The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

December 2016,
Volume 48 No. 12,¥400

A
LIFE &A DEATHREPORTEDIN DEPTH ON

TWITTER(BELIEVE IT OR NOT)Ian Thomas Ash’s gripping timeline of one
man’s reconciliation with his son before dying

AP Bureau Chief: The U.S. in Okinawa:
Ken Moritsugu
Obstacles facing
profiledreporters

Donald Keene:
Talking poetry at
the ClubVol. 48, Number 12

December 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

Police at
protests in
Okinawa

In this issue
The Front Page
From the President by Khaldon Azhari
Letters
The battle for press freedom on Okinawa
by Jon Mitchell

p6
4
5
6

ProfileKen Moritsugu
by Tyler Rothmar

8

The making of a twitter documentary
The last wish of Mr. Hata
by Ian Thomas Ash

10

An evening with Donald Keeneby Suvendrini Kakuchi

13

Behind bars in Iraq
by Julian Ryall

14

No sympathy for Park’s pickle
by Julian Ryall

15

Club News
Exhibition: Tannery
by Akihito Yoshida
FCCJ In-House Networking/Special Campaign offer/
Join the Film Committee. . ./Press tour to Tohoku, Hakodate
with Hokkaido bullet train/New Members/New in the Library
FCCJ

DEC 2016

FCCJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President Khaldon Azhari, PanOrient News
1st Vice President Anthony Rowley,Singapore Business Times
2nd Vice President Todd Crowell, Freelance
Secretary David Satterwhite, Associate Member
Treasurer Robert Whiting, Author, Freelance
Directors-at-Large Said Karlsson, TT News Agency
Milton Isa, Associate Member
Yuichi Otsuka, Associate MemberPeter Langan, Freelance
Ex-officio Suvendrini Kakuchi,
University World News
Kanji Yoshisuke Iinuma
Associate Kanji Makoto Honjo, Associate Member
FCCJ COMMITTEE CHAIRSAssociate Members Liaison Milton Isa,
Masanobu Tsukagoshi
Compliance Kunio Hamada
DeRoy Memorial Scholarship TBA
Entertainment Sandra Mori, Suvendrini Kakuchi
Exhibition Bruce Osborn
Film Karen Severns
Finance Robert Whiting
Food & Beverage Robert Whiting,Robert Kirschenbaum
Freedom of Press Khaldon AzhariHouse & Property Peter Langan
Human Resources Khaldon Azhari
Information Technology Said Karlsson
Library, Archives & Workroom Koichi Ishiyama,
Suvendrini Kakuchi
Membership Andrew Horvat, Peter O’Connor
Membership Marketing Rie Sakamoto
Professional Activities Andrew Sharp,
Tetsuo Jimbo
Public Relations Kazumi Hayakawa
Publications Gavin Blair
Special Projects Haruko Watanabe
Web Committee Gavin Blair
Foreign Press in Japan Justin McCurry

16
17

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
Yurakucho Denki Building, North Tower 20F,
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 and send articles and photographs, oraddress comments to no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Read the Number 1 Shimbun online:
fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun//
Cover illustration: Andrew Pothecary (using photos by
Hervé de Brabandère, Alessandro Paiva and Michael Lorenzo
from freeimages.com)

3

FRONT PAGELETTERS

From thePresident
I RAN FOR THE presidency of the FCCJ for the first timein 2007. My friend Dan Sloan, then a TV correspondent forThompson Reuters, nominated me. Even though I didn’t win, I
was honored to be considered for the FCCJ’s presidency.
For most of the Club’s history, in all but two of our 71 years,
the FCCJ’s President was elected by the Regular Members –my peers. And for most of our history, club Presidents served
a one-year term so that they could pursue an agenda voted forby the Club’s journalist members during their period of office.
That is not the case today.
Under the rules we have adopted, the Board elects thepresident. The Board can change presidents mid-year, as wasdone last year. In fact, the Board can change our presidents
every week if it wished to do so. Thus, theoretically, we couldchange the president 52 times a year.
It has become so absurd that if a Board Member tries to quit
the Board – for example if he or she wishes move overseas totake up a new job and can no longer perform his or her duties,
or is quitting journalism and thus does not qualify to serve on
the Board – they cannot do so, at least immediately. Under our
Articles of Association, someone could die and we could not
replace him or her until we hold a new election.
Of course we do have a system of elected “Reserve
Members,” but in the last election, not only could we notsecure enough candidates to fill these positions, we had a hardtime just getting enough candidates to fill the the main Board
positions at a minimum.
And, since all Board Members must be elected at a General
Membership Meeting (GMM), we must get a quorum or theold Board continues on until the next GMM. And if we cannot
secure a quorum at that next meeting, the old board continues
on and so on…
Another concern is that Associate Members, althoughvery valuable and important for the club, are not journalists,
and yet have power to decide over journalistic matters. We
need our Associate Members to provide us with businesssupport, but not to involve themselves in issues related tojournalism activities at the club, including in the selection of
our journalists Members or presidents.
The current situation is not tenable. It was brought about, I
hesitate to say, because we unwittingly adopted new Articles
and - including new election rules - when we became a “koeki”
shadan hojin. We attempted to adopt or adapt rules that
did not fit our organization even though we are allowed tograndfather when electing the President and other officers
directly.
As the year winds to a close, I have been giving a lot ofthought to this problem and have consulted with several
longtime Members.
The solution that I see is to amend our Bylaws and return toour old Bylaws - we need to have stability on the Board.
I will work with our kanjis, former kanjis and other senior
Members to fix this problem by early next year. Until then,Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, As-salamu alaykum, or
whatever year-end greeting you prefer.
And to all in Japan, “Yoi otoshi wo.”
– Khaldon Azhari
4

