The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

August 2016, Volume 48 No. 8, ¥400

Can Buzzfeed revolutionize Japan’s news diet?
ProfilePhotographer
Martin Hladik

Military Justice
A controversial
killing & trial in 1957

The election
Feeling alittle better?

Vol. 48, Number 8

August 2016

contact the editors

no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Publisher FCCJ
Editor Gregory Starr
Art Director Andrew Pothecarywww.forbiddencolour.com
Editorial Assistants Naomichi Iwamura,Tyler Rothmar
Photo Coordinator Akiko Miyake
Publications committee members
Gavin Blair, Freelance (Chair); Geoffrey Tudor,
Orient Aviation; Monzurul Huq, Prothom Alo;
Julian Ryall, Daily Telegraph; John R. Harris,
Automobile Magazine

p12

In this issue

Investigating
a U.S. military
killing in the ’50s

The Front Page
From the President by Peter Langan
Collections: 71 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki

4
4What's the fuss!?
by Richard Smart

6

The “Feeling a little bit better” election
by Michael Cucek

6

ProfileMartin Hladik
by Andrew Pothecary1012

Lessons of the Dhaka tragedy
by Monzurul Huq

14

Seeking to create a “normal” nation
by Julian Ryall

15

Join the Film Committee/Tax deduction benefit/
Heard at the Club/New Members/New in the Library
FCCJ

AUG 2016

FCCJ COMMITTEE CHAIRSAssociate Members Liaison Milton Isa
Compliance Kunio Hamada
DeRoy Memorial Scholarship Masaaki Fukunaga
Entertainment Sandra Mori, Suvendrini Kakuchi
Exhibition Bruce Osborn
Film Karen Severns
Finance Robert Whiting
Food & Beverage Robert Whiting
Freedom of Press Pio d’Emilia, Khaldon AzhariHouse & Property Peter Langan
Human Resources Imad Ajami
Information Technology Roger Williams
Library, Archives & Workroom Koichi Ishiyama,
Suvendrini Kakuchi
Membership Peter O’Connor, Monzurul Huq
Membership Marketing Bill Shin, Rie Sakamoto
Professional Activities Andrew Sharp,
Tetsuo Jimbo
Publications Gavin Blair
Special Projects Haruko Watanabe
Web Committee Said Karlsson
Foreign Press in Japan Justin McCurry

Death by firing rangeby Mark Schreiber

Club News
Exhibition: Kaoby Shintaro Shiratori

FCCJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President Peter Langan, Freelance
1st Vice President Khaldon Azhari,
PanOrient News
2nd Vice President Todd Crowell, Freelance
Secretary David Satterwhite, Associate Member
Treasurer Robert Whiting, Author, Freelance
Directors-at-Large Milton Isa, Associate Member
Said Karlsson, TT News Agency
Yuichi Otsuka, Associate Member
Ex-officio Suvendrini Kakuchi,
University World News
Kanji William Sposato, Freelance
Associate Kanji Makoto Honjo, Associate Member

16

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
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1-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0006.
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 story proposals or address comments to
no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Read the Number 1 Shimbun online:
fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun//
Cover illustration: Andrew Pothecary3

FRONT PAGE

BIT RUSHED WITH THE
column this month as I’mwriting right after a bus trip
from Narita and landing back in
From theJapan from a trip to Australia.
For those who have heard
President
the stories of warmer oceans
bleaching the Great Barrier Reef, I’m afraid that based on what
I saw during a few scuba dives the stories seem to have sometruth to them. I was an avid scuba diver about 25 years ago, butnever got to dive the Reef. A reminder that if you have items inyour life bucket list, don’t delay!
The news cycle is forcing a quick decompression from holiday
mode, long road trips and days out on the ocean to issues related
to Donald Trump, Pokemon GO, the attempted coup in Turkey
and more. Our very own regular member Pio d’ Emilia has been
covering the events in Turkey, the latest in his distinguishedcoverage of the issues confronting Europe as more refugees flee
to the continent to escape war in the Middle East.
It seems I’ve walked right into a controversy over the electionof the Tokyo governor and whether all the candidates had theopportunity to air their views to the media. This touches the FCCJ
directly as the Professional Activities Committee has to weighthe same question – resulting in heated debate among journalist
Members around the question of the “news value” of the candidates.
For those unfamiliar with the inner workings of a newsroom,
this question of news value agitates journalists every day, often
causing intense disagreement over what story gets prominence.
What do residents of the world’s most populated
metropolitan area want from their leader? Well, according to a

Kyodo News poll before the election, Tokyo residents have thesame priorities as Japan’s electorate have been urging on Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe: one of them being the need to fix childcare. If Mr. Abe really wants to slow the population decline andget more women back into the workforce, he needs to solve theshortage of child-care facilities.
Perhaps the government didn’t see this coming as they
expected grandad and grandmum to step in. Whatever thecause of the oversight, urging Japanese couples to have morechildren while not providing adequate childcare options forworking moms and dads is a serious disconnect. The Kyodo pollalso had “medical and nursing care” high on the list of priorities,
so it seems care facilities at both ends of the age spectrum
should be prominent on the to-do list of the new governor. And
then there is the preparation for the 2020 Summer Olympics . . .
Finally, this magazine was to have a major feature on the
October 2018 move of the FCCJ to a new location, with picturesand plans of the internal layout, including explanations of thedifferent functions and services at the new Club. Unfortunately,
deadlines forced us to delay the feature, but the good news is thatit should be ready for the next issue. We are also planning anotherin a series of Town Hall meetings to give all staff and members an
update on the Club move and seek feedback. Members will begetting an email with the date and time of that event.
Like journalist arguments about daily news priorities, theHouse & Property Committee doesn’t expect to satisfy all
demands for what the new Club should contain, but it’s trying.
As of writing, childcare facilities are not on the list. (Fulldisclosure, I’m the chair of the H&P committee.)
Have a good August.
– Peter Langan

COLLECTIONS

71 YEARS AFTER HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI

993%

countries in the world who
possess nuclear weapons(Ranked from most to least: Russia, U.S., France,
China, UK, Pakistan, India, Israel, North Korea)

550 180 260

Number of Russianstrategic launchers
deployed

U.S. tactical nuclear
bombs deployed at
European bases

2/3rds4...................................................................................................................................
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China’s total
inventory of
nuclear weaponsof nuclear weapons
possessed by the U.S.
and Russia

15,375

Amount that global arsenals haveshrunk since mid-1980s peak

Total numberof nuclear
weapons

Sources: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Federation of American Scientists,
World Nuclear Weapon Stockpile Report, Arms Control Association
AUG 2016

