingston – divided over whether the Games will be a source of hope in difficult
times or a disastrous mistake (and a professional challenge). The theme continues
with spectacular black-and-white images from happier days in Japan’s Olympic
history – the 1964 Games in Tokyo. Elsewhere, Number 1 contributors examine the“inequitable” arrangements for prime ministerial press conferences, Tokyo’s manyassassination sites, Japan's nuclear power industry and the fallout from “Operation
Tomodachi”, and the campaign to protect the legacy of Fleet Street, the spiritualhome of London’s newspaper industry.

THE FRONT PAGE
04 From the President
Isabel Reynolds

COVER STORIES
05 Freedom from fear
Jeremy Walker

08 Keeping the faithMonzurul Huq

10 Quick and painless
Sean Carroll

12 Japan’s Olympic follies
Jeff Kingston

FE AT URES
14 Take back control
Yoichiro Tateiwa

17 X marks the spot
Mark Schreiber

22 Saving Fleet Street
Anthony Rowley

24

BOOKS
The CIA and the Prometheus of Japanese nuclear power
Jon Mitchell

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
position of Number 1 Shimbun, the editor or theForeign Correspondent’ Club of Japan.
Please pitch and send articles and photographs, oraddress comments to no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Read the Number 1 Shimbun online:

www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun.html

CLUB NEWS27 New members, New in the library,

Join the Film Committee, Regular by eggs

29

EXHIBITION
1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics

Cover photos: top courtesy of Aflo; bottom by Justin McCurryINDEX04 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

THE FRONT PAGE

From the President
Dear members,

T©FCCJ / JULIO SHIIKI

his is my first message following theelection results, which brought usboth good and bad news. I was delighted that so many people took part thistime, and that most members opted to use theonline system, which helps enormously withsimplifying the whole process and reducing thecosts involved. The fact that we nonethelessfailed to assemble a complete Board on thisoccasion is disappointing, and I think the lesson
we should take away is that we need to create
opportunities for regular members and associate members to get to know one another. From
my conversations with many voting members,
I realized that many people feel uncomfortableclicking the button to support people they don’tknow all that well, if at all. Since we are a club,
the obvious solution is to make sure everyone
has more opportunities to cultivate networks
among the membership. I hope that will become
possible as we emerge from the worst of thepandemic. Journalists shouldn’t forget that theassociate members are key to the survival of
the Club and we need to reach a point where
we’re able to vote in a full quota of three associate Board directors without the need forrun-off elections.
It’s now 11 months since I took on the mantleof president amid the worst crisis the Club has
ever faced. I had little idea of what this would
entail, and how far the post would take mefrom my comfort zone of writing and talking
about political developments in Japan andAsia. Without a general manager in place, thepresident becomes responsible for all sorts ofaspects of club management that are about asfar from journalism as you can imagine. In navigating my way through this, I can say I received
valuable advice from every single member ofthe current Board, as well as several other former directors. I don’t have the space to mention all the names, but I’m sincerely grateful to
all these people.
As you know, the Club remains in a very
difficult position, with our membership numbers continuing to fall. Retaining members
and attracting new ones will need to be theoverarching priority for the new Board, as well

as for staff and the membership at large. We
already have a business plan proposed for us
by our Japan Market Expansion Team, basedon extensive research, and we need to makesure we act on it.
In closing, I wanted to say a few words about
why we should continue to devote time andenergy to the FCCJ, despite our current difficulties and the changing nature of the media itself.
Of course, we have a distinguished past that weshouldn’t forget. More importantly, the eventsof this year in Hong Kong, Myanmar and elsewhere have made clear that the freedom of thepress is increasingly at risk in this region. Now
more than ever, we need to thrive so that we
can continue to play a role in support of journalists who risk their lives to report the truth.
● Isabel Reynolds has been reporting for
Bloomberg in Tokyo since 2012. She has lived inJapan for more than 20 years and been a regularmember of the FCCJ for most of that time.

INDEX05 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

COVER STORYFREEDOMFROM FEAR
Olympic buzz will come, despite Covid restrictions

PHOTO: ARNE MÜSELER / ARNE-MUESELER.COM / CC-BY-SA-3.0

JEREMY WALKER

T

okyo 2020 will be my seventh summer Olympic Games – a run thatstarted in the dazzling Mediterranean sunshine of Barcelona in 1992.
After skipping Atlanta 1996, when I was
studying Japanese in Kyoto and watching
England’s Paul Gascoigne score his incredible
goal against Scotland at Euro ’96 in a packed

basement sports bar, I am five-for-five from
Sydney 2000 through to Rio 2016.
What I will miss most in Tokyo, based on
the Olympic “playbooks” and almost daily
communication with Tokyo 2020 media operations, is freedom.
The freedom to get out and about andexplore the city during downtime (Rio deINDEX06 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

FREEDOM FROM FEAR

Walker at workfor the Olympic
Council of Asia.

There will be no
freedom to decide
which sport toattend on the dayof competition,
as booking forms
must be completed
in advance, witha deadline of theprevious day.

Janeiro easily springs to mind); the freedom
to decide, on the spot, where I would like to go
for the day; and the freedom to stroll throughOlympic Park and soak up the atmosphere of
the occasion away from the roar of the crowd,
the tension of competition and the scramble
and stress of work.
This will not be possible in Tokyo. For the
first 14 days, overseas media will not beallowed to take public transport. They muststay in the Olympic “bubble” and use only official transport from their authorised hotel toapproved destinations, such as a stadium, theOlympic Village or main press centre. No Ebisu. No Meguro. No Gotanda – my gold, silver
and bronze medal-winners of the Yamanote
Line Olympics.
There will be no freedom to decide whichsport to attend on the day of competition, as
booking forms must be completed in advance,with a deadline of the previous day.
If I turn up at a venue on the day and my nameis not on the list, I will be denied entry. This is avery unwelcome addition to the administrative
aspects of work. As if it wasn’t hard enough tokeep receipts in order for the post-Olympics
expenses claims. Now they’re asking us to booktickets on a daily basis!
As for the summer vibes to be found in
Olympic Park, this is one of the highlightsof the Olympic Games for me and a major
factor in determining how successful theGames have been overall. In Tokyo, with nospectators from overseas and only a limited
number of local fans, how can Olympic Park
create the buzz, energy and sense of unityand friendship among people from so manydifferent nations? It is a cliché, I know, but it iswhat has made previous Olympic Parks suchspecial places.
Take London 2012. That was incredible. The
food kiosks, the music, the street entertainers,
celebrity-spotting, sponsors’ giveaways andfamily fun … they all contributed to the Olympic atmosphere, especially for people who
couldn’t get a ticket to watch the sport.

INDEX07 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

FREEDOM FROM FEAR

In Tokyo, with no spectators from overseas and only a limited
number of local fans, how can Olympic Park create the buzz,energy and sense of unity and friendship among people fromso many different nations?

Olympic Park was always open, always
alive and always welcoming. I remain optimistic, however, that Tokyo 2020 will easesome of these restrictions once everyone isthere and the show is up and running. I don’t
expect this to come from a major announcement or a major change in policy. It is more
likely to be a more gradual process throughdaily experience and cooperation so that, by
the end of the Games, there is a more normal
working environment.
This was certainly the case at Rio 2016. The
buildup had been dominated by the Zika virus,
and I attended several Olympic meetings inwhich a series of guidelines was presented to
avoid catching the disease on arrival in Brazil.
It really did sound dangerous. But, in the end,
nothing happened. I can’t remember any casesof athletes, officials, volunteers, media or evenspectators in a venue contracting the virus.
Covid-19, of course, is more serious and more
deadly – but most people coming to Tokyo will
be fully vaccinated. The Macau SAR government has handled this pandemic admirably,from the beginning of 2020, when the airport
resembled a scene from The X-Files, up to now.
For the past 16 months, I have worn a mask
every day, and shown the health code clearance every morning on entering the office. It is
not possible to get on a bus or train or get intoa taxi in Macau without wearing a mask, so thisis nothing new for me. It is totally acceptable
and reasonable. Thanks to the swift and cohesive measures of the Macau SAR government,
there have been only 53 infections and zerocoronavirus-related deaths since the start ofthe pandemic. I have completed my two jabsof the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, free of charge
and booked through a very efficient online
appointment system, so I feel I am well prepared for Tokyo.
Despite the restrictions facing the media at
Tokyo 2020, I am looking forward to meeting
athletes and officials from the 44 National
Olympic Committees affiliated to my organization, the Olympic Council of Asia [OCA], due
to compete this summer. From Afghanistan to
Yemen, and all points in between.
It is important not to forget the athletes inall of this, and I know what many of them havebeen through to get this far. My last overseas
assignment on OCA business was in Hangzhou, China in December 2019, connected toHangzhou’s hosting of our 19th Asian Gamesin September 2022, so I am looking forward tocatching up with colleagues and contacts.
By the time the 19th Asian Games open, weare hoping life will have returned to normal
and that the 10,000 athletes due to attend will
be able to prepare, train and compete in Hangzhou, just as they did at the 18th Asian Gamesin Indonesia in 2018, which now feels like it wasin the previous century.
Above all, I am hoping for one thing: freedom. The freedom to work, and to enjoy the
Olympic experience.
● Jeremy Walker is editor of the Olympic Councilof Asia’s quarterly magazine, Sporting Asia,
which he founded in 2009, as well as content
manager for the OCA website, www.ocasia.org.
He has worked in sports media in the U.K., Hong
Kong and Japan for 40 years and has attended
six summer Olympic Games. He lives in Macau.