THANKS FOR THE TENTATIVE previewof the new club layout in the September
issue. While acknowledging that tastes
are bound to differ, I’d like to raisesome caveats.
Some of the pictures show seatingthat looks more fashionable than
comfortable. A club, being a homeaway from home, should emphasize
comfort. In particular, a foreign club inJapan should avoid investing in typicaldomestically produced furniture thatis made with the typical Japanese bodymass in mind. The commodious Main
Bar chairs of two generations ago
should be the ideal. I have retained
one and Geoff Tudor has several if
anyone cares to look. You can sit inthem happily for hours on end. Check
dimensions including table height tomake sure we can all fit in without
economy class syndrome.
Particularly alarming features in the
preliminary pictures are low-backed
pieces – such as the reception area
couch and the clearly anti-comfort
stools surrounding the library’s “wires
table.” (What is that, by the way?) As
for stools in particular, I suspect mostmembers would prefer to keep theirfeet on the floor – although welldesigned medium-to-high-backed
stools along the bar, with well designed
foot rails, shouldn’t be a problem.
The library, I must say, bears noresemblance to any library I’ve everused. Perhaps it’s partly the lighting
effects used by whoever produced thepicture, but I’m afraid it comes acrosslike an airport duty free shop. Where
are the books? Am I right in gatheringthat one would have to leave thelibrary lounge and go next door to findbookshelves?
Finally, while the Japanesecontemporary motif in one version of thereception area is reasonably attractive(much more so than the “straightforward
modern” alternative), to my taste there
is still too much contemporary stylingthroughout. Perhaps placing clubmemorabilia on the walls will help todistinguish our premises from the typicalTokyo commercial space, but I’d suggest
avoiding the heavy reliance on earth
tones and sharp lines punctuated byelectronic visual devices that the pictures
reveal. Give us some primary colors (redchairs?) and some rich paneling.
Anyhow, to those who have beenworking hard on this, many thanks for a
promising start.
Bradley Martin
DEC 2016

FCCJ

IN RESPONSE TO OUR president’s
November column concerning the
club’s move to new premises, I would
like to thank Mr. Azhari for informing
the membership of the seriousness ofthe problems the club faces.
To this end, I have a number ofquestions I hope the president orboard could answer.
1) I have seen nothing in No. 1
Shimbun or in any notice sent to themembership about an internal reportthat the club will become ‘insolvent’ if
it proceeds with the project. Can thepresident or board confirm?
2) Records show that the board in
office in spring 2015 committed theclub to 30% additional floor space,thus 30% higher rent, with no planfor increasing membership. I was told
early on that the additional floor space
would be assessed at the ‘same pertsubo (3.3-sq.m.) rate’. Which means,
based on our current rent budget:
We will have to pay an additional ¥25
million or more in annual rent, which
exceeds yearly proceeds generated
from the ¥1,000/month special levy.
Please provide details of thebusiness plan justifying the 30%
increase. I found nothing in board
meeting minutes except a short note
on Feb. 12, 2015, the day that the ‘prelease’ agreement was approved, thata “detailed evaluation of the financial
implications is still needed” There is
no record of that evaluation.
3) Separately, I was told that
Mitsubishi Estate would be responsible
for constructing a new restaurant,
bar and kitchen. The problem: We
know that the current outsourcing
operation isn’t working. One rarely
sees correspondent members in the
bar and almost never in the dining
room. The club pays its outsourcing
partner 90% of all bar, restaurant andbanquet proceeds including even forour speaker luncheons. If we include
indirect costs such as our reception
staff, the net payout approaches 95%.
Has the board found a replacement
for IRS, the Tokyu Hotel groupsubsidiary, that has substantially failed
to deliver a consistent product ataffordable prices?
4) At the same Feb. 12, 2015 board
meeting, it was reported that the move
would require “a substantial numberof additional members.” By my count,
we must raise the current total by 10%(150 associate members) to cover the¥25 million in additional rent charges.
FCCJ