FCCJ

FEATURE
MEDIA

B

uzzFeed is one of those things, likeers, pesky journalists and the sort of office
Snapchat, that older people justpolitics that will be familiar to anybody
don’t seem to get. Ask anyone
who has ever worked in Japan. At theover the age of 35 what the site istime, Masuzoe was working as aabout and they are likely to menwriter and consultant, as well astion cats, lists, viral videos andmaking a name for himself as
not a lot else. But the younga talking head on the primehave gone to it in droves fortime current affairs shows
news and entertainment.
of the day. He appears as an
The site has made a nameadvisor to the player’s charfor itself in the U.S. with covacter during the game.
erage of issues such as the
BuzzFeed had a field day.
Black Lives Matter protest“We tried to use that softmovement, its staunch supware to show what kind of
port for the rights of people
person Masuzoe is in a way
in the LGBT community andthat is interesting to our audiopposition to the Republicanence,” Furuta said. “Our intencandidate Donald Trump, withtion was not to tease Masuzoe,
whom the company terminatedbut we wanted to convey thatan ad deal in July.
there was such a game and that
In January this year, BuzzFeed
the content showed the very stearrived in Japan after an agreereotypical business practices inment was signed between theJapan. We objectively covered
company and Yahoo Japan. “Overthat in our article and left it up
seas – particularly in the U.S. –to readers to interpret what the
BuzzFeed’s brand is very strong
game meant.”
and well known,” says CEO Max
Those business practices – sexUeno, clad in a red sports jersey
ism, after work drinks with clifeaturing the company’s “trendents, dealing with harassmenting” icon. “It also has impressive
through bland iterations, forcing
Japanese media may be about totechnology. Their editorial expereceive a wake-up call from BuzzFeed’s people into jobs they would notrience means the company has
want to do and the like – leave
new Japan operation.
the knowledge of how to release
little to the imagination about
articles in ways that increases
the sort of person, at least at one
readership. [And] Yahoo Japan,
time, Masuzoe was.
by RICHARD SMART
which is a very strong media
It would be unimaginable tocompany, has a platform that
see the Yomiuri Shimbun devotcan bring traffic and influence toing column inches to such covBuzzFeed here.”erage of a game. But Furuta says
Seven months into the company’s Japan venture, the signs
BuzzFeed sees traditional media as a source of inspiration
are promising. Politicians have been trolled in creative ways,
for stories that can entertain and inform. “I come from aissues that were unreported by other media in disasters havenewspaper background,” he said, “and certain stories aregone viral and identity politics has a new platform.
not run for various reasons, such as space restrictions. But
our media can post those sorts of stories. That we can provide such different kinds of content means that there is
Ignored but not silenced
room for BuzzFeed in Japan, and the audience has taken to
Buzzfeed has proven it means to shake things up. When Tokyo
it very well.”Governor Yoichi Masuzoe came under fire for his spending
habits, BuzzFeed Japan was shut out of his news conferences.
The company was effectively told that it was not considered
Digital news rivals
a media organization by the city administration. “It was very
Furuta’s optimism may be justified, but his company does
confusing,” Ueno said.
face competition. Other companies, such as the Huffington
So BuzzFeed published an article describing how it was
Post have also moved into the Japanese market. And homeshut out. It also used the occasion to report on Masuzoe andgrown companies such as SmartNews and Gunosy also prohis shenanigans in ways unimaginable in more traditional
vide content that is primarily aimed at smartphone conmedia outlets. “Many people wanted to know how Masuzoe
sumption. SmartNews, a news aggregation app, has raised
was involved in the scandal, and the facts, so we did write$90 million in investment since its founding, including $38
quite a lot,” said Daisuke Furuta, BuzzFeed Japan’s editor.
million in a series-D round of funding announced in early“We also posted a quiz about how lawyers determined what
July, led by the Development Bank of Japan. The Huffington
spending was improper and proper using political funds. For
Post, meanwhile, is a collaboration between the Asahi Shimexample, he bought an oven to bake pizza, which was regardbun and the U.S. site; last year, it surpassed 15 million unique
ed as proper by the lawyers.”
users per month. Gunosy, which also aggregates news, went
Journalists at BuzzFeed also found a 1992 Nintendo rolepublic in April and has a market capitalization of aroundplaying game that the former governor had helped to pro$37 million.
duce, titled “Yoichi Masuzoe: Until the Morning,” in which
Kosuke Takahashi, the former editor of the Huffington Post
players act as company employees and have to work their way
Japan, noted last year that as the digital news market wasup the corporate ladder while dealing with slippery co-workgrowing, it was beginning to split into separate market seg-

What’sthe fuss!?

6

AUG 2016

FCCJ

cover,” he added. “After articles
ments. “Gunosy targets people inhave gone out we check data on
their late teens and early 20s,” hereader numbers and share volsaid, while “SmartNews targets
ume, and we look at the comthose in their early 20s to earlyments. We use this data to learn
30s. HuffPost’s selling point isabout our audience and use it tointernational news, so we get
decide on our next stories. It’s apeople in their 30s and 40s, comconstant learning process. Thispany workers.”
is probably the biggest differWhere does BuzzFeed Japan fit
ence to how things are done atin? “The people we want to reachnewspapers.”
are the millennials, aged 18 to
Jonah Perretti, BuzzFeed’s34,” Buzzfeed’s Ueno said. Addifounder, explained in an intertionally, he claims, BuzzFeed
view for the online magazine
has a completely different way
Matter in 2014 that BuzzFeedof thinking in terms of editodoes not favor the use of metrics
rial, distribution and marketing.
as a measure of popularity. “As“On the business side, younger
soon as you try to actually optigenerations are spending moremize,” he said, “particularly fortime on smartphones,” Ueno
a single metric, you end up findsaid. “But despite that, there areing that the best way to optimize
still not sufficient media to satfor that metric ends up pervertisfy that demand. There is also
ing the metric and making thea lot of possible improvement
metric mean the opposite ofwith content quality. By satisfywhat it used to mean.” In othering those needs, we can attract
words, a focus on click rates, foradvertisers, who are aware there
example, will lead to staff findare audiences they cannot reaching ways to cheat the system.
through traditional media.” The“Our idea is to deliver content
company will launch its adverto our audiences, rather thantising section later this year,
bringing people to our sites,”with a sales team of slightly lessUeno said.
than 20.
Issues that the company has
Though contracts have yet tofound get traction include LGBTbe signed, Ueno sees comparights – they were clear from thenies such as Canon, Procter andstart that the recent massacre
Gamble, Toyota and Nestle, all
Making a buzzin Florida was primarily homoof which have previously adverBuzzFeed Japan’s CEO Max Ueno, top,
phobic – and unreported issues
tised with the main site in theand its editor Daisuke Furuta
surrounding the Kumamoto
U.S., as potential advertisers.
earthquake. BuzzFeed was the first to report on the extensive“Thanks to BuzzFeed’s success in the U.S. and Europe we havedamage in neighboring Oita Prefecture after the earthquakes.
received inquiries from companies with international brands“Our coverage of the Oita onsen town of Yufuin got huge
who have run adverts on BuzzFeed,” he said.
shares and was read by a lot of people,” Furuta said. “At the
There are, of course, reasons to be skeptical about the comtime, the media was only looking at Kumamoto, but part of Oitapany’s expectations. BuzzFeed in the U.S. halved its revenue
was also badly hit.” The story ran with the sort of tagline thattarget to $250 million earlier this year as traffic to its site fell
makes waves across social media: “Don’t forget about Oita.”by 14 percent, leading some to suggest its peak is over. Ueno,
Buzzfeed also got a scoop on how food rations in Kyushu were
however, is unfazed. “We are a private company, so we are notwithheld in order to ensure all evacuees were treated equally.
disclosing specific number for sales targets, for example, or
One rule, Furuta says, governs all stories: Do not sling mud.
how much we are trying to make,” he said. “But Japan is one of“There’s a message on Perretti’s public blog where he makes
the important strategic markets [for BuzzFeed], and that will
it very clear that the purpose of BuzzFeed is to create a posinot change.” The company also has the benefit of the backing
tive impact. For instance, when we look at LGBT issues inof Yahoo Japan, which is 35.5 percent owned by its U.S. nameour global editions, or the rights of women, we will release asake and has seen continual growth in recent years in sectors
variety of content [that is supportive of these communities].
such as e-commerce, online advertising and listings.
In our editorial guidelines, we clearly state that our politicalstance is neutral. But where human rights or discrimination
Homeless in cyberspace
are concerned we do not write from both perspectives.”
Part of the appeal of BuzzFeed is its lack of a real home.
And that brings us back to those cat photos that BuzzFeed
There is, of course, a website. And then there is also a Twitis often linked with. “Having a positive impact brings about
ter stream, a Facebook page, an Instagram feed, a Snapchatso many possibilities,” Furuta said. “Articles do not need tosection, Line notification and probably more. “We are trying
be serious. An image of a kitten, which people will consider
to create content that makes a buzz on social media,” Furuta
cute, has a positive impact, as do funny videos. We are always
said, “so we have to understand what the audience wants.
thinking about what we can do to make a positive impact.” ❶More specifically, we want to know what the audience wants
to know at this precise second; what will be useful to them;
Richard Smart covers Japanese business, science and the economy forwhat will surprise and move them.
publications around the world.
“We keep these factors in mind when looking for subjects to
FCCJ