INDEX08 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

COVER STORYKEEPINGTHE FAITH
PHOTO: ARNE MÜSELER / ARNE-MUESELER.COM / CC-BY-SA-3.0

Tokyo 2020 will be rare chance forminor sporting nations to shine
MONZURUL HUQ

T

Aerial view of Tokyo
Ariake Arena

he Olympics seem almost certain to
go ahead, despite public opposition
due to concerns that the Games will
help spread the coronavirus.
The Japanese government, the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), the organizing committee, the Tokyo metropolitan governmentand other parties are counting the days until
the Olympic flame reaches the main stadium
for the opening ceremony on July 23.
However, a significant portion of people inJapan and elsewhere remain unconvinced
about the wisdom of holding a mass sports
event during a global pandemic.

As the opening day approaches, the scales
appear to be tilting towards supporting the
Olympics, which will make their first appearance in Tokyo for more than half a century, andafter an unprecedented yearlong delay.
Some recent opinion polls now suggest that
opposition to the Games has weakened overthe past couple of months, although a significant number would still like them to be delayed
again or cancelled altogether.
That said, there has been a noticeable shift insentiment. Naomi Osaka, one of Japan’s mostsuccessful athletes, who only a month ago said
she was “really not sure” the Games should goINDEX09 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

KEEPING THE FAITH

Huq covering
the G20
summit in
Osaka in 2019.

Bangladeshi
athletes have
performed wellin internationalarchery
competitions,
including thelast world
championship,
and it is possiblethat our male andfemale archers
could make abreakthroughin Tokyo thissummer.

ahead, recently said that winning a tennis gold
medal in Tokyo would “mean the world” to her.
Outside of Japan, some commentators
continue to oppose the Games, largely as aresult of negative media coverage highlighting
Japan’s haphazard response to the pandemic
and its initially slow vaccination program.
The situation has improved considerably
since then, particularly on the vaccine front.
Now, more than a million people are being
inoculated every day, compared with just
37,000 in mid-April. However, with daily cases
rising again in Tokyo, some people, here andoverseas, remain apprehensive.
Much of the criticism towards holding Tokyo
2020 at a time when a mass gathering of people from around the world could trigger a virus
outbreak stems from the IOC and organizers’
determination to go ahead with the Games
come what may. But this view ignores the people who make the Olympics such an importantand exciting event: the athletes.
Everyone remembers the extraordinaryfeats of great Olympians such as Abebe Bikila,
Nadia Comaneci and Usain Bolt, to name but afew. Then there are countless others who get
nowhere near the winners’ podium, but whose
efforts help make the Olympics a celebration of
global solidarity.
The opinions of the participants should matter more than those of officials, politicians or
activists. After all, it is the athletes who would
stand to lose most if the Games were cancelledor postponed. They begin their training regime
as soon as one Olympics ends and continue
until the next Games, driven by the hope thatthey can demonstrate their prowess on theworld stage and fulfill a lifelong dream.
Depriving them of that once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity makes no sense. Elite athletes
reach a peak they can sustain only for a very
short time. Missing even one Olympics could
deprive them of the biggest opportunity of
their careers, and even hasten their retirement.
It is clear that the pandemic is still causing
havoc in many parts of the world. We also knowthat our battle against the virus is ongoing, andthat victory is no longer a pipe dream.
The Tokyo 2020 organizers are doing theirbest to ensure that the Games do not triggera Covid-19 catastrophe. That includes making
the huge sacrifice of banning overseas spectators, although a limited number of domestic
sports fans will be permitted to attend sports
events. In addition, the official “playbooks” forathletes and officials contain strict measures toensure their safety and that of everyone else.
These measures should not be taken lightly.
The Olympics are not just about giving competitors the opportunity to realise their dreams;
they are also a chance for participating countries to take pride in the athletes’ achievements.
This is particularly true for smaller nations that
ordinarily struggle to make their presence felt.
I come from one such country – Bangladesh.
It never wins medals, and fails to qualify for all
but a few events. The Olympics are its momentin the sun,
Recently, Bangladeshi athletes have performed well in international archery competitions, including the last world championships,
and it is possible that our male and female
archers could make a breakthrough in Tokyo
this summer. The people of Bangladesh canfinally dream about Olympic glory.
Cancellation – or even postponement – would
deprive those proud athletes of the chance tocompete in the highly pressurized Olympic setting, and crush the hopes of an expectant nation.
That is why I’m putting my faith in the ability ofthe organizers to face down the pandemic.
● Monzurul Huq is Tokyo bureau chief of Prothom
Alo, the leading national daily of Bangladesh. He
joined the FCCJ more than two decades ago andwas president in 2009-2010.

INDEX10 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

COVER STORYQUICK AND
PAINLESSTRAVIS JONES ON UNSPLASH

Many sports journalists have lowered their
expectations for the GamesSEAN CARROLL

B

eing at the stadium and having directaccess to players, coaches, and club
staff is not only one of the mostenjoyable parts of being a football
journalist, it is also critical when you’re freelance and depend largely on gathering exclusive comments for your work.
Before Covid-19 hit, that was how I’d covered the J. League and Japan national footballteams for over a decade, whether traversing
the length and breadth of the country fordomestic games or heading further afield forinternational matches. In the process, footballprovided opportunities to visit parts of theworld I would otherwise never have seen – Tehran, Wuhan, Al Ain – and meet people I neverwould have met.
Although the message has perhaps lost itstrue meaning due to the platitudes trotted out
by marketing types at FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, the true power of sport
lies in its ability to bring people together - figuratively and literally.
Top-level sport viewed on screens is increasingly homogenized on account of official partners, rights issues, and the media training of
its participants. Being on the ground, however,provides the sense of freshness and excitementINDEX11 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

QUICK AND PAINLESS

Carroll at the
Asian Cup soccer
tournament in 2015

As well as thedistinct lack ofbuzz in the air, theTokyo 2020 action
itself will be far
more of a slog for
those competingfor medals - andthose writing
and talking about
them doing so.