DEC 2016

The club lost members in the mostrecent fiscal year.
On what basis does the board believethat it can increase membership bymoving from a top-floor Ginza location
with a view of Tokyo’s skyline to a 6th
floor(?) off-Ginza location with noview while, at the same time, changing
the membership composition to more
females (currently fewer than 10%),younger members (fewer than 5%
under 35), foreign members (fewer
than 20%), and journalists (fewer than
10% full-time)?
5) I have heard scuttlebutt thatthe current floor plan will create
operational problems for whoever wechoose to run our bar and restaurant.
Is this true? Contrary to what many
people think, the FCCJ is primarily arestaurant operation. An estimated
90% of revenues including fees paid
to the club’s outsourcing partner andassociate member dues are related tothe club's food and beverage operation.
The project has no chance to succeed
if the club doesn’t upgrade our F&B
operation. And that begins with service
and the menu, whatever the board
thinks will attract new members.
6) Does the club have themanagement capability to handle
a project of this nature and scale.
When the club undertook the 1993
bar renovation, we had a generalmanager, Albert Stamp, who held an
MBA from the Cornell School of Hotel
Administration, one of the best in
the world. When the club rebuilt its
kitchen in 2001, the board had no oneof that caliber to assist us. The result:
there were major design flaws and wepurchased, in some cases, the wrong
equipment.
Again, Khaldon, thank you for yourreport.
Roger Schreffler
Former FCCJ president (1999-2000)RESPONSE
1) & 2) The Finance Committee
authorized the Treasurer to make areport at the last two GMMs informing
members that the Club can not afford
the huge increase in rent that previous
BODs committed us to at the new Fuji
Bldg. Nor can the Club afford projectedmoving costs. We have a Special Levy
to take care of that but that doesn'tmean we actually have that money
because we are in deficit even withsaid special levy. We also sent a letterto all 2,000 members asking members
for ideas, donations – eg. purchasechairs and wall plaques with individual
members’ names attached – and we got
zero response.
3) A New FB contract from next
September 1, 2017 will help put us
into the black and cover our present
costs, but not the increased rent when
we move in October 2018. We haveto ask Mitsubishi to give us reduced
or deferred rent and seek additionalsources of revenue beyond the usual
calls for increasing members and dues(which not everyone supports). Then
we might be okay.
In regard to the search for a newprovider, we have six FB candidates
we have been talking to for months.
We gave an RFP (in early November)and are anticipating their proposals
in December. IRS has also been given
the RFP. We want to choose one of thecandidates by the end of the year. We
have to inform IRS whether or not wewill continue with them by February.
4) There is no way of telling whether
or not the club will lose members bymoving to the new site because of
the less convenient location, or gain
members because we will have a new
facility. That is in the realm of fortune
telling.
5) Floor design in new bldg. is still
being evaluated. But FB candidates
have expressed dissatisfaction with it.
6) Our FB candidates have expertise.
Reps of different companies we aretalking to have degrees from same
Cornell School of Hotel Administration
Al Stamp attended. The chosen FB
candidate will take over August 2017and continue on in new building.
Also Rod Lucas and I talked to a
consultant who told us one good thing
we can do about furniture is have ourpresent round tables and armchairs
refurbished. Would cost an estimated¥50,000 per armchair. Consultant said
we should be careful of new furniture
made in China that would likely beunsuitable for larger Western bodies
and be cheaply built. He said ourfurniture may be old but some of it isstill very strong. The GM is consideringother options, such as donations frommajor hotels. (Suggestions welcome).
I believe the design of the FB facility
at the new Fuji Bldg is flawed.
Robert Whiting
Treasurer,
Finance Committee Chair
5FEATURE
JOURNALISM

Far from the Tokyo media,
journalists on Okinawa muststruggle with authorities and the
U.S. military to get their stories told.
by JON MITCHELLI