AUG 2016

7

FEATURE
POLITICSMEANWHILE, THE LESSER MEMBERS ofthe anti-revisionist alliance went into
eclipse. The Socialists and Livelihood
each lost one seat. The Socialists, in fact,
lost the seat of its party leader, putting
the party below the five-seat limit for
Winning smile
public funding (it will continue to receive
PM Shinzo Abe, center,
funds thanks to an alternate standard ofon election nighthaving won more than 2 percent of the
proportional vote). The Communists
added
three
seats
but
visibly lost momentum, since their seat
An in-depth look at how things played out
gains in the 2013 and 2014 elections were so much greater.
in the recent race for the upper house.
Despite all the pre-election attention, participation of 18and 19-year-olds for the first time in a national election wasby MICHAEL CUCEK
largely a damp squib. Slightly more than 45 percent of these
newly enfranchised teenagers cast ballots, a turnout ratenearly 10 points below the national average. Put another way,
having teenagers vote reduced overall voting rates.
When these youngest voters did vote, their choices wereost elections are characterized as having smilingconservative. Exit polling found that persons in the 18- towinners and crying losers. Though descriptions like
29-years-of-age cohort voted for the ruling LDP-Komeito coali“landslide” and “massive victory” have been bandied
tion at a rate higher than any other age bracket. Deference, notabout following the 2016 House of Councillors election, thedefiance, seems to have been the guide. Under the influence
results gave everyone reasons to smile and reasons to wince.
of Dad, Mom and high school, 18-year-olds showed up to the
The predictions had been depressing. The opposition Dempolls more than half the time (51.17 percent turnout). Underocratic Party was going to be annihilated in the districts. The
less direct pressure to perform civic duties, fewer than four
ruling coalition would romp to victory, seizing a two-thirds
out of ten 19-year-olds cast a ballot (39.66 percent turnout).
majority, and delaying indefinitely structural reforms in favor
So it was all good news for the ruling coalition. What about
of a corrosive fight to revise the Constitution. More than halfeveryone else?
the electorate, demoralized, would fail to cast a ballot.
The surprise of the election was turnout. Opinion surveys
However, on the way to the bottom, the unexpected hapconducted prior to election day found record low levels of
pened: the Democrats did not disintegrate and the two-thirds
interest, indicating turnout would be below 50 percent. Howmajority, though achieved, is unreliable. Most importantly,
ever, when the polls closed, 54.7 percent of the electorate had
people showed up to vote. Not in droves, maybe, but in sufshown up, a two-point gain in turnout from 2013 and above
ficient numbers to generate some surprises and reinvigorate
the turnout even of the 2014 edition of the normally higher
the political process.
House of Representatives elections. For the first time since
To be clear, the LDP won. Its share of seats in the House of
Shinzo Abe had returned to the presidency of the Liberal
Councillors rose from 115 to 120. Its coalition ally, the KomeiDemocratic Party in 2012, more persons voted in national
to, also added five seats, returning the ruling coalition anelection than in the preceding contest.
unshakable majority of 145 of the 242 seats in the chamber.

M

8

AUG 2016

FCCJ

ANOTHER SURPRISE WAS THE performance of the Democratic
Party and the candidates it supported. The DP rolled into theelection with largely the same low level of public support as it
had in 2013 – about 9 percent of voters as measured by telephone opinion polls. But the outcome was significantly different. While the predecessor party, the DPJ, had suffered acrushing defeat in the 2013 House of Councillors contest, losing 27 seats while keeping only 17, the DP this time lost only
11 seats, retaining 32.
Part of the reason for the DP’s resurgence was the higher
turnout. Exit polls in the last few elections have shown a consistent pattern: increases in turnout favor opposition candidates by a two-to-one margin. Put into unit terms, for every
three additional voters that show up at the polls, the opposition gets two votes while the ruling coalition gets one. Thatadvantage snowballs, quickly transforming toss-up districts
into opposition wins.
In addition, while the four opposition party electoral alliance failed in its stated goal, it seems to have improved thechances of opposition candidates in the single-member districts (SMDs). Having the Communists give up their policy ofrunning a candidate in every district seems
to have produced the result political observers had always assumed true but never had
had a chance to test. An alliance candidate
won in 11 of the 32 SMD contests – a complete changeover from 2013, when the DPJ
prevailed in only two of the SMDs. Sweetest
for the opposition were the knockouts of two
sitting Cabinet ministers: Aiko Shimojiri in
Okinawa and Mitsuhide Iwaki in Fukushima.
In fact, it was the Happiness Realization
Party – the fringe, hard-line nationalist party backed by the
Happy Science cult – that replaced the Communists in theirtraditional role as electoral spoiler. In the aforementioned
Fukushima, Aomori, Niigata, Mie and Oita prefectures, thevote totals for the Happiness candidate was greater than the
victory margin of the opposition candidate over his or her
LDP rival.
The appeal of Japanese victimhood and anti-foreign attitudes decreased among the electorate. The Party of Japanese Kokoro, vehicle of notorious historical revisionists and
DPRK-abductees-issue opportunists Kyoko Nakayama andher husband Nariaki, failed to win a single seat. Anti-Korean/anti-Chinese hatemonger Nobuyuki Suzuki saw his share of
the vote in the Tokyo district election fall to half of what it
was three years ago, even as the vote for the loopy Happinesscandidate stayed the same.