that sets competitions apart and creates theatmospheres and memories that players, fans,and members of the media never forget.
London 2012, for instance, created a waveof good feeling around the United Kingdom,
and as I followed the Japan men’s team from
Glasgow to Newcastle to Coventry (not every
destination is exotic) I encountered locals relishing the chance to take in some world-classfootball on their doorsteps alongside fans fromacross the globe.
That vital ingredient will be entirely absent
from Tokyo 2020, and the limited number ofdomestic fans permitted to attend will be doing
so under so many restrictions that the creationof bonhomie will be impossible. I say that withconfidence, because the J. League was one of
the first football leagues in the world to resume
last June. Since then, games have been held
behind closed doors or in front of restricted
numbers of supporters, who are asked to wear
masks, observe social distancing, and do little
else but applaud. The resulting atmosphere
hardly sets the pulse racing.
As well as the distinct lack of buzz in the air,the Tokyo 2020 action itself will be far moreof a slog for those competing for medals - andthose writing and talking about them doing so.
In a recent interview for The Guardian, forinstance, Nadeshiko Japan star Mana Iwabuchi confessed to having mixed feelings about
the home Olympics. While describing appear-ing at them as a dream since Tokyo won
hosting rights in 2013, the Arsenal forward
also admitted to apprehensions about the
spectre of the coronavirus. What if one of themooted daily tests comes back positive, she
wondered, in addition to expressing concerns
about the psychological strain of living in abio-secure bubble, with no clear idea of where
and how players will be able to switch off andrelax between matches.
The integrity of contests may also comeinto question. The Japan men’s first team wereforced to play a last-minute warm-up against the
Olympic squad in Sapporo at the start of June,for example, when their original opponents,
Jamaica, had to pull out after several players
were told they could not board a flight because
they had insufficient test documentation.
Japan also served as centralized host forsome World Cup qualifiers last month, when
Kyrgyzstan had to play Myanmar and Mongolia with center-back Aizar Akmatov in goal
because all three of their goalkeepers wereself-isolating as close contacts of a Covid-positive member of the party. Olympic favorites
could miss out on medals for similar reasons –would those winning in their place get the samelevel of satisfaction?
From a media point of view, too, the pandemic
has created a whole range of issues that havedrastically changed the coverage of live sport.
Media numbers for J. League games were
initially limited – and still are for national teammatches – while questionnaires detailing travelplans and daily temperatures for the fortnight’s
preceding matches must also be submitted.
Media access to players and coaches is now
only possible via online press conferences,meaning everybody gets the same blandsoundbites and is unable to pursue different
angles – something that was previously possible in mixed zones.
The eve of the Games is usually a time ofgreat excitement for most people in the hostcountry. This year, however, it feels more like atrip to the dentist – we know it’s going to happen, but just want to get it over with as quickly
and painlessly as possible.
● Sean Carroll is a freelance football journalist
who has covered Japanese football for various
domestic and international outlets, including
Football Channel, the-AFC.com, and The Guardian.

INDEX12 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

COVER STORYJAPAN’S
OLYMPIC FOLLIESMARKUS SPISKE ON UNSPLASH - MODIFIED BY JULIO SHIIKI

Pandemic-era Games latest in a litany of shame

JEFF KINGSTON

I

t was supposed to be a global street party
celebrating the end of the pandemic, but
Tokyo has other ideas, banning booze,
cheering, high fives and hugs. Imposing
all these rules suggests that authorities know
its madness to proceed with the Olympics
because the pandemic is far from buried. And
what is with withholding condoms from Olympians other than to encourage unsafe sex?
Tokyo 2020 is more like a gloomy requiem
than a wild blowout, featuring the shamelessness of the money-grabbing International
Olympic Committee, while NBC gleefully rubs

its paws in anticipation of a record haul of gold
from selling ads. After all, as the pandemic
surges anew on the wave of the new Delta variant, the Games are perfectly timed for when
we all should be staying home glued to our TVs
and avoiding large crowds.
The Olympics is a golden opportunity fornation branding, a chance to showcase anation’s virtues. But until now the run up to
the Games has been an endless fiasco. Since
2013, the Japanese government and Olympic
organizing committee have careened from one
scandal to the next, shining a limelight on thedarker corners of Japan and its feckless ruling
elite. One can only hope that the worst is over,and the Games will go smoothly and generatesome better memories.
One can imagine that Olympic boosters
relish the “I told you so” moment that may lay
ahead when they can berate all the Cassandras
predicting doom and gloom. One might forgive the usually dour prime minister, Yoshihide
Suga, oozing braggadocio if he manages topull this gamble off “safely and securely” – hisvague boilerplate reassurance that has failed
to convince a skeptical nation.
Since taking over, Suga’s wooden performance in impersonating a leader is worthy ofa Monty Python skit, but the humor is lost on
a disenchanted public. There has been comic
relief in the interplay between Suga and Shigeru Omi, his top Covid-19 advisor. As the prime
minister droned on about a safe and secureGames, his very own Dr. Fauci doggedly raised
doubts about the wisdom of hosting the Olympics and allowing spectators at events. Timeafter time, Suga has ignored medical experts
and stiff-armed warnings from various healthprofessional organizations about the recklessrisk of hosting the Olympics and their concernsthat the medical system could quickly be on life
support if there is a fresh surge in infections.

INDEX13 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

JAPAN’S OLYMPIC FOLLIESKingston

Given that the medical expert consensus is
opposed to hosting the Olympics because it
could become the super-spreader event of alltime, there is much speculation about why thegovernment is taking such a big gamble withthe health of the largely unvaccinated Japanese
population. Political calculations are key as Sugais banking on successful Games to see off rivals
angling for his job. The government spin-doctors
and pliant media are trying to push the recent
surge of vaccinations as a great comeback story,heaping praise on the government for belatedly
doing what it should have done much earlier.
Since the Suga government has been so keen
to host the Olympics despite scant public enthusiasm, it is remarkable that it didn’t act sooner
to accelerate vaccinations to ease widespreadanxieties. Just over 9% of Japan’s population is
fully vaccinated, nearly on a par with Moldova
and just ahead of Peru, but dead last in the G7.
Suga has pledged that all residents aged 65
or over will be vaccinated by the end of July,but what about Japan’s other 90 million people? Thankfully, companies and universities are
ramping up efforts to plug the gaps in the government’s inadequate efforts, but the lingering image is one of bureaucratic bottlenecks
and government dithering, not an impressive
comeback. For many Japanese and the world,
this baleful record was unexpected and is forcing a rethink about the nation’s vaunted organizational abilities and efficiency. Apparently,
those virtues were on holiday.
Beat Takeshi, a veteran tarento and filmmaker, recently speculated that holding the Olympics is akin to the outbreak of the Pacific War –once the decision to attack had been made,nobody can overturn it. Rakuten’s chief executive, Hiroshi Mikitani, also invoked the reckless
sacrifice of war, likening the 2020 Games to asuicide mission. The publisher, Takarajima-sha,
similarly drew invidious parallels between wartime Japan and the lack of vaccinations by taking out full page ads depicting children being
trained to use sharpened sticks to fend offenemy invaders, overlaid with an illustration of
the coronavirus.
But one need not look so far back to find casesof poor risk management. The three Fukushima
reactor meltdowns also resulted from a wishingrisk-away mentality, leaving taxpayers with a$600 billion tab for Tokyo Electric Power’s folly.
Alas, in terms of branding, the Olympics has
put a spotlight on the rot in Japan, beginningwith former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s 2013
dissembling to IOC delegates in Buenos Airesthat Fukushima’s tainted water issues had
already been resolved. Eight years on, that still
isn’t true.
The litany of shame includes, inter alia,
the plagiarized logo, the scrapped stadium
design, massive cost overruns, allegations
the bid was secured by bribery, and Yoshiro
Mori’s misogynistic comments followed by his
bizarre attempt to appoint another cluelessoctogenarian as successor. More recently, theSuga government spiked legislation promoting
LGBTQ rights, making a mockery of efforts topromote these as the “diversity Olympics”.
It appears that 11,500 athletes and some
50,000 other Olympic-related visitors from allover the world will gather in Tokyo while theDelta variant is surging and mutating acrossthe globe. What could possibly go wrong?
The government asserts that its pandemic
countermeasures and protocols will preventa surge in transmissions, but one need not be
an epidemiologist to wonder if the risk is worth
it. The government’s own health advisers areworried this could become the incubator Olympics. Even Emperor Naruhito is concerned.
The worst-case scenario is that internationaldelegations will bring nasty variants with themand in mingling here will spawn a super mutant
Godzilla coronavirus that will sweep the globe
as they return home. Let’s hope not.
● Jeff Kingston is Director of Asian Studies at
Temple University JapanINDEX14 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

F E AT URE

TAKE BACKCONTROL

PHOTOGRAPHER: KIYOSHI OTA/BLOOMBERG CREDIT: POOL/ZUMA WIRE/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Favoritism toward big media at government press
conferences damages democracy
YOICHIRO TATEIWA

O
Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s prime
minister, speaks during a news
conference at the prime minister’s
official residence in Tokyo, Japan,
on Thursday, January 7, 2021.

n May 28, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga conducted aregular press conference, where
he gave relatively meaningful
answers to questions from reporters compared to his usual responses to the media.
As a critic of press conferences given by
Suga’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, I believe this is
an improvement. However, Suga’s official meet-ings with journalists are still odd for a national
leader. Officials restrict the number of journalists who join by randomly selecting some participants, while still prioritizing favored media
organizations – known as the press club’s jokinkanjisha – as will be explained later.
On May 5, media organizations led by the
Kyodo news agency and The Tokyo Shimbun
sent a letter demanding changes to primeINDEX15 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