n a park near the seashore in Naha City stands the Memorial to Fallen Journalists, a stone slab carved with thenames of the 14 Japanese reporters – 10 of whom worked
for the island’s former Okinawa Shimpo – who died during theBattle of Okinawa. Among the copy the reporters filed before
dying were articles with headlines such as “Grenade charge on
enemy camp” and “Advance on Shuri thwarted by heavy resistance,” stories which glorified the combat and misled readers
into believing the Japanese military was winning the war.
Missing from their reports was the reality of what was
actually happening on the ground: the slaughter of Okinawanchildren drafted into the Imperial army; Japanese troops
forcing civilians from their shelters instead of protecting
them; the execution of Okinawans suspected as spies forspeaking their own language.
By the end of the three-month battle, more than a quarterof the civilian population was dead and the cultural heritageof the former Ryukyu Kingdom was all but obliterated. As aresult of this collective trauma and the role of their peers
in romanticizing the militarism that destroyed their island,
subsequent generations of Okinawan reporters developed astrong pacifist streak.
During the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa last
spring, this spirit was clearly on display when members of themedia gathered at the Memorial to Fallen Journalists, unitedby the vow that never again would they wield their pens orcameras in support of war.
Not only is this conviction rooted in the experiences of 1945,
it has been reinforced in the following decades as Okinawan
reporters bore witness to a litany of human rights abuses by
the U.S. military on their island: the displacement of 250,000
residents to build bases; rapes and murders; hit-and-runs,
aircraft crashes and environmental degradation. Then there
6

I HAVE BEEN REPORTING
on Okinawa for seven years.
But during this very shortperiod, I’ve uncovered U.S.
military malfeasance ranging from revelations thePentagon was on the brinkof nuking then non-aligned
China during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War
storage of tens of thousands ofbarrels of Agent Orange on theisland to, more recently, alliances between the U.S. Marines
and Japanese neo-nationalist
groups and the military orientationlectures which teach new arrivals
that Okinawans have “double standards” and their complaints are “self-serving.”
It is the responsibility of the Japanese government to hold
Washington to account for such injustices. Instead, it allows
the U.S. to act as though they still own the island as they did
between 1945 and 1972.
Fortunately, like the shiisa deities guarding the rooftops ofmany Okinawan homes, the island’s media are keenly awareof their role of protecting the public’s right to know. They act
as vocal critics of U.S. military misdeeds and Tokyo’s refusal to spread the military presence more evenly throughout
Japan. However this work has brought Okinawa’s media – andme – under fire from a variety of quarters.
LDP members have a history of lashing out against Okinawa’s
newspapers. In 2000, Yoshiro Mori, then Secretary General of
the LDP and current Olympic czar, accused the local dailies of
opposing the nation and being dominated by the Japan Communist Party. In 2006, present Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike,in her role as Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, labeled the Okinawa media “anti-U.S.” Most
famously, last year, Naoki Hyakuta, the former board memberof NHK, called for the destruction of the two papers.
SUCH ATTITUDES HAVE TRICKLED down to impact the daily workof Okinawan journalists. In August, Japanese riot police physically prevented two reporters from covering demonstrations
against the construction of U.S. Osprey pads in the northern
Yanbaru jungles. In October, PM Abe’s Cabinet ruled the police
action “appropriate” – setting a very dangerous precedent for
future interference in journalists’ work.
I first experienced a backlash against my own reportingin 2013, when the Pentagon released a nine-month investigation to discredit my research into the storage of Agent
Orange on Okinawa. More recently, in the August edition of
the Japanese right-wing magazine Voice, dedicated to thetheme of exposing the “Enemies of Japan,” an eight-page
article focused on my work; the author lamented how theDEC 2016

FCCJ

PHOTOS: JON MITCHELL

The
battleforpress
freedomon
Okinawa

has been the political oppression,as first Washington and then Tokyo
attempted to oust local leaders who dared to speakout against these violations, like Naha Mayor
Kamejiro
Senaga,ex-Governor Masahide Ota and thecurrent
GovernorTakeshi Onaga.

Japanese government had failed to censure me for my reporting.
But these petty harassments pale incomparison to what was revealed in
U.S. military police documents that I
received this autumn via the Freedomof Information Act. One of the reports,
dated June 9, contained my photo, profile and notes about a lecture I’d given
near Camp Schwab, Nago City. Furthermore, in a move apparently designed toprevent my ability to file online FOIA
requests, my home IP address has been
blocked from accessing USAF websites.
To find out who’d ordered the block,I filed a conventional FOIA request
and, following a 10-week tussle, finally received a stack of internal emails
exchanged between senior military
officers. Although it seems the USAF
had withheld the documents related to the period the block was firstenacted, what the papers did containwere accusations that I was “hostile,”“adversarial” and “non-cooperative.”
Everyone is entitled to his or her
opinion – and I’m sure my editors
have called me far worse in their own
emails – so I take these officials’ comments as a sign I am doing my job well.
However, the surveillance and blockage of my IP address are designed toobstruct my work as an investigative
journalist – and are clear violations ofpress freedoms.