all in the polls. Indeed, the former actress, singer and racecar driver finished first by a huge margin in her Kanagawa
constituency, with over a million votes. On election night,
famed news commentator Akira Ikegami baited her, asking
her if she believed that the mythical (at least according tohistorians and textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education) Emperor Jimmu was an actual historical person. Mihara
answered that for her he was.
Interesting in terms of potential policy stances was theoutcome of the so-called “organized vote” of the two main
parties. The DP has the image of being the party of the internationalized, primarily white-collar, urban and suburban voters, but in fact, the DP’s backbone is in the labor unions. The
DP’s proportional list results reflect this dependency. The DP
won 11 proportional seats in 2016, 7 of which will be filled
by union executives. Indeed, the DP’s top three proportional
vote winners were of leaders of Rengo, the autoworkers association and Panasonic’s company union.
BY CONTRAST, THE LDP saw saw a reduced role for the organized vote in its proportional seat totals. While Zentoku, theprivate postmasters principal association,
did manage to win the top spot on the LDP’s
proportional list with an astonishing 520,000
votes for its candidate (so much for former
PM Koizumi’s 2005 Post Office reform election designed to destroy the power of thepostmasters), the next organized vote group,
the dreaded Nokyo agricultural association,
slipped in at only eighth on the list (236,000
votes). Overall, the LDP’s jigsaw puzzle ofprimary interest groups – the industry lobbies, the professional associations, former SDF officers andrepresentatives of the War Bereaved Association (the Izokai)claimed fewer than half of the LDP’s proportional seats. And
almost all of those were in the bottom half of the proportional
list. If votes and seats equal influence over policy, the LDP isquietly slipping the grip of its anti-reform support groups.
Finally, the election provided a bittersweet result for theauthor. I had bet what little professional reputation I have on
the election’s not hinging upon the LDP and its allies gaining the 162 seats necessary for a two-thirds majority. Instead,I wagered the more significant number was 57 – the numberof seats the LDP would need to win to form a tandoku seiken,
a government of the LDP only, without any coalition partners. I went as far as to guarantee the LDP would achieve thisresult, with an immediate, obvious destabilizing effect on theparty’s current coalition with the Komeito.
In the end, the LDP failed to win 57 seats, coming tantalizingly close with 55 outright victories and one win by the virtual
LDP candidate in Kanagawa. Abashed and ashamed was I.
However, two days after election my prediction came true,in a fashion. The LDP received a membership application from
Tatsuo Hirano, a member of the House of Councillors not up
for election. Hirano’s political party, the New RenaissanceParty, had been one casualty of the election. After losing twoseats, including the seat of its leader, the party immediately
disbanded, casting Hirano adrift. Hirano, an opportunist of
the first rank, immediately applied to join the LDP, a party he
ran against only three years ago.
I felt a little bit better – but only a little bit. At this writing,one week after the election, the LDP still has not decided onwhether or not to accept Hirano’s application. ❶It was all goodnews for theruling coalition.
What about
everyone else?

AP PHOTOThe“Feeling a little
bit better”
election

Paired with the more than two-thirds majority the rulingcoalition parties hold in the House of Representatives, thegovernment of Shinzo Abe retains the ability to pass any legislation it desires.
To be sure, the Democratic Party lost. It shed 11 seats fromwhat was an already significantly depleted total. With the DP
clinging to only 32 seats while the LDP snatched up 55, Japan
lost the last political arena wherein a competitive two-party
system still existed on the national stage.
The unique four-party alliance of the DP, the Communists,
the Socialists and Livelihood failed to achieve its existential
goal: preventing the government of Shinzo Abe from gaining any pathway to a two-thirds majority.
The pathway opened up by the 2016 election is a convoluted one, no doubt. Starting with the ruling coalition’s 145 seatsand the one independent elected with
LDP/Komeito approval, Mr. Abe and hisallies need to add the seats of the Initiatives from Osaka (Osaka Ishin no Kai), theseats of the tiny militant nationalist Party of Japan Kokoro (Nihon no kokoro o taisetsu ni suru to) and seats of independent
fellow travelers to reach the 162 seats
necessary to propose an amendment to
the Constitution.

SOME VERY PROMINENT REVISIONISTS did win on July 10.
Comfort-women denier Hiroshi Yamada, removed from theDiet by the 2014 electoral reversals of the Japan Innovation
Party, won a seat as a candidate on the LDP’s proportional
list. Now a freshman LDP legislator with a crowd of competitors, he will probably not be given the opportunities to loft
provocative, war responsibility-denying, global headlinegenerating questions at Prime Minister Abe as he did so often
in between 2012 and 2014.
Also returning to the Diet for another six-year term isJunko Mihara, whose devotion to the myths of the Meiji stateis disturbing. In 2015 she stunned Finance Minister Taro Aso
and the House of Councillors budget committee by using apreviously unspeakable pre-1945 slogan as a justification fora change in tax law. Mihara’s blithe toss out of hakko ichi’u(“all the world under one roof”), one of only two phrasesbanned by Allied Occupation authorities, did not hurt her at
FCCJ

AUG 2016

Michael Cucek is a Tokyo-based consultant to the financial and diplomaticcommunities and author of the Shisaku blog on Japanese politics and society.

9

SERIESPROFILEMartin Hladik
by ANDREW POTHECARY

ANDREW POTHECARY

M

10

AUG 2016

FCCJ

The “undergound”
tattoo scene wassimilar to the“underground,” awayfrom prying state
powers, that he’dknown in his youth

shoot people in happier situations.
artin Hladik was born in
In 2000, he followed his Czech girlCzechoslovakia in 1968, only
friend to Japan after she got a schola few months before thearship for a PhD at Tokyo University,“Prague Spring” reformist movement
where she still works in water-related
was crushed under the tread of Soviengineering. They have since marriedet tanks. So when he grew up, it wasand have three children, aged 9, 6 and 4.
under the restrictions of movement
Hladik had visited Japan in 1995 as
and thought of Soviet rule.
a kayaker, but had never thought of
His father was a mechanical engineer
returning. To make a career here, heand his mother produced exhibitions –would have to build up contacts andmiddle class work that brought enoughintroductions from scratch. It’s been amoney only for everyday life. Even getlong road. “I’m not there yet,” he says.
ting permission for travel was difficult.
“It’s still difficult. The best time was until the financial crisis
The family once managed a trip to Yugoslavia, but only had
in 2008 – and it has never recovered. I had a full-time assisenough money for gas and camp. Hladik’s mother prepared alltant then, but I cannot afford that now.”
food for the month’s trip in advance for the family of four.
He offers still photography, video and production services
He studied Mechanical Engineering at the Czech Technicalfor overseas photographers. “Recently,” he says, “I bought
University in Prague – “a way to avoid army service” – anda drone for footage from the air.” But he prefers to get tospent a further two years taking selected classes in photograknow his subjects more closely – an approach used for his
phy at the Academy of Performing Arts.
two books on Japanese tattoos. Back in the Czech Republic,
Like other Soviet-bloc nations, the state gave support totattoos were associated with crime or gypsies – “who did itsport, and throughout his youth, weekend trips to the mounwith a fork” – so when he saw the full-body tattoos of Japantains for winter skiing and summer kayaking had led to Hlahe was hooked. At the Sanja Matsuri he met the son of tattoo
dik joining sports clubs. After university, he turned to his
artist Asakusa Horikazu and later became close to the master.
sport full time – and in 1995 joined the national whitewater
Although tattoos are associated with criminal elements inslalom team following the end of communist rule.
Japan, too, things are changing. Hladik says: “It was never myHis love for photography, however – which had dated frominterest to investigate who was a yakuza or not. I was under
his childhood – eventually led him to put his kayak aside forthe wing of the master. I photographed for him and for mya camera. He knew the work of the exiled Joseph Koudelka,
own interest.” In fact, in some ways he found the “undersince prints of his photographs of the 1968 Soviet invasion
gound” tattoo scene similar to the “underground,” away
had been illicitly available. He also had seen the work of Cartfrom prying state powers, that he’d known in his youth – andier-Bresson, Robert Capa and Douglas Duncan – the latter
always very friendly.
two known for their war photography.
Hladik spent two month-long stints
Hladik was approaching 30 whenin Tohoku after the 3/11 disaster.
he set off for New York to find work
The photos of two girls whose single
as a photographer. He had no accommother had died in the tsunami, weremodation, little English and barely
among the powerful shots later exhibenough money to buy food. He wasited at the FCCJ. He also used the exhiarrested for sleeping in the park. A
bition to raise a collection for the girls.
wedding photographer hired him, but
Now, after 16 years here, a return tofired him the same day after Hladik,
the Czech Republic is “on the horizon.”in his hunger, couldn’t stop himself
This is partly to bring his children up
from eating the wedding food. But
at least somewhat Czech, but he also
he got to assist the renowned Czechhas concerns about the life of teenborn American photographer Antoninagers in Japan – sexualized girls andKratochvil with his portraiture.
game-immersed boys – and hopes toAfter returning home, he began his
escape that in Europe.
career as a photographer in earnest.
But until then he is looking for aWith his girlfriend and brother he madeproject to spend time and depth on –a six-month bike trip around the eastperhaps based around the changes in
ern Mediterranean for a Czech motorTokyo as the city gears up for its secbike firm’s PR and found work on movie
ond Olympics. Offering various servicproductions. When the Catholic charity
es, however, can sometimes leave him
Caritas asked him to work with them intorn. “It’s trying to find a balance,” hewar-torn Kosovo in 1999, the reality on
says. “If I did more production work
the ground changed his perspective ofAndrew Pothecary is the art director of theyou might have more money, but thenwar photography, and brought him to
Number 1 Shimbun.
my photography suffers!” ❶the realization that he was looking to
FCCJ