TAKE BACK CONTROL
ministerial press conferences to Kantei spokesperson Hikariko Ono and Kantei press director
Kenji Tominaga. The document pointed outthat amid the pandemic, the number of seats
for the media is capped at 29 – 19 seats for journalists affiliated with the jokin kanjisha and therest for non-jokin kanjisha, which include small
media companies and freelance journalists
selected by lottery.
This jokin kanjisha include major newspapers, press agencies and major TV networks
including NHK. As a result, local newspapers
in particular have struggled with this strict
restriction, which hobbles their ability to directly question the prime minister.
The Kantei press conferences, which areorganized by the Kantei press club, comprise
political journalists called seijibu kisha. Since
the Abe era, some have criticized the ceremonial nature of the question-and-answer
sessions, in which government representatives
answers pre-scripted questions from individual journalists. The whole event has the feel of arole-play game between seijibu kisha and thegovernment. In response, officials agreed tolimited reforms, such as allowing a freelancer
to ask a question.
These press conferences should be – mustbe – an opportunity for the media, as part of ademocratic society, to ask the prime ministerquestions on behalf of the public. Even Donald
Trump, who described many sections of themedia as his enemies, hosted free and openpress conferences as president, while Shinzo
Abe did not.
What about Suga? Nineteen out of the 29
seats available at his press conferences were
grabbed by jokin kanjisha. The rest went tolocal newspapers and TV, and freelance jour-

Questioners are seijibu kisha reporting
exclusively on Kantei affairs. Due to their cozy
relationship with the Prime Minister’s Office,their questions are sometimes considered too
soft. That is a problem when you remember thatthese questions are supposed to be asked onbehalf of the public.

nalists – all selected randomly. Each media
organization is allowed to send one person
into the room. These are the restrictions Suga
introduced while acting as Abe’s spokesmanin the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
And he has capitalized on the arrangement
since becoming prime minister, as a virus prevention measure.
But are they solely intended as a virus measure?
The Kantei rules dictate that as a condition
for entering the briefing room, journalists are
not allowed to speak, other than to ask theirquestion using a microphone located in thecorner of the room. They must not speak toeach other, despite abiding by social-distancing rules more diligently than government
officials in the room. It is clear that doubling
the number of seats would not increase therisk of infection.
What is particularly striking about the Kanteipress conference problem is that the questioners from jokin kanjisha dictate the Q&A sessions.
Although states of emergency have had a significant effect on Japan’s regions, local media tend
to be restricted in asking questions due to themonopolistic framework now in place.
Another hindrance to freedom at the press
conferences is the “one media, one person”
rule. Questioners are seijibu kisha reporting
exclusively on Kantei affairs. Due to their cozy
relationship with the Prime Minister’s Office,their questions are sometimes considered too
soft. That is a problem when you rememberthat these questions are supposed to be asked
on behalf of the public.
For example, one NHK seijibu kisha asked
about the Japan-U.S. summit at the start ofa press conference that had been called to
discuss the declaration of a new state of emergency. A Jiji Press seijibu kisha asked about thepossibility of the cabinet reshuffle. Most people, especially people living in regions subject
to Covid-19 restrictions, would have wanted
to know about public health measures rather
than diplomacy or the possible dissolution of
the lower house of parliament.
The Suga administration, however, dismissed demands for changes to the way
it runs his press conferences. “Due to the‘three Cs (avoiding confined spaces, crowds
and close-contact settings), we will continue
to take thorough measures to prevent the
spread of Covid-19,” it said in response to theINDEX16 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

TAKE BACK CONTROLMay 5 letter. “Thank you for your cooperation
and understanding regarding the restrictionsin the briefing room.”
Some may agree with their response, especially those living in the center of Tokyo. Butothers living in the suburbs may feel differently. A local journalist had this to say: “The Kantei
definitely downplays the press club because
they know that it is already divided.” This refers
to the fact that the protest letter was sent without the unanimous agreement of press clubmember organizations.
The protest letter was supported by 18 local
publications, including The Kyoto Shimbun,
The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun, The Kumamoto Nichi Nichi Shimbun, The Kobe Shimbun,
Ryukyu Shinpo, and The Okinawa Times – all ofwhich had an interest in highlighting the problem due to the prolonged states of emergency
in Hyogo, Kyoto and Okinawa prefectures, where
those newspapers are based. Following discussions with the 19 jokin kanjisha, opinion amongpress club members split into two camps.
“Although almost all of the jokin kanjisha
newspapers agreed with our opinion, thebroadcasters disagreed with us,” my source
said. Broadcasters did not support the local
newspapers because they said they wanted toprevent the spread of the coronavirus. There
was no discussion at the time about how to gain
support for writing the letter. As a result, it was

A reporter from Mainichi Broadcasting in
Osaka asked Suga a pertinent question: “Howlong will it take to complete vaccinations, given
the correlation between vaccine coverage andthe infection rate in Japan? Could you also give
us a clear plan for your target of vaccinating
50% of the population?” By contrast, questions
from many of the big media companies – thejokin kanjisha – missed the point.

submitted under the name of the two kanjisha– Kyodo and The Tokyo Shimbun – but without
the agreement of the entire the press club.
Therefore, the protest was meaningless, andwas summarily dismissed by the Kantei.
And as a result, the system is still in place.
But is this how a press club attached to thehighest office in the land should be conducting
itself in a democracy?
I sincerely hope the jokin kanjisha agree toincrease the number of journalists attending
press conferences while taking thoroughcoronavirus prevention measures. If not, the19 jokin kanjisha should also be chosen at
random, along with members of the 10 othersmaller media organizations, plus freelancers.
It is only fair that all journalists should be
randomly selected to join the prime minister’spress conferences, whether they are friendly to
the government or not.
At the May 28 press conference, a reporterfrom Mainichi Broadcasting in Osaka asked
Suga a pertinent question: “How long will ittake to complete vaccinations, given the correlation between vaccine coverage and theinfection rate in Japan? Could you also give usa clear plan for your target of vaccinating 50%of the population?” By contrast, questions frommany of the big media companies – the jokinkanjisha – missed the point.
An alternative to holding a mass lottery
would be to reserve 19 chairs for local newspapers, freelancers and alike, and 10 for jokinkanjisha, with the occupants of either category selected at random. Those arrangements
would benefit people throughout Japan.
We must regain control of our press conferences by Japanese leaders on behalf of thepeople. Doing so would be the most effective
contribution the media can make toward fighting this pandemic.
● Yoichiro Tateiwa is executive editor of a nonprofit
investigative journalism site InFact, co-founder of
FactCheck Initiative Japan and co-founder of theJapan Center of Money and Politics. Japanese-toEnglish translation by Shoko Naito.

INDEX17 | FCCJ | JULY 2021X
F E AT URETokyo sites recall assassinations(and sometimes the assassin)
MARK SCHREIBERI

n the autumn of 1994, I was invited toattend a symposium on the problems
of guns in society. Held at the venerable
Hibiya Public Hall adjacent to the park, theprogram featured opening remarks by Prime
Minister Tomiichi Murayama, followed by apanel discussion. Then-UPI bureau chief Glenn
Davis, a native Texan, had been enlisted to offer
the American viewpoint.
When Davis’ turn came to speak, he began
by saying, “I feel a little strange talking about
guns, when close to this very spot, Asanuma
was assassinated with a sword.”
Glenn's remark produced an audible reaction from the audience, who were remindedthat on the afternoon of October 12, 1960, as
Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda looked on, rival
Socialist Party Chairman Inejiro Asanuma wasfatally stabbed on the stage by a 17-year-old
student wielding a samurai sword.
In an e-mail, Davis wrote to me: “I would have
liked to have had the opportunity of asking
why Otoya Yamaguchi, that 17-year-old, got afront row seat. Certainly the police knew hehad been arrested on numerous (14) occasions
for violent behavior and that he was a disciple of Bin Akao (leader of the Greater Japan
Patriotic Party), who had repeatedly called for
Asanuma’s assassination. As far as I know, very
few Japanese journalists have delved into that
obvious set-up.
“When I later interviewed Akao at his home,he had a huge painting hanging on the wall of his
living room portraying the moment of the assassination, with flames surrounding the assailant,
as if it was a moment of heroic significance.”