nightly news shows and newspaper columns for days, little to no coverage wasafforded to discoveries in January that
Kadena had polluted the drinking water
sources for seven municipalities – including Naha – with high levels of the contaminant, perfluorooctane sulfonate.
Neglect of Okinawan issues by themainland Japanese media allows misinformation to fill the void. Alongside a hostof anonymous bloggers and Twitter users
spreading deceit is the publishing arm of
the Happy Science cult, whose founder iswell-known for interviewing such eminent spirits as Jesus Christ, Socrates andGeorge Washington. A book published lastyear included an equally shocking scoop,as he channeled the spirit of Okinawan
Governor Takeshi Onaga (still living,of course), confirming what manyrightists had suspected all along –that the governor has close ties to
the Chinese Communist Party and isintent on bringing the island under theprotection of the People’s Army.
In June, the U.S. military added its
own spin to the cacophony when it called
claims that more than 75 percent of its
bases were located on Okinawa – a figure calculated by land area – a “common
misperception.” Instead, it said, the true
number was 39 percent because only 33 of
the total of 85 American bases located inJapan were there. Many, including Onaga, whocalled it a manipulation of the truth, met thestatement with derision.

THE FREEDOM OF THE Press FoundaPressing cause Opposite, Japanesetion, whose board includes Daniel EllsTHE AMATEURISM OF THE military’s
riot police guard USMC Osprey
berg and Edward Snowden, condemned
attempt to shape public opinion was surconstruction sites in northern Okinawa.
the military’s actions against me. “Whether
prising. Given the Pentagon’s average
Top, the Memorial to Fallen Journalists
inside or outside the United States, the U.S.
annual PR budget of more than $600 milin Asahigaoka Park in Naha City. Above,
military should not be surveilling journallion, it ought to have come up with someUSMC Criminal Intelligence Division
ists and writing up intelligence reports
thing a little slicker. Just look at its collabdocuments reveal surveillance ofon their lawful activities, full stop,” saidoration on Hollywood blockbusters such
Okinawans and journalists.
Executive Director Trevor Timm. “By doingas Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty (where
so they are imperiling journalists in their
the CIA even served as script doctors).
home countries and sending a dangerous message about
Switch on FOX News or CNN and the lines between news andpress freedom abroad.”Pentagon PR blur, too. For journalists and their bosses, miliOn Oct, 23, Reporters Without Borders issued a statement
tary-related stories are very attractive. Fly-bys and bang-bang
that slammed the U.S. military and the Japanese authorimake great TV and offer a shortcut to the awards ceremonies.
ties for their pressure on the Okinawa media. The statement
As news companies slash budgets and the U.S. government
topped the front pages of the Okinawa Times and Ryukyu
offers subsidized, but restricted, access to the military, theShimpo and made the national NHK morning news. Sankei
lure of glorifying the military will continue to be irresistible,
Shimbun, whose own former Seoul Bureau Chief was supportcreating the danger that journalists may become much more
ed by RWB after being indicted in South Korea for defaming
reluctant to report on the next My Lai, Haditha or Abu Ghraib.
the president, also reported the statement – albeit with an
With PM Abe racing to send Japanese troops to fight overemphasis on Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga’s deniseas for the first time in more than 70 years, the question ofals that the government suppressed Okinawa press freedoms.
whether we will have enough courage to refuse to pick up our
The rest of the national media and the Japan-based interpens – and iPads – in support of those conflicts will be one
national media chose not to report the statement. This is
we’ll need to ask ourselves very soon. The answer will shapenothing new. For all too many Tokyo-cocooned journalists,
the future of Japan for decades to come. ❶what happens on Okinawa stays on Okinawa.
Jon Mitchell is a correspondent for Okinawa Times and regular
Nowhere is this gap more obvious than in recent coveragecontributor to the Japan Times. Last year, he was awarded the FCCJ'sof the contamination at Tokyo’s Toyosu fish market vis-a-vis
Freedom of the Press lifetime achievement award for his coverage ofthe contamination on Kadena Air Base, central Okinawa. While
Okinawan human rights issues.
the discovery of arsenic and chromium at Toyosu dominated
FCCJ