AUG 2016

11

FEATURE
CRIME

Death by firing range

On May 18, the Maebashi district prosecutor indicted Girard,which meant that if the waiver stood, he would be tried in the
Maebashi District Court.

Some 60 years ago, the killingof a Japanese wife and motherthreatened the U.S.-Japanagreement on the treatment ofcrimes by U.S. forces .
by MARK SCHREIBEROn June 30 this year, Kenneth
Franklin Shinzato, a 32-year-old
civilian working at Kadena Air
Base in Okinawa, was officially charged
with the rape and murder of Rina Shimabukuro, age 20. It was the latest in a stringof crimes committed by U.S. forces personnel in Japan that continues to cause somepeople to question the U.S.-Japan military
alliance, which has permitted Americanbases to remain after the end of the Allied
Occupation in 1952. And while it has led tomass protests and even a mention at the
recent Abe-Obama summit meeting, it was another killing six
decades ago that – in terms of the sheer attention it received
in the press, governments and courts of both countries –strained the bilateral relationship like no other.
The “Girard Incident” took place on Jan. 30, 1957, whena unit of the 8th Calvary Regiment was training at a firing
range at Camp Weir in Somagahara, a mountainous area inGunma Prefecture. During a break around midday, Specialist
3rd Class William S. Girard, age 21, and another soldier wereordered to guard a machine gun and some field jackets near
one of the hills of the maneuvering grounds.
Local people, mostly poor farmers displaced by the
expansion of the camp, were allowed to enter the area when
it was not being used for training, to tend to their fields,
and collect brass shell casings and lead and other metals
from bullets, mortars, grenades and other ordnance. They
supplemented their incomes by selling the scrap to local
brokers, who in turn sold it to recyclers in Maebashi, theprefectural capital.
“Before [the Girard Incident], many of us would creep into
the impact area, dig holes in which to hide, and wait for theshells to drop. We would note the spots and rush out to pickthem up during a lull in the firing, then dash for cover again
before the next barrage began,” a local farmer and shell scavenger told future FCCJ president Ken Ishii, who was reportingfor International News Service.
THAT MORNING, SEVERAL DOZEN shell-pickers had swarmed
the hills. So the commanding officer ordered that only blankrounds be used for the afternoon exercises. During the break,according to some witnesses, Girard flung some expended
cartridges into the bushes – “like feeding chickens” – towatch the scavengers scramble to collect them, then fired intheir direction to scare them off.
Girard’s M1 rifle had been fitted with a grenade launcher.

12

Shot of the shot

A Japanese magazine of the time shows William Gerard
at the firing range during the investigation.

He inserted an empty rifle cartridge into the launcher, aviolation of rules, and without aiming, fired over the headof a Japanese man. When the scavengers began running,
he launched another cartridge, which struck Naka Sakai, a46-year-old mother of six, in the back. The cartridge penetrated several centimeters into her back and tore her aorta,causing nearly instant death.
The shooting was not immediately reported by military or
local authorities. It only became public after members of theSocialist party broke the story to Japan’s national newspapers, which published their first reports of the incident on
the back pages of their Feb. 3 editions.
So SP3 Girard was headed for court. The only question was
which one. In 1953, Japan and the United States had signed
a so-called Administrative Agreement that established criteria for determining whether Japanese or U.S. military courts
had jurisdiction over personnel involved in civil and criminal
matters on and off U.S. bases in Japan. Known today as the
Status of Forces of Agreement (SOFA), it gives both parties
the right to waive their jurisdiction in any incident in which
they feel they have a right to try the accused.
Both parties claimed jurisdiction over the case. The U.S.
Army insisted Girard had been on duty and hence should be
tried in a U.S. military court. The Japanese side claimed thatshooting Sakai did not constitute “performance of official
duty” as stated in the agreement.
On May 16, the U.S. Army, after deliberations with Japanese
authorities, and probably in consideration of Japanese public opinion as well as the legal particulars, waived its claim.
The next day, however, the U.S. Secretary of Defense ordered
the Army not to release Girard pending further investigation.
AUG 2016

FCCJ

GIRARD’S FAMILY IN THE U.S. went to court in an attempt toreverse the U.S. government’s decision to waive jurisdiction.
They were supported by veterans, politicians and others whorecalled Japan’s treatment of some Allied POWs, or otherwise harbored negative images of Japan, arguing that Girard
would not receive a fair trial in Japan.
For the rest of May and June, a veritable who’s who of
American and Japanese leadership – from President Dwight
Eisenhower, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and Supreme Court Chief
Justice Earl Warren, to Prime Ministers Tanzan Ishibashi
and Nobusuke Kishi, LDP deputy Yasuhiro Nakasone, andHouse of Councilors member Jiichiro Matsumoto – became
involved. Emperor Hirohito, drawn into the controversy by aletter from the mayor of Girard’s hometown, replied throughan aide that he “could not possibly intervene in the matterbecause of the Japanese Constitution.”
The family’s case made its way through the courts until, on
July 11, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Girard’s constitutional rights would not be denied by a trial in a Japanese court
and that the jurisdictional agreement between Japan and the
U.S. was proper. The court also noted that Japan, as a sovereign state, had the right to try people who violated its laws.
The trial convened on Aug. 26. Girard was defended by
Tokyo attorney Itsuro Hayashi, and legally advised by U.S.
Army attorney Major Stanley Levin. The prosecutor demanded a five-year sentence for shogai chishi (bodily injury resulting in death), which is tantamount to manslaughter. On Nov.
19, the Maebashi District Court’s three-judge bench foundGirard guilty and sentenced him to three years imprisonment, suspended for four years. The judgment, Hayashi later
wrote in the monthly Bungei Shunju, fit the statistical “average” for manslaughter cases in Japan, and was probably lesssevere than a court martial sentence.
American defense attorney Melvin M. Belli – who in 1963 haddefended Jack Ruby against charges of murdering Lee Harvey

Associated Press. “Before the killing,” Hersey wrote, “Girard
was a kind of bumpkin clown. He drank quite a bit and ran up
petty debts in the Japanese shops near his camp. He is taciturn to the point of woodenness; he failed for three days totell his Japanese sweetheart that he had killed a woman, andshe learned of the incident over the radio.”