KYLE JOHNSON ON UNSPLASHMARKS
THE SPOTINDEX18 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

X MARKS THE SPOTThe Sakuradamon gate, as it appears today.

The Hibiya Public Hall,
where Inejiro Asanuma
was assassinated on
October 12, 1960.

“A surprisingnumber ofmemorials andmonuments tothe victims ofassassinations canbe found in Tokyo.
In some cases,
memorials honor
the perpetrators
as well.”Three weeks after Asanuma’s murder, Yamaguchi fashioned a rope from his bedsheet andhanged himself from a light fixture in his cell.
On the wall, he’d used an amalgam of tooth
powder and water to write “Long live theEmperor” and “Would that I had seven lives togive for my country.”
Fifty years to the minute of Asasuma’s assassination – at 3:03 p.m. on October 12, 2010 – aright-wing group held a ceremony on the stageof Hibiya Public Hall to commemorate Yamaguchi's act. In a parallel universe, it would be akinto the Sons of Confederate Veterans renting
out Ford’s Theater on April 14 to honor John
Wilkes Booth.
The Asanuma incident was by no means
Japan's last political assassination, or assassination attempt. But by virtue of its being recordedby an NHK TV crew, and owing to Mainichi
Shimbun photographer Yasushi Nakao’s dramatic shot showing the mortally wounded Asanuma – his hands positioned in a futile attempt
to foil Yamaguchi’s second thrust – it was without a doubt the most sensational.
A surprising number of memorials and monuments to the victims of assassinations canbe found in Tokyo. In some cases, memorials
honor the perpetrators as well.
A century before Asanuma was cut down, on
March 24, 1860, Tairo (great elder) Ii Naosuke,
Japan's most powerful official, was approaching the Sakuradamon gate of the palace when
his retinue was attacked by a troupe of 17 shishi(men of high purpose) from the Mito domain,and one from Satsuma. During the bloody
melee, Ii, age 44, was pulled out his palanquinand decapitated.
Two years earlier, Ii had ordered the Ansei
Purge, jailing, exiling and some cases executing
100 individuals accused of conspiring against
the Tokugawa government. The killers also
objected to Ii’s having negotiated, and in July
1858 signed, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce
between Japan and the United States, as well as
subsequent treaties with European powers.
Nearly a quarter of Romulus Hillsborough’s
2017 work, Samurai Assassins: “Dark Murder”
and the Meiji Restoration, 1853-1868, is devoted to the circumstances surrounding the Sakuradamon Incident.
In 1909, the 50th anniversary of opening of
Yokohama port, an imposing statue of Ii waserected on a hilltop in Kamonyama Park in thecity’s Nishi Ward. Ii's killers also have a monument, at the Atago Shrine in Tokyo’s Minato
Ward, where they assembled before their attack.
Foreigners were frequently targeted by xenophobic samurai after the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa in March 1854 and the subsequent opening up of treaty ports around Japan.
On the night of January 14, 1861, the Japanese interpreter of U.S. Ambassador Townsend
Harris, 28-year-old Dutch-born Henry Heusken,
was returning on horseback from a dinner witha Prussian official when he was attacked bya group of shishi from the Satsuma domain at
the Nakanohashi bridge near Azabu Juban. He
managed to flee to the nearby American Legation, but the sword cuts left him eviscerated, andhe was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.
Heusken’s killers were never brought to justice.
He left behind a Japanese wife and child.
A plaque previously identifying the assassination site at Nakanohashi has been removed, but
a newer sign in Japanese has been posted out-INDEX19 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

X MARKS THE SPOT

Kamonyama statue

Heusken Graveside Korinji temple, close to the French Embassy, where Heusken’s grave can be visited in thetemple’s cemetery.
The sword remained the assassins’ weaponof choice well into the 20th century. In his 1921
memoir, A Diplomat in Japan, Sir Ernest M.
Satow (1843-1929) described what happened
to French army Lt. Henri J.J. Camus at Idogaya
in Yokohama on October 14, 1863.
A French officer of Chasseurs named
Camus, while taking his afternoon's ride ata distance of not more than two or three
miles from the settlement … was attacked
and murdered. His right arm was found at
a little distance from his body, still clutching the bridle of his pony. There was a cut
down one side of the face, one throughthe nose, a third across the chin, the rightjugular vein was severed by a slash in thethroat, and the vertebral column was completely divided. The left arm was hanging
on by a piece of skin and the left side laid
open to the heart. All the wounds were
perfectly clean, thus showing what a terrible weapon the Japanese katana was in
the hands of a skilful swordsman.
A decade into the Meiji Restoration, on May
14, 1878, the carriage of Lord of Home Affairs

Monument to Toshimichi Okubo, close to the spot where
he was killed in May 1878.

Toshimichi Okubo was attacked by a group of
samurai from the former Kaga domain (nowIshikawa Prefecture). The 47-year-old Okubo,
a native of Satsuma (now Kagoshima) andregarded as one of the three great nobles
who effectuated the Meiji Restoration, was cut
to ribbons and died on the spot. The monument to Okubo and an explanatory bilingual
signboard are situated in Shimizudani Park in
Kiyoi-cho, directly across the street from the
Hotel New Otani.
The outbreaks of political violence in the 19th
century were to continue during the first threeINDEX20 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

X MARKS THE SPOT

Statue of Korekiyo Takahashi, killed during the army
uprising in February 1936, at the location of hisformer residence.

Monument to “constitutional
government” at Asakusa
Honganji temple. The namesof 10 assassinated officials(including survivors) are
inscribed on its reverse side.

and a half decades of the 20th century, chipping away at the underpinnings of the Taisho
Democracy – not unlike concurrent eventsin Weimar Germany. Indeed, the list of plots,assassination attempts and successful assassinations reads like a veritable Who’s Who ofJapan’s oligarchs, politicians and businessleaders. They include the heads of the Yasudaand Mitsui zaibatsu, Zenjiro Yasuda (1921) and
Takuma Dan (1932), and army Major General
Tetsuzan Nagata, Head of the Military Service
Bureau (1935). Two others – Yomiuri Shimbun
publisher Matsutaro Shoriki (1935) and constitutional scholar Tatsukichi Minobe (1936) –were wounded but survived.
Each day, thousands of people walk, in mostcases unknowingly, past two monuments inTokyo Station. Few pause to contemplate thewall plaques and floor markers designating the
spots where the assassinations occurred.
A plaque under the rotunda of the Marunouchi South Exit indicates where Prime Minister
Takashi Hara (65) was stabbed to death by arailway worker on November 4, 1921. A second,
mounted on a pillar close to the wicket of theTokaido Shinkansen, indicates the spot where,on November 14, 1930, Prime Minister Osachi
Hamaguchi was shot by a member of an ultranationalist secret society.
Hamaguchi had infuriated opponents of the
London Naval Treaty, which he had supported
as an austerity measure to deal with Japan's
economic crisis. He lived for nine more months
before dying, aged 61.
In 1943, veteran journalist Hugh Byas (18751945), a Scot who for several decades reported
from Tokyo for The Times of London and The
New York Times, published Government by
Assassination. This is how Byas summarized theevolution of political assassinations in his book:
Some of the young officers ... had shownthat the Japanese army was infected withideas supposed to be confined to the
fanatics of the patriotic societies .... When
it appeared that the army was in the movement, the Black Dragon Society and all theothers became supers on the stage. There
were no more political murders by civilians. The patriotic societies relapsed intoINDEX21 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

X MARKS THE SPOTThe Kodokan museum in Mito City, an institute of higher
learning for samurai, displays a large scroll of Son-Jo – anabbreviation for “sonno joi” (revere the Emperor, expell
the barbarians) - the slogan adopted by opponents of
kaikoku, or the opening of Japan to foreign trade).