DEC 2016

7

SERIESPROFILEKen Moritsugu
by TYLER ROTHMART

It allowed me to see my own country in a different light.”
he career of Ken Moritsugu, the Associated Press
He returned home in 1989, this time to the St. Petersburg
Japan bureau chief, has seen him live and work allTimes in Florida, where he covered “an unending supply ofover the world, and the story of his many professional
wild and crazy and woolly stories” in the local government,
moves is bound together by a natural curiosity and dedicapolice and the courts. Three years later he left for Paris on ation to his craft.
nine-month journalism fellowship before returning to Long
Ken was born a third-generation Japanese Canadian in
Island for a six-year stint as a reporter at Newsday.
Montreal, but moved to Philadelphia at the age of two when
his father Henry, also a journalist, took a job at the Inquirer.
WHILE MORITSUGU LIKES THE writing process, what he really
The family later moved to New York, where Ken grew up, andenjoys is the dialogue and ideological exchange of fieldwork.
where Henry remains an editor on the news desk of Long
While reporting for Newsday in
Island’s Newsday at the age of 82.
Rwanda following the ethnic violence
Although journalism seems to run
between the Tutsi and Hutu, he interin the Moritsugu family (his uncle
viewed an old man who had lost his
Frank still writes for Canada’s Nikkei
house in the violence, but was rebuildVoice at 94), Ken says it wasn’t always
ing. “He said, ‘You want to see it?’ anda clear choice. “But certainly it was
I said sure – and he took off uphill atalways part of my life growing up.
an incredible pace,” he remembers.
When I was a kid, my dad would bringThough half the old man’s age, heme to the newsroom and the linotype
struggled to keep up on what turned out to be an impromptu
operators would give me a little piece of metal with my namemountain tour. Moritsugu cites the episode as an example ofon it,” he recalls.
the unexpected joys of his trade.
Moritsugu worked on the newspapers of his junior high and“Reporting from afar is one thing, but to be on the groundhigh schools in Long Island, and soon after he entered Princand hear people’s stories – there’s always a backstory thateton a rival interest in physics finally lost out to journalism.
makes a black-and-white issue much grayer,” he says.
He majored in economics while stringing for area newspaMoritsugu married Carmen Chan in 1999 and in 2000
pers, interned at the Boston Globe and the Washington Post,
joined the Knight Ridder newspaper chain in Washington
and did a brief internship in Japan, reporting on the pharmaD.C. as a national and economics correspondent. The couple
ceutical market for a large firm.
moved to northern India in 2004, where Chan ran an NGO’s
He moved to the Japan Times in Tokyo in 1984, becoming
public health program. Working out of Delhi, Moritsugu
a reporter on what was then the Political/Economics desk.
strung for Knight Ridder, covering such stories as the IndoHe stayed for three years, covering Japan’s trade relations
nesian tsunami, and wrote for publications including USA
with the U.S. and Europe. “It was the period of intense
Today and Congressional Quarterly.
Japan-U.S. trade friction, the peak of the ‘Japan is No. 1,
He joined the AP in Bangkok in 2007
Japan is taking over’ era,” he says.
as enterprise editor, heading large“When you’d go out with people, youscale projects and features such as
would debate what was Japan’s role in“China’s Reach,” a data-driven, multithe world. It was sort of an exciting,faceted look at that nation’s growing
frothy, intellectually stimulating timeclout. In 2013, Moritsugu was named
to be in Japan.”chief of the AP’s Tokyo bureau, where
Moritsugu was then accepted to ahe works to orchestrate text, photos
five-month internship at the Euroand video for the internet’s shiftingpean Community, the forerunner toformats. While there are fewer chancesthe European Union. He left Japan inas chief to engage in the on-the-groundthe fall of 1987, traveling by ferry toreporting that he loves, Moritsugu says
Shanghai, then from Beijing to Moshe enjoys exploring new ways of telling
cow through Siberia by train. He rodestories with his team, and he’s grateful
the rails through Europe and wasfor the influence the profession has had
proud when he made it to London
on his life.
without resorting to an airline. Once
“Journalism is challenging. The pay
in Brussels, he interned in the EC
is not great, but it’s really given mepress office, preparing news releases
this wealth of experiences in life, thisand background information for theincredible opportunity to go to sopress corps.
many places and meet so many people
In retrospect, he says, his earlyand learn so much about the world.
days of travel and living abroad gave
And I’m just thankful and grateful ashim fresh eyes on the U.S.: “America
a person to have had that opportunity,”
can be a very insular country, simply
Tyler Rothmar is a Tokyo-based writer and editor.
he says. ❶because of its size and dominance.
8

DEC 2016

FCCJ

ANDREW POTHECARY“There’s always abackstory that makes a
black-and-white issue
much grayer”