THE BOBBED HAIR AND round face of Girard’s girlfriend, Haru
“Candy” Sueyama, who he married on July 2, soon became afamiliar figure in the media. She was six years older than thesoldier, and the two had been living together from the previous November.
Some reports mentioned that Sueyama had been born in Taiwan and not set foot in Japan proper until age 16. Some English
reports described her as a “camp follower,” and she received
several threats – but she eventually earned the media’s sympathy as a woman who stood by her man and made serious efforts
at social observances and religious practices.
The weekly Asahi Gurafu pictured her kneeling in tears before
Naka Sakai’s grave in a Shinto-style family cemetery, Naka’shusband and youngest daughter standing beside her. “Who’s
the big sister, and why is she crying?” the 4-year-old girl asked
her father. The caption related he was lost for words.
The U.S. government paid Naka Sakai’s husband and their
six children a condolence gift of $1,748.32 (¥629,394) – anamount described as “a fortune” for someone in Somagahara.
Upon accepting the money, he remarked, “I do not thank you
for it.”Girard had tired of the attention. “Now that it’s over, me
and Candy would both like some quiet,” he told a U.P. interviewer shortly before he was to leave Japan. “I’ll be glad when
the flashbulbs stop popping and we can live like other people.
I don’t think that I need any more publicity just now.”On Dec. 6, Girard and Haru boarded a military transport
ship for San Francisco. Prior to their departure, he wasdemoted to private, and after reporting for duty at an armybase near his Illinois hometown, he was dishonorably discharged, dashing any hopes of remaining in the military.
In October the following year, weekly magazine Shukan
Josei ran a story about the couple, who had settled in Girard’s
hometown of Ottawa, Illinois. In August, “Candy” had given
birth to a girl. “Bill,” meanwhile, had bounced between jobs.
The article hinted that Haru, as a foreign bride who spoke little English, led a lonely existence. But another women’s magazine, the monthly Fujin Asahi, reported that she was happy.
The couple had another daughter and moved to southern
California. Girard died in 1999 at age 64. Haru lived until
2013, passing away around age 85.
Since the end of the Occupation in 1952, sporadic crimes by
American servicemen and their dependents have rekindled thelong-smoldering and emotional debate over the rationale for
Oswald, the accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy –U.S. military bases in Japan. Okinawa, with by far the largest U.S.
attended at least one court session. Belli, though disappointed
presence, appears to be the only prefecture that posts annualthat Hayashi had dismissed his advice to showcase Girard’s
crime statistics by members of the U.S. military on its web site.
wife in the courtroom, praised how the judge prevented specThe LDP and other parties that favor keeping the U.S. bastators and the media from turning his courtroom into a circus
es maintain that the security, economic and other benefits
in his 1960 book, Belli Looks at Life and Law in Japan.
afforded by their presence outweigh negative effects likeIn his book, Belli also described the scene at the predecesthe crimes, even felonies, committed by military personnel.
sor of the FCCJ. “Hundreds of foreign correspondents sat,
Statistics show that crimes by members of U.S. armed forces
oiled up their typewriters, checked train schedules and, athave declined significantly over the years, and are currently
the last minute, called for the impossible – hotel reservations
below the local crime rates for Japanese civilians.
at the picturesque little village 80 hot miles north of Tokyo.”
The families of Naka Sakai, Rina Shimabukuro and other vicAmong them was Pulitzer
tims, are unlikely to be impressedMark Schreiber currently writes the “Big in Japan” andPrize-winner John Hersey, famedby such arguments. But their sen“Bilingual” columns for the Japan Times. He would like toAmerican author of Hiroshima,timents have not led to significant
thank William Wetherall for his contributions to this article.
who covered the case for thechanges in the status quo. ❶The U.S. government paid
Sakai’s husband a condolence giftof $1,748.32. Upon accepting themoney, he remarked, “I do notthank you for it.”FCCJ

AUG 2016

13

GROUP ACTIONTERRORISM

Lessons of the Dhaka tragedy
by MONZURUL HUQFEW COULD HAVE IMAGINED that aterrorist attack could happen in acountry with such close bonds to Japan,
one that has not been susceptible to any
form of extreme fundamentalism. So
what occurred on that fateful evening
on the first day of July in the capital of
Bangladesh shocked the Japanese andthe global community.
Dhaka, with a population of almost
12 million, is a divided city in the sensethat it is, in reality, a combination of
localities formed by the strict senseof social divisions in accordance withthe status and material well being of
its citizens. Those at the upper end
have their heavenly enclaves, guarded
heavily after a fatal attack on an Italian
two years ago. The area is also known
as the diplomatic enclave of the city,
as it hosts all the foreign embassies
and diplomatic residences. Amongthe homes of the wealthy locals andforeign nationals, including thosewith diplomatic immunity, are poshrestaurants and dining places that are
virtually out of bounds for most locals
from the other end of the great divide.
A meal or snack might cost them their
entire monthly earnings.
So, it is mostly expatriates alongwith a handful of wealthy Bangladeshis
who venture out to those places. And
with July being a hot and humid monthin Bangladesh, if foreign visitors
Monzurul Huq represents the Bangladeshi
national daily, Prothom Alo. He was FCCJ
president from 2009 to 2010.
14

The bodies of the Japanese victims are
met at Haneda Airport by Japanese
officials on July 5.
do decide to forsake the cool hotel
interior for a meal, they’ll go to theseplaces that are recommended for themto visit.
The group of foreigners enjoying
their weekend gathering on July 1 hadno hint of their fate. But the jolly goodatmosphere at the lakeside restaurant
was shattered by gunmen fanatics;
the end result was twenty casualties,
including seven Japanese and nine
Italians. Many of them were brutallykilled in a savage manner that has
become a sign of Islamic State fanatics
in the Middle East.
The nationalities of the majorityof the foreign victims raised thequestion of whether the two nations
were specifically targeted for thekilling. In fact, in two separate earlier
incidents, the foreign nationals who
were gunned downed also happened tobe from Japan and Italy. However, thecircumstantial evidence of the mass
killing in Dhaka suggests otherwise.
It was not that Japanese and Italians
were specifically targeted – they justturned out to be incidental victims.
SADLY, VIOLENT EVENTS IN which
Japanese citizens have become
incidental targets of attacks by Islamic
fanatics are not at all new. Recent years
have seen Japanese gunned down in
Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and elsewhere.