This statue of the goddess
Kannon was erected in 1965
on the site of the former
Yoyogi military prison,
where 17 army rebels andtwo civilian ringleaders were
executed by firing squad inJuly and August 1936.

anti-foreign and pro-war mobs, the role
for which they were naturally fitted. The
army installed itself in power with the concurrence of a docile nation intoxicated byforeign war, its civilian leaders terrorized
by assassination.
On May 15, 1932, 11 junior naval officers
stormed into the office of Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai. Their leader exclaimed, "Dialogue
is useless!" before opening fire and killing him.
Reporting on Inukai’s assassination, Byas
wrote: “The man in the street was startled but
not alarmed. A Japanese neighbor was a little
amused by my excitement. ‘The Japanesepeople will not be very angry about the Prime
Minister's murder,’ he said. ‘Many of us think
the politicians needed a lesson.’”On February 26, 1936, some 1,500 soldiers
belonging to the army’s Imperial Way faction launched a bloody uprising to demand a“Showa Restoration.”

At the prime minister’s residence, rebel officers mistook army general Denzo Matsuo forPrime Minister Keisuke Okada and executedhim by machine gun. (Okada escaped by hiding in a closet; but he resigned 12 days later.)
Makoto Saito, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal,
was killed at his home in Yotsuya. General
Jotaro Watanabe, Inspector General of Military
Training, was machine-gunned at his home in
Ogikubo as his wife and daughter looked on.
Of four important figures assassinated thatday, 81-year-old Minister of Finance Korekiyo
Takahashi had previously served as a former
president of the Bank of Japan and prime minister. At gunpoint, a servant led two officers
into his bedroom, upon which they killed Takahashi as he slept.
Takahashi’s former residence became amemorial park next to the Canadian Embassyin Aoyama. The house in which he was slain
was rebuilt at the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum in Koganei City.
The dark histories surrounding the Prime Minister’s Office and neighboring residence havenot escaped the notice of contemporary politicians. Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
reportedly arranged for a Shinto priest to perform an exorcism. The two most recent prime
ministers, Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga, simply refrained from moving into the residence.
The considerable outlays for renovations andmaintenance notwithstanding, it has remainedunoccupied since 2012.
● Mark Schreiber writes the Big in Japan and
Bilingual columns for The Japan Times.

INDEX22 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

F E AT URESAVING FLEETSTREET

CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-SHARE ALIKE 4.0

Campaign launched to spare iconic buildings
from wrecking ball
ANTHONY ROWLEY

OChronicle House atnumber 78 Fleet Street

ne of the more endearing characteristics of the British is their loveof historical buildings and their
willingness to fight for their preservation. That spirit is very much in evidence now
as the Chartered Institute of Journalists [CIoJ]
battles to save part of London’s Fleet Street – theformer home of London’s newspaper industry.
What the CIoJ (itself a 117-year-old institution)
calls “iconic buildings and monuments which arepart of the vital free press and newspaper heritage of London” are at the heart of the battle,
and the institute is taking the fight all the way tothe top to the prime minister, Boris Johnson.

A proposed new “justice quarter” consistingof law courts and a police station will require
the destruction of the entrance to Chronicle
House at number 78 Fleet Street, which wasbuilt in 1924 and named after one of Britain’s
great campaigning liberal newspapers.
“This is a terrible desecration of the history
and significance of a vital section of Fleet
Street which has been the inspiration formedia freedom everywhere in the world,”
said the CIoJ’s president, Prof. Tim Crook, inthe latest issue of the institute’s house magazine, The Journal.
Crook first became involved with Fleet Street

INDEX23 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

WIKIPEDIA - PUBLIC DOMAIN

SAVING FLEET STREET

Thomas Power O'Connor(1848 – 1929), journalist,
Irish nationalist politician

when he did some income-supplementing street
sweeping jobs there before going on to a careerthat saw him become a lecturer in media law andethics at Goldsmiths University in London.
That passion never left him.
The CIoJ, he said, is also “appalled” that the
new development involves the removal of abust to the reforming newspaper editor andParliamentarian Thomas Power O’Connor – orsimply T.P. O’Connor as he was usually known –who lived from 1848 to 1929.
In 1888, O’Connor founded The Star, an evening newspaper in London, which campaigned
for the rights of the homeless, poor and destitute. The paper opposed the Boer War andmade it its mission to expose the unacceptable
face of capitalism – stances that prompted brokers to set light to copies of the paper on thefloor of the London Stock Exchange.
O’Connor was a fellow of the institute andbequeathed a charity in his name that has
since benefited hundreds of journalists inneed. The Ireland-born journalist was the only
Irish Nationalist Home Rule MP to be elected toparliament from an English constituency.
The institute is supporting the campaign by
SAVE Britain’s Heritage, which has launched apetition to persuade the secretary of state forhousing, communities and local government,
Robert Jenrick, and the U.K. government tointervene and preserve the facade of the historically significant Chronicle House (which served
as the first headquarters of the CIoJ).

Crook is also writing to the Johnson and theminister for the cabinet office, Michael Gove,
because of their backgrounds in journalism, as
well as the secretary of state for digital, culture,
media and sport, Oliver Dowden.
"There is no reason why the new development could not have imaginatively retained
the architecture and symbolism of this memorable and famous section of Fleet Street, which
has been the case with [Lord] Beaverbrook’s
Express building and the former headquartersof the Daily Telegraph group, said Crook, who
was once employed by the City of London as aroad sweeper in Fleet Street and its surrounding alleyways and adjoining squares.
“As a teenager while sweeping Fleet Street,
I read the tribute to T.P. O’Connor, and theother commemorative plaques and statues
dedicated to great journalists and writers suchas Charles Dickens, Edgar Wallace, William
Makepeace Thakeray and Dr Johnson andthese drew me to my future 44-year career injournalism,” he said.
It is “really heart-breaking this development
means so many historic Fleet Street newspaperbuildings will be lost. When you destroy suchimportant memories and symbols of the past
you also destroy the values and significancethey bring to the present”.
For this writer, who worked as a journalist on
The Times of London from 1968 to 1976, memories of a then vibrant Fleet Street are strong.
Walking into the street in the early hours of themorning from late duty at at the Times’ headquarters in Printing House Square, Blackfriars,
was to enter another world.
There was a frenzy of activity as workers
loaded bales of newspapers fresh off theroaring presses into fleets of delivery vansthat sped off to deliver their cargo to railway
stations, from where the news was taken to
breakfast tables all over Britain and beyond.
There was a sense of belonging to a newspaper industry that combined the crafts ofwriters, subeditors, linotype operators, printing press operators, loaders, van drivers anddelivery boys. Fleet Street was at its center. Its
greatest days are surely worth preserving.
● Anthony Rowley is the Tokyo correspondent forSingapore Business Times

24 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

INDEXBOOKSTHE CIA AND
THE PROMETHEUS
OF JAPANESENUCLEAR POWER
An extract from Jon Mitchell’s new book Poisoning the
Pacific: The US Military’s Secret Dumping of Plutonium,
Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange

I

JEREMY BISHOP ON UNPLASHn December 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his “He ought to be regarded as one of the most evil influences in“Atoms for Peace” talk at the United Nations to sell the world poisoning the public mind.” But during the Reverse Course, theon the civilian use of US nuclear power and distract grow- United States realized it could make good use of his media anding criticism from its ever-expanding program of weapons political clout. Thus, after dismissing accusations against him as
tests. Given its destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki less than a leftist scuttlebutt, it released Shoriki from prison.
Throughout its 1945–1952 Occupation, the United States waged
decade earlier, the US government understood that Japan woulda multipronged propaganda campaign
be the perfect showcase for nuclear powin Japan; on one hand, its censorshiper stations—and it found ready supporters
One of the prime goals
removed anti-US sentiments, and on theamong the Japanese conservatives who it
for the United States,
other hand, the US Information Agency
had allowed back into powerful positions
churned out thousands of hours of radio
following its Reverse Course.
Shoriki, and the LDP
shows and cinema reels to promulgate
Pivotal to US machinations for nuclear
was the promotion of
pro-US feeling. Worrying the end of thepower was Shoriki Matsutaro. Prior to
occupation would limit such operations,
World War II, Shoriki had been a police
nuclear power; stripped
the CIA reached out to Shoriki—who theychief in Tokyo, cracking down on publicof the empire that had
dubbed PODAM—and others to wage psydemonstrations and launching raids onchological warfare on the newly restored
universities. Then, in 1924, he purchased
once provided Japan
sovereign nation. In 1952, backed by thethe struggling Yomiuri Shimbun and soon
with
coal
and
oil.
CIA and the American Council, Shoriki settransformed it into the most influential
up Japan’s first commercial TV station,
newspaper in Japan via an unlikely editorial line of supporting Japanese colonialism in Asia and pro- Nippon Television (NTV); it quickly became a massive success.
With Shoriki on side, the United States now could influencemoting baseball by arranging visits by such US teams as Babe
Ruth’s New York Yankees. In 1936, he helped create a single gov- both the Yomiuri Shimbun and NTV. It consolidated its power by
ernment-run news agency, Domei Tsushinsha, which endorsed pumping millions of dollars into the newly created Liberal Demmilitarism and censored any news critical of the authorities, ocratic Party (LDP) to promote US interests and block the spreadparticularly, as time went by, Japan’s losing war. Following sur- of progressivism. The funding continued for decades, and,render, Shoriki was arrested by the United States; his file noted, since 1955, the LDP has remained in power almost continually,INDEX25 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