FCCJ

DEC 2016

9

FEATURE
SOCIAL MEDIA
A lifetime-line

IAN THOMAS ASH

Left to right,
Mr. Hata smokesat the barbershop;with the author; withhis son T during anunscheduled visit
to the hospital; Mr.
Hata’s memorialphotographFrom my chair by the door, I looked up
from my camera across the barbershop
at Mr. Hata as he sat in the barber chair,
having his hair dyed. Mr. Hata wanted to lookhis best. He was in the last stages of throat cancer, and was preparing to meet his estranged
son for the first time in over 30 years.
I had already taken a few dozen photographsof Mr. Hata since picking him up at his homethat morning, and was using the waiting time at
the barbershop to review them before making
a selection to publish on my Twitter account.
If all went well, over the next few days I would
effectively be live-tweeting an extremely personal and difficult story, something I had neverdone before. If it did not, my documenting could
negatively affect the reunion while the Twitterverse looked on. With Mr. Hata not far from hisdeathbed, there would be no second chances.
Without the advice of an editor or a plan for
how to tell the story – things I usually rely on
when working as a documentary filmmaker –I began my first tweet: For the next 3 days, I’m
going to tell you a story as it unfolds. It’s aboutfamily, love, life, death, and, I hope, redemption.
I HAD FIRST MET Mr. Hata five months earlier, while working on a documentary for NHK
World called Dying at Home, about a home doctor in a small town in Tohoku. Mr. Hata was oneof the patients, and I had grown quite close
to him during production. I continued to visit
him and his wife after filming was completed,often spending the night at their home. WhenI would arrive, they always greeted me warmly
with a home-cooked meal.
The couple had no children, but she still
called him “father.” And when Mr. Hata would
voice concerns about my lack of job security,and tease me for being too skinny and not
being able to “drink like an adult,” he reallyseemed like a dad.

10

The making ofa twitter
documentary:

The lastwish ofMr. Hata

Using the strict limits of asocial media platform to tella long-form story means
breaking new ground ingrappling with technical,
ethical and emotional issues.
by IAN THOMAS ASH

It was on one of my visits,
when his wife was not around,that Mr. Hata told me that hehad a son from a previous
relationship. His name was T,
and Mr. Hata had not seen him
in over three decades. Now hetold me that he wanted to see
his son before he died.
Mr. Hata’s son has an
unusual name, so I was able
to find him through a computer search in only five minutes (and which is why for
privacy reasons I decided togo with “T.”) A bigger challenge was getting a reply to
my messages. I tried Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
before finally hearing backfrom him. Not knowing what
he’d been told growing up,
I had debated about how torefer to the man who wassearching for him. I settled
on referring to him as “a man
who says he is your relative,”
accompanied by a photo.
T replied, saying that hehad no memory of the nameor face of the man, but that
he would ask his mother.
Adding to the difficulty, I had
agreed to let Mr. Hata tell T
that he was dying, so I wastrying to impress upon himthat time was limited without
being able to tell him why.
At first hesitantly, eventually they began communicating directly. I was encouraged
when I saw that T had tweeted
DEC 2016

FCCJ

the following on his account: Emailed father who abandoned me
at 3. A film director found me. Thought he was dead, yet he’s alive.
But he’s got little time left. Trouble sorting my feelings.
Plans for a reunion soon followed.
SHORTLY BEFORE THEY WERE to meet, Mr. Hata said to me
almost teasingly, “You want to film our reunion, don’t you?”
Not wanting to alter their time together, I told him that I’d letthem have their privacy and hear about it later. But just prior
to the day of the event, I received a call from Mr. Hata. He had
become much weaker and could no longer drive. He neededsomeone to help with his carefully planned agenda, to pick up
T and his family at the station and take them all up to a hotspring resort for the weekend.
While I felt saddened hearing of the loss of his independence, I was also grateful for the opportunity, since I felt anenormous responsibility as the one who had “found” T. And
to be completely honest, I must also admit that a part of me
thought it would be a real opportunity. I boarded a bullet
train and headed for Tohoku armed with two cameras – onefor film and one for photos.
In the two weeks since I had last seen him, Mr. Hata had
become visibly weaker. Still he insisted on following the itinerary he had planned, including staying at different hotels
and visiting several tourist spots. It became clear that it
would be impossible to film while helping out. At the risk ofsounding insensitive, while not attending the reunion would
have been hard, being there but not being able to film felt
like torture.
I don’t exactly remember where the idea to “live tweet” thereunion came from, but it was definitely a Plan B after filming. Live streaming was another idea, but that would havebeen exploitative, too much like reality TV. With Twitter,choosing photographs and written words would give me theability to curate which moments I shared and offer context
that a live-feed couldn’t, yet still lend the kind of immediacy
and inclusion that audiences these days desire.
Whichever platform I chose, I was aware that there were
ethical questions concerning the posting of the reunion inreal time, and I knew if I made any major missteps along theway that there was the strong possibility of a harsh backlash.
The morning of the reunion, I explained to Mr. Hata as simFCCJ