These were all unfortunate happenings
as they were simply caught in randomshootings. However, the dimensionsof the Dhaka tragedy have a different
perspective in that the Japanese werebrutally murdered in a most coldblooded manner, along with the Italians.
With little knowledge of the tensions in
the region, many in Japan are finding it
hard to understand why their citizens
have been victimized so savagely.
The point is that the perpetrators
likely wanted to practice their savagery
on any available foreign national. They
probably thought would make a huge
publicity splash and spread panic
among foreign nationals in Bangladesh
to the extent that many would decideto leave the country. The attack cameat a time when the relatively better
economic performance of the country
has been attracting more foreign
investment and business visitors.
The Islamic fanatics’ goal seems
to have been to hit the economy withthe larger aim of destabilizing themoderately secular government –and the unaware foreign nationals
provided a soft target. But was that
their ultimate goal? Or was it to declaretheir solidarity with the mad mullahsof the Islamic State? Or was it todemand that Bangladesh should be
declared an Islamic country with thefull implementation of Sharia law?
But what is clear now is thatthey have failed miserably to reachanywhere near any of those targets. The
attack also exposed the shaky groundon which they stood. Holding guns andexplosives does not guarantee winningover the hearts of the people if thecause is vague and unclear.
The dead bodies of the perpetratorsof the Dhaka terror attack have beenrotting in the cold morgue since
they were gunned down in the earlymorning of July 2. That they are still
there illustrates a truth in a much
more convincing way than the terrorist
actions of those spoiled youths. No one
has come forward to claim their bodies
for formal burial, not even their parents,
who have said they could not forgive thecrime their sons had committed.
So the bodies continue rotting,perhaps offering the greatest lesson
that we can take from the wholeincident. Young people can become
easily spoiled by misguided religious
teachings that fail miserably toequate barbaric acts with heroismin the public’s mind. They need tounderstand that the two are on
opposite extremes and have completely
different consequences. ❶AUG 2016

FCCJ

The head of a controversial political action group explains their agenda for the future.

Seeking to create a “normal” nation
by JULIAN RYALL

AP PHOTO

The brutal terrorist killings of the Japanese victims were conducted byspoiled youths whose larger goals remain unclear.

THE VICTORY OF SHINZO Abe’s Liberal
Democratic Party in the July 10 election
for the Upper House of the Diet will serveas the springboard for revisions to theConstitution within the next 10 years,
believes Tadae Takubo, chairman of
Nippon Kaigi, or the Japan Conference.
And that, he told a well-attended press
conference at the FCCJ on July 13, willturn Japan into “a normal nation.”“The fact that those who are infavor of constitutional amendments
have two-thirds majorities in bothhouses means this is the best chance
to go ahead with revisions to theConstitution,” he said. “And if I were in
Prime Minister Abe’s position, I would
be making every effort during my termto achieve that.”
Takubo, a former head of the foreign
news department of Jiji Press and amember of the FCCJ since 1975, hascommitted Nippon Kaigi to helping theprime minister to do precisely that. “Wehave many voices within our conference
which have very much welcomed thisresult and we have released a statement
to that effect,” he said. “So Nippon Kaigi
will from now on be considering various
different actions that we can take tomove forward.”
Set up in May 1997 as a merger of
two similarly minded organizations,
Nippon Kaigi has around 38,000
members, including an estimated 39
percent of politicians in the Diet. Abe
is listed as a special advisor to thegroup’s parliamentary league.
In its mission statement, Nippon
Kaigi says it intends to “change thepostwar national consciousness basedon the Tokyo Tribunal’s view of history
as a fundamental problem,” as well as
promoting “patriotic” education andsupport for the prime minister paying
official visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
A report compiled by the US
Congressional Research Service in2014 stated that the organization
believes “Japan should be applauded
for liberating much of East Asia from
Western colonial powers” during theearly decades of the last century andthat “killings by Imperial Japanese
troops during he 1937 Nanking massacre
were exaggerated or fabricated.”
Equally, “comfort women” were notforced to provide sexual services for
FCCJ

AUG 2016

the military during
the war, while Japan
was a victim of theconflict due to theatomic bomb attacks
on Hiroshima andNagasaki.
Tamosu Sagano,
who wrote a bestselling book about
the group’s activities,
described Nippon
Kaigi as reactionaries
determined to turnback sexual equality
Tadae Takubo
and to restore
speaking at
patriarchal values.
the Club
Their vision is of “aJapan where women,children and foreigners have no basic
human rights,” he wrote.
QUESTIONED ABOUT NIPPON KAIGI’S
position on the war, Takubo replied,“For all countries that have gone towar, each one will have a different
view of history. If you want to call thatrevisionism, then I’m alright with that.”
And was Japanwrong to wage war in
the early decades ofthe last century?
“I believe that someparts were wrong andsome were correct,”he said. “I do notbelieve we can saythat one party wascompletely right and one that wascompletely wrong.”
Revising a Constitution that many
conservatives believe was imposedon a defeated Japan by the Allies
after the end of the war still remains
Nippon Kaigi’s priority. “I believe
the position that Japan is in now
was very accurately put forward
20-something years ago by Professor[Zbigniew] Brzezinski. He put forward
in his thesis that Japan is a de facto
protectorate of the United States,” hesaid. “And that the state is based on
the three main pillars of the economy,
politics and the military. In the caseof Japan, however, one of these threepillars – the military – is missing andthe situation is one of a completely
abnormal country.”

Not being able
to make its own
decisions on
diplomatic or
defense issues formore than 70 years
means that Japan has
been on the extreme
left of the political
spectrum, Takubo
claimed. “Abe is not
someone who has
started in the center,
where a normal
country is, andshifted towards theright,” he said. “Heis the only politician
who has made efforts
to bring Japan from the extreme left tothe center, as a normal country.”
Takubo believes changes are on theway. “In regard to the 10-year vision, I
believe the Constitution will be revisedin this time and we will progress
towards being a normal country
located in northeast Asia,” he said.
“Of course, we have to avoid causing
a sense of threatwith neighboring
countries and weneed to co-exist
within this region,”he added. “If welook at these next 10
years, I believe thatJapan will create a
military, but that it
will remain under civilian control. This
will be one way to prevent neighboring
countries having concerns.”
Takubo also took issue with thecharacterization of Abe as a nationalist
in foreign media reports. “I believethat the kind of reporting that is madefrom Japan to the outside world is verymuch dependent on what perspectiveor what standpoint the reporters arestarting from,” he said.
“There is reporting which claims thatJapan is in a very dangerous position at
the moment, that it is very belligerent
and that Abe has risen as a nationalist,”
he said. “I do not, however, believe thisis the case.” ❶“Abe has madeefforts to bring
Japan from theextreme left tothe center”

Julian Ryall is Japan correspondent for the
Daily Telegraph.
15

CLUB NEWSFCCJ EXHIBITION

CLUB NEWS

Left, actor Masato Ibu.
Below, singer, dancer andactress, Natsuki MariJOIN THE FILM COMMITTEE . . .
. . . on Wed., Aug. 24 at 6:00
pm (an hour earlier thanusual) to celebrate the 45th
anniversary of the softcore
porn genre that launched thecareers of many of Japan’s
now-prominent directors,
featuring a special previewof the upcoming releases in
the Nikkatsu Roman Porno
Reboot Project, a Q&A panel
with the five filmmakers and ascreening of a Nikkatsu masterpiece of yesteryear, The World of Geisha, one ofFrançois Truffaut’s favorite films. Famed directors Hideo Nakata, Akihiko Shiota,
Kazuya Shiraishi, Sion Sono and Isao Yukisada will be on hand to discuss their firsttime efforts directing Roman Porno, following the same format in which the films
were made in their 1970s-80s heyday: on a limited budget, with only one week toshoot and a sex scene every 15 minutes or so. After the panel, stay for the many
delights of The World of Geisha, a sumptuously beautiful, emotionally engrossing,sexy, often hilarious tale from erotic box-office king Tatsuro Kumashiro.
(Japan, 1973; 69 minutes; Japanese with English subtitles.)– Karen Severns