THE CIA AND THE PROMETHEUS OF JAPANESE NUCLEAR POWER

US NAVY PHOTO BY MASS COMMUNICATION SPECIALIST SEAMAN NICHOLAS A. GROESCHOn March 22, 2011, sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan scrub decks to remove radioactive contamination following the triple meltdowns at the Fukushima
Daiichi power plant; hundreds believe they were sickened by exposure.

transforming Japan into a de facto one-party state, riddled withnepotism, corruption, and subservience to Washington.
One of the prime goals for the United States, Shoriki, and the
LDP was the promotion of nuclear power; stripped of the empire
that had once provided Japan with coal and oil, Japanese conservatives realized their resource-strapped nation needed a way to
produce electricity; nuclear power held the extra appeal of providing plutonium to make the nuclear weapons for which manyrightists hankered. The United States realized the sale of nuclear
reactors to Japan would be both a financial boon and a public
relations victory that might go a long way in dispelling its imageof using Asians as, in the words of the Washington Post, “nuclear
cannon fodder.” Starting on January 1, 1954, the Yomiuri began aseries of articles lauding the wonders of nuclear power, the firstof which was titled “Finally, the Sun Has Been Captured.”Three months later, the Bravo disaster and contamination of
the Lucky Dragon derailed their propaganda campaign, causing
a public backlash against nuclear technology. In secret memos,
the CIA decried those who “rang the gongs of pollution by atomic
waste, the Bikini incident, and Hiroshima, attempting to exercise
the by now well-known Japanese terror of atomic radiation.”
Redoubling its efforts, the United States paid $2 million “condolence money” to the Japanese fishermen. Soon thereafter,
the Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) was created, andJapan and the United States signed the Atomic Energy Agreement to allow shipments of enriched uranium to Japan. Shoriki,
now a member of the first LDP cabinet, was appointed the inaugural president of JAEC. His CIA file notes he touted himself as“Prometheus who was bringing this fire to Japan.” Meanwhile,

to win over skeptics in academia, the US government lavishedJapanese university professors with trips to the United States tosell them on the benefits of nuclear power…
In the coming decades, fifty-four nuclear reactors were built inJapan. This rapid spread was facilitated by Japan’s “Nuclear Village,” a loose network of politicians, academics, corporations, andthe media, working together to convince the public, and one another, that nuclear power was cheap and safe. LDP politicians received
campaign funds from the industry, and upon their retirement, they
parachuted into high-paid corporate jobs in the companies they
had previously overseen. Pronuclear academics received research
grants, while antinuclear scholars were kept out of the loop.
Power companies ensured media support and/or silence via
extravagant advertising budgets. At a local level, the communities where the nuclear power plants were built—many of whichwere in rural areas already suffering from declining populations
and economies—were awarded subsidies to host the facilities,
and the plants provided jobs for residents.
The close relationship between government agencies, corporations that built nuclear reactors, and electric power companies
ensured that the nuclear power industry was largely allowed toregulate itself, putting profits ahead of safety. Inevitably, suchself-policing and lack of outside oversight led to results similar to
the US military: The industry cut corners, downplayed risks, andignored worst-case scenarios; for decades in Japan, for instance,
the operators of nuclear power plants falsified safety records.
In 1999, an accident at the Tokaimura plant, Ibaraki Prefecture,spread radiation more than 1.5 kilometers, forced 300,000 residents to shelter indoors, and exposed more than 600 people,INDEX26 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

THE CIA AND THE PROMETHEUS OF JAPANESE NUCLEAR POWER
two of whom died. In its wake, only minor reforms were introduced. More significantly, operators ignored the risk of earthquakes, siting plants near fault lines and building them to rideout only relatively small tremors. Such incidents made many
Japanese people skeptical of the benefits of nuclear power, andcommunities filed lawsuits against the construction or operation of such plants; however, the courts unfailingly ruled against
citizens in favor of the industry. The mainstream media, insteadof siding with the public, failed to place nuclear businesses
under scrutiny, instead basking in utilities’ advertising revenues
and personal favors. Top Japanese media executives were on a
nuclear industry–sponsored junket to China in March 2011 when
the folly of packing so many reactors into one of the most tectonically active places on the planet became clear…

3.11 and Operation Tomodachi
Following the tsunami, the US military dispatched relief teams
to Tohoku in a mission called “Operation Tomodachi.” It wasbrave, essential work that helped thousands of Japanese survivors—but at the same time it showed that the military hadlearned little about how to deal with radioactive contamination
six decades after the debacle of Operation CROSSROADS.
During Tohoku relief operations, service members and vehicles became contaminated with radiation that was then spread
far and wide throughout its bases in the mainland and Okinawa. According to briefings from the military’s Joint Task Force
Civil Support, a group specializing in chemical, biological, andradiological incidents, among the vehicles contaminated inJapan were Humvee trucks and Sea Knight helicopters. Radiation accumulated in the vehicles’ air filters and wheel wells—andalso on the blades of helicopters. The report stated that someequipment was “permanently damaged beyond repair.”Another report from the US Army’s Center for Army Lessons
Learned shows the primitive methods by which the military
attempted to decontaminate its vehicles. Service members usedpaper towels, “baby wipes,” duct tape, and hot water; it seems
some were not equipped with protective clothing. The reason
given for such basic techniques was that they were “based uponan effort not to alarm the civilian population.” The contaminatedwater and solid waste were stored on six installations: Misawa
Air Base, Yokota Air Base, NAFA, Yokosuka Naval Base, Sasebo
Naval Base, and MCAS Futenma.
One internal document revealed the large volumes involved.
As of May 2011, Misawa Air Base had more than 30,000 litersof liquid waste, and Atsugi Air Base had almost 95,000 liters ofliquid waste and 37 barrels of solid waste; there were smaller volumes, too, at Yokota Air Base and Sasebo Naval Base. In response
to my enquiries, the military admitted that radioactive wastewater had been dumped at the Misawa and Atsugi bases; it claimed
the liquid was “determined to be safe based on GOJ standards
for discharge into the sewer system.” Neither of the communities
near the bases had been notified of the disposal, and when myinvestigation made headline news, there was widespread anger.

Many US service members believe they were sickened during
relief work. Operating off the coast of Tohoku, there were twenty-five navy vessels — including the largest, the USS Ronald
Reagan — with approximately seventeen thousand crew; when
explosions tore apart the Fukushima power plant, radioactive
materials drifted out to sea. One of those on board the Reagan
recalled the clouds as a warm gust in the freezing cold air; it felt
“like I was licking aluminum foil,” she said.
The ship’s commanding officers announced they had entereda radioactive plume and ordered everyone below decks. Ventilation systems were turned off, but, much to the crew’s dismay,
they were soon ordered back into the area where they had
encountered the cloud. Other ships arrived in the vicinity as well.
Just like those involved in Operation CROSSROADS, their vessels’
drinking water was produced from desalinated seawater, and thistoo had become contaminated with radiation. The crews drank it,
ate food that had been cooked in it, and showered in it.
One sailor recalled what he believes was the immediate
effects of exposure, saying, “People would shit themselves on
the flight deck so often that it wasn’t even a surprise anymore.”
In addition to diarrhea, other short-term symptoms included
hair loss and rashes. As sickness spread throughout the crew,
the navy blamed it on stress and then gastroenteritis. With thebroken reactors continuing to emit radioactive steam and particles, the navy vessels remained in the area conducting relief
operations for the next several weeks; according to sailors, they
were sometimes so close to shore that they could see the nuclear power station. Service members were ordered to decontaminate the decks; photos from the work show them scrubbing
with brushes; no one is wearing masks or ventilators.
In 2014, the assistant Secretary of Defense for health affairs, Dr.
Jonathan Woodson, concluded the exposure of Operation Tomodachi participants was “very small and well below levels associated with adverse medical conditions.” In the following years, sailors fell ill from thyroid disorders, leukemia, and other cancers; atleast seven died. Unable to sue the Department of Defense, they
filed lawsuits against TEPCO at a court in San Diego, where, at thetime, the USS Ronald Reagan had been homeported.
The number of sailors involved in the case reached four hundred; however, in March 2019, the court dismissed the case, withthe judge stating, “After considering the Japanese and UnitedStates governments’ views, the Court finds that the foreign andpublic policy interests weigh toward dismissal.” The handling of
the case has infuriated veterans and their legal team; one of theirlawyers stated, “These kids were first responders. They went inhappily doing a humanitarian mission, and they came out cooked.”● Jon Mitchell is a British journalist and author based in Japan.
In 2015, he was awarded the Foreign Correspondents’ Club ofJapan’s Freedom of the Press Lifetime Achievement Award for his
investigations into human rights issues on Okinawa. His research
has featured in reports for the US Congress and been the focus ofdebate in the Japanese parliament.