DEC 2016

ply as I could – he did not use social media or a computer – that
I wanted his permission to photograph and share the reunionwith my followers. He agreed to allow me to do this up to when
we would meet T, but I would need his son’s permission after
that. Without knowing whether I would end up leaving myreaders with a frustrating cliffhanger, I started tweeting.
AFTER DECIDING TO FOCUS on photographs rather thanvideo, the next issue was how to live-tweet the photos. For
higher quality use in the future, I wanted to use my proper
still camera, but there was no way to easily transfer the photos to my phone or iPad in real-time. In the end, I decided toshoot twice: once with camera, once with phone. For shootingwith the phone, I used an app with a silent mode to minimize
any disturbance of the environment (in Japan, phones are
required to emit a sound when photographs are taken). In theend, nearly all of the photos I published over the three days
were taken with the phone, with almost no editing.
Another technical issue came up in a comment from a follower on Twitter, saying that it was difficult for viewers who
became aware of the story in the middle to find out where to
begin reading. Someone suggested that – rather than sending
individual tweets – I post all the follow-up tweets as a “reply”
to my first tweet so they would remain in one chronologicalstrand. (Later I found out about Storify, where tweets andother social media can be curated into a single piece.)
The only gauge for knowing if I was telling the story ina way that people would react to was the response fromTwitter followers. The first one I received was about six
hours after my first tweet, when AP reporter Yuri Kageyama
tweeted to her followers: Amazing Tweets. This is what Twittershould be about. Follow Ian #ShoutOut for a universal story. A
personal story.
Around the same time, a filmmaker friend living in Istanbul
wrote to say how affected he was by the story and how it wascausing him to reflect on his own relationship with his son.
Encouraged by these comments from respected colleagues, I
headed to the station with Mr. Hata to meet T, who gave me
permission to continue the photo documentary, with the solecaveat that I not publish photos of his wife and daughter.

With film-making, you only learn
about the audience’s reception
a year or more after it is made,but in this case the reaction was
instantaneous. It was thrilling,
nerve-wracking and humbling.
So I was able to tweet their reunion as they got to knoweach other again. After dinner, Mr. Hata invited T back to his
room for drinks where they had an intimate, and sometimes
difficult conversation. Mr. Hata told T about the last timethey had spoken on the phone: T was around five years old
and he had pleaded with his father to come home. “Pleasecome back, daddy!” he’d said. “I’ll wait for you one trillion ten
thousand years!” Mr. Hata looked at T. “Having kids is easy,”
he said. “Raising them is not.”THERE WERE OTHER EMOTIONAL episodes over the next few
days: The photo I took of the two of them under some cherry
blossoms – the first to catch them both smiling; the time they11

LITERATURE

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.

An evening with Donald Keene
Donald Keene in theClub library before
his Book BreakAT THE RISK OF sounding overly dramatic, the adrenaline rush of
live-tweeting this reunion between a dying father and son was
thrilling in a way that I have seldom felt when filming an interview – when I know that I can always rephrase my question, andthat there will be time to edit and refine the story. But I would also
caution against telling a story utilizing this method simply because
one “wants to.”
There is a most appropriate way to tell every story; and only
certain stories truly lend themselves to being told in real time on a
public platform such as Twitter. As story-tellers, we must be awareof the potential damage we could cause to the people we are documenting and must proceed with caution, understanding that once
something has been tweeted, it cannot be undone.
After the reunion with T, Mr. Hata’s health continued to decline.
I traveled between Tokyo and his home in Tohoku as much as possible, shooting film as well as just being with him. My role had alreadyevolved from filmmaker to friend, and during the last week of his life,
I became one of his caretakers, helping to bathe and care for him.
I also continued to tweet the story of Mr. Hata until, three weeks to
the day of his reunion with T, he died in his sleep. ❶by SUVENDRINI KAKUCHI
THE CLUB WAS GRACED last month by
one of Japan’s finest men of letterswhen Donald Keene stopped by fora Book Break hosted by the library.
There he presented his latest book,
The First Modern Japanese: The Life of
Ishikawa Takuboku, about one of thecountry’s most beloved poets of theearly 20th century.
The 94-year-old shared with attendees
the beauty of Takuboku’s tanka poetry,
while using his research to illustrate

Ian Thomas Ash is an award-winning documentarian based in Tokyo who is inproduction for two documentaries, one about terminal care in Japan and theother the third installment of his series on Fukushima post 3/11. His tweets of Mr.
Hata’s last wish can be seen at https://storify.com/DocumentingIan/mr-hata-and-ta-reunion-after-30
12

DEC 2016

FCCJ

FCCJ

DEC 2016

a poet that emerged as a sensitive
individual documenting interestingtimes. The honest views of Takuboku, anatheist despite belonging to the familyof a Buddhist priest, that are expressedin his poetry and diaries are greatly
admired in reticent Japanese society.
“Takuboku’s poetry reveals that hebelonged to a world that was unlikethat of other tanka poets,” said Keene.
“Rather than the beauty of flowers, hewrote on subjects such as emptinessand death. Composing in truth wasmore important to him than beauty.”
Keene explained how Takuboku

kept diaries in Roman lettersthat recorded his love for his wife
despite his numerous