Tax Deduction Benefit | 税額控除に関してShintaro Shiratori
was born in Nagano
Prefecture. In 1971,
he joined Shiseido
Photographic Studioand later joined thephotography department
at Hakuhodo. In 1983,
he established Shiratori
Photo Studio. He hasreceived numerous
awards for his work.
Recently he published asequel to his book KAO,
whose portraits are thesubject of this month’s
exhibition.
www.shintaro-shiratori.jp

Kao: photographs by Shintaro Shiratori

プロフェッショナル・アソシエイト会員およびアソシエイト会員の皆様、本年4月に開催

The FCCJ is pleased to offer
members a substantial discount on
subscriptions to LexisNexis’ news
database service, Nexis.com
The Members-only deal
allows for flat-rate access at¥7,900 per month – offering
big savings on a service that
normally costs ¥126,000 per month

The service will be billed by theClub. The FCCJ benefits from all
subscriptions sold under thisarrangement.
Nexis provides access to news andinformation from more than 34,000
sources, including Kyodo News, Jiji,
Yonhap, Xinhua, AP, Reuters, AFP,
all major world newspapers andspecialist news sources. Also
included is a database of U.S. andinternational company information,
biographical databases, country
profiles and a U.S. legal database.

For those already in on the secret,the application form is available
on the FCCJ website or from the
19F Club office.

されましたアソシエイト会員総会にてお伝えしました「税額控除」に関して、5月16日付

で内閣府より当協会が税額控除の要件を満たしている内容の「税額控除に係る証明書」
を受け取りました。

これにより個人でお支払い頂く入会金ならびに月会費は、確定申告をすることでONE DAY I FOUND a book of portraits entitled Who’s who in Shinano by my great
grandfather Itarou, which was published in 1908. When I turned the pages, I was
impressed by his ingenious lighting technique. I realized that it was all about light andshadow. My encounter with this old book affected my portrait works. It made me feelthat portrait photos are not only records but can also be an art form.
I’ve shot numerous portraits for advertising clients that are no longer used after theadvertising campaign ends. I felt that I shouldn’t let these photos – which I poured myheart and soul into – be left unknown. I added around 100 more new portraits, especiallyof the dankai (baby boomer) generation who have contributed to the country’s prosperity
and are now in their late 60s and facing retirement.
For the past three years I’ve photographed these people. Their faces overwhelmingly
communicate vitality and enthusiasm for the future. I sincerely hope that the messages
from the Kao Project will encourage people and bring positive thoughts. Lastly, I’d like toexpress profound gratitude to the people who kindly participated and cooperated withthis project. ❶16

As announced at the Associate General Membership Meeting last April, the
FCCJ applied for “Tax Deduction Benefit” to the Cabinet Office as one ofbenefits of being Koeki Shandan Hojin (Public Interest Organization). On May
16, 2016 they approved our application, so now the FCCJ is able to treat theinitiation fees and monthly dues from Associates as their donation to the Club.
From next year, you will have Tax Deduction Benefit if you apply on yourown final return（確定申告）. Up to almost 40 percent of your donation will be
returned as a tax deduction.
In the case of calendar year 2016, payment received after May 16 is applicablefor this benefit. The Club Office will issue a certificate/receipt for your final return
after January 2017. Please contact the Club Office if you need that document.
Please access the website of National Tax Agency below or the Tax Office fordetailed information about the procedure of this benefit on your final return.
National Tax Agency (No.1266 Donation for Koeki Hojin):www.nta.go.jp/taxanswer/shotoku/1266.htm
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Club Office.
— Khaldon Azhari, Acting President

Discount LexisNexis
Subscriptions
for FCCJ Members

税額控除を受けることが可能となりました。寄付額の約40％までの税額控除を受けられます。

2016年に関しましては、5月16日以降にご入金頂きました入会金ならびに月会費が対象となりますので、ご承知おき下さい。税額控除の申請に必要な書類は来年2017年
1月以降に発行する予定ですので、申請されるメンバーの方は協会事務局までご連絡下さい。

尚、確定申告の手続き詳細に関しては、国税庁ホームページあるいは税務署まで

ご確認下さい。

◇国税庁ホームページ（No.1266 公益社団法人等に寄附をしたとき）
www.nta.go.jp/taxanswer/shotoku/1266.htm

AUG 2016

FCCJ

FCCJ

AUG 2016█ 会長代行、カルドン・アズハリ

17CLUB NEWSHEARD AT THE CLUB“The rallying point which brings together
disparate groups to join the Nippon Kaigi or
participate in this movement
is their common interestin calling for women andchildren to just shut up.”
Tamotsu Sugano, author of
A Study of Nippon Kaigi,
at the FCCJ on July 19

New
Members

REINSTATEMENT (REGULAR MEMBER)

SAID KARLSSON is a freelance journalist and photographer from Sweden, whose regular clients include the TT News
agency, Sydsvenskan and RES, the country’s premier travel magazine. He is also associated with Folio, one of Sweden’slargest stock photo agencies for commercial photography. Karlsson studied journalism at Tollare Folkhögskola in
Stockholm and spent two years working for Pressens Mediaservice, Sweden’s second largest news agency, before
leaving the country to live and work in China, Korea and Germany. From Japan, he covers everything from politics totravel and popculture, and is also involved with TV and documentary-film production. Karlsson has been a member of
FCCJ since the end of 2010.
PROFESSIONAL/JOURNALISTASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Elliot Silverberg, Freelance
Pia Von Waldau, Inter MediaJapan K.K.
Toshio Kusamitsu, Open Universityof Japan

New in the
Library18

In the Land of theKami: A Journey Intothe Hearts of Japan
Michael Hoffman
Virtualbookworm.com
Publishing
Gift from Michael
Hoffman

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Thomas Davis Carrick,
Sberbank Asset Management
Leif Nilsson, Scandinavian Airline
Susam Lam, Hong Kong Trade
Development Council

Ichiefu: fukushima
daiichi genshiryoku
hatsudensho rodoki
1-3
Kazuto Tatsuta
Kodansha
Gift from Kodansha

Abe seiken ni hirefusu
nihon no media
Martin Fackler
Futabasha
Gift from Martin
Fackler

Takayuki Hanji,
Mitsubishi Corporation
Yoshiaki Nishimura,
Sumitomo Riko Co., Ltd.
Akira Susuki,
Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd.
Tomoyuki Sato, Ability Co., Ltd.

The Quotable
Nichiren: Words for
Daily Life
NichirenWorld Tribune Press
Gift from Robert
Linington

Kazuhiro Tachi, Techno BitsCo., Ltd.
REINSTATEMENT (ASSOCIATE)
Suguru Nagashima, Unite Public
Relations Co., Ltd.

Little Adventures inTokyo: 39 Thrills for
the Urban Explorer
Rick Kennedy
Stone Bridge Press
Gift from Robert
Linington

Japaneseness: A Guide
to Values and Virtues
Yoji Yamakuse
Stone Bridge Press
Japan Company
Handbook(Summer 2016)
Toyo Keizai Inc.

AUG 2016

FCCJ