INDEX27 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

CLUB NEWSNew members

New in the library
1

ASSOCIATE MEMBERLOW HON MUN Low took up the post of deputy chief ofmission at the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo in December
2020. This is his second posting to Japan. He previously
served in the embassy from 2012 to 2016 as first secretary,and subsequently as counsellor.
Since joining the ministry of foreign affairs in 2007, Mr
Low has served in various capacities on issues related toSoutheast Asia and Northeast Asia. He was also special
assistant to the foreign minister from 2010 to 2011.
Low graduated with a Master’s of Science degree inelectrical engineering from Stanford University in 2005,
and obtained a Master of Arts in security studies from
Georgetown University in 2017.

ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHUJI YONEDAAn I-Novel
Minae Mizumura; tr. by Juliet
Winters Carpenter
Columbia University Press

2
Fukushima: Den
dramatiske beretningom et herligt sted i Japan
Asger Røjle Christensen
TurbineGift from Asger Røjle
Christensen

3
Shinigami to Yobareta
Otoko: The Man Who’s
Called The Reaper
死神と呼ばれた男

REGULAR MEMBERAGNES TANDLER is a freelance journalist who has been
covering Asia for more than a decade. Currently basedin Sapporo, she focuses on politics and topics related to
public health. Agnes grew up in Germany and worked asa correspondent for the Associated Press in Berlin. Her
fascination for Japanese culture began as a child when visitorsfrom Japan gave her a miniature statue of the Buddha of
Kamakura as a gift. In her free time, Agnes enjoys walking
and has written a book about the Shikoku henro pilgrimage
route. She holds a PhD in political science from the European
University Institute in Florence, Italy.

Yusuke Wada
Water Tree Publisher
Gift from Yusuke Wada

4
War on Wheels: Inside
Keirin and Japan’s
Cycling Subculture
Justin McCurry
Pursuit
Gift from Justin McCurry

28 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

INDEXCLUB NEWS
Join the Film CommitteeJ● Karen Severns©ELEVEN ARTS STUDIO / 2021[GOF] FILM PARTNERS]

oin us on Monday, July 5, at 5 pm fora sneak preview screening of The
Gift of Fire, a film that imagines thepossibility that Japan could havebeen the perpetrator, and not the victim,of the atomic bomb in 1945. The secrethistory of Japan’s own efforts to build abomb began to emerge about a decadeago, when veteran NHK director Hiroshi
Kurosaki discovered a fragment of a young
scientist's diary in a Hiroshima library, andbegan researching its revelations. Kurosaki brought together an international teamof creative collaborators to tell the true
story of the team of budding scientists at
Kyoto Imperial University and their efforts
to develop “a new type of bomb that willturn the tide of war.” Seventy-five years later, The Gift of Fire tackles the sticky moral issues arising from mankind’s pursuit of scientific advancement, and underscores theiremotional costs. Kurosaki and two of his producers, Ko Mori and Katsuhiro Tsuchiya, will join us for the Q&A session. (The Gift ofFire, Japan, 2021, 111 minutes, in Japanese/English with Japanese subtitles).

INDEX29 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 TOKYOSUMMEROLYMPICSJULY 3 - AUGUST 6, 2021

Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai lights the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics. Sakai was born in Hiroshima on Aug.
6, 1945, the day the nuclear bomb destroyed the city. As the last carrier of the Olympic torch, he symbolized the rebirth of Japan in the 19 years following theend of Second World War.
October 10, 1964T

he 1964 Summer Olympics, officially known as the XVIII Olympiad, were held in Tokyo from October 10 to 24. The Games
were a venue for demonstrating Japan’s transformation from wartime enemy to country of peace. To demonstrate thecountry’s recovery from the war, many infrastructure projects were initiated, including the Shinkansen bullet train service
between Osaka and Tokyo, the modernization of Haneda Airport, and construction of numerous highways, expressways
and subway lines. In an effort to beautify Tokyo, streets and rivers were cleaned up and more greenery planted throughout the city.
The Tokyo Olympics were the first to be held in Asia. It was also the first time that computers were used, improving the accuracy inthe timing and scoring of completions. The Games were also the first to be televized internationally.
A growing middle class in Japan rushed out to buy television sets to watch the Games, as well as other household appliances, leading
to the term “the Olympic economy”. Ninety-three countries competed in the Olympics. Japan won 16 gold medals, five silver and eightbronze, coming in third behind the United States and the Soviet Union. The Games’ memorable champions include Abebe Bikila ofEthiopia – the first athlete to win the marathon twice – and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina, who brought her career medal total to 18.
● Bruce Osborn, FCCJ Exhibition ChairINDEX30 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

An aerial photo shows a National Stadium during an opening ceremony of Tokyo Olympic Games.
October 10, 1964

INDEX31 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Japan's Isao Okano defeats Germany's Wolfgang Hofmann in the Judo Middleweight event to win the gold medal.
It was the first time the sport was included in the Summer Olympic Games.
October 21, 1964

INDEX32 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Japanese featherweight weightlifter Yoshinobu Miyake succeeds in jerking a 145-kg barbell for a new Olympic record
during competition on his way to becoming the first gold medal winner for Japan in the Tokyo Olympics.
October 11, 1964

INDEX33 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

U.S. Marine Lt. Billy Mills pulls off a stunning upset by winning the 10,000 meter Olympic race.
Mills set an Olympic record 0f 28:24:4 and was the only American ever to win the event.
October 14, 1964

INDEX34 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai carries the Olympic Torch during the opening ceremonies of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Sakai was born in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, the day the nuclear weapon destroyed the city.
October 10, 1964

35 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITIONINDEX

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Gold medalist Yoshinobu Miyake of Japan silver winner (center), Issac Berger of USA (left), and bronze winner Mieczyslaw Nowak of
Poland (right) shake hands during the awarding ceremony of the Featherweight Weightlifting competition.
October 11, 1964

INDEX36 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Don Schollander of the USA poses with the four gold medals he won in the swimming competitions. He won them in the 100 and
400 meter Freestyle and swam legs in the winning 400 meter Medley and 800 meter Freestyle Relays. Schollander, at 18 years,
is the first man to ever win four gold medals in Olympic swimming.
October 18, 1964

INDEX37 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Czechoslovakia's Vojtech Masny (right) kicks the ball as Hungary's Gusztav Szepeni attempts to block during the soccer match finals.
October 23, 1964

38 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITIONINDEX

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

A young Japanese lady wearing a traditional kimono has her hand kissed by Mexican pentathlon athlete David Barcena, wearing a sombrero hat,at the closing ceremony for the Tokyo Olympics. Mexico will be holding the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.
October 24, 1964

INDEX39 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Royal Box in National Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
October 10, 1964

40 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITIONINDEX

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Opening ceremony for the Summer Olympics. Flags of several nations in the foreground with the Olympic rings made in the sky by Japanese Air Force jets.
The XVIII Olympiad was the first time the games were held in Asia with more than 7,000 athletes from 94 nations are competing.
October 10, 1964

INDEX41 | FCCJ | JULY 2021

EXHIBITION

1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics: July 3 - August 6, 2021

Henry Carr of USA cuts the tape to win the Men's 200-meter final at the National Stadium in Tokyo.
October 17, 1964.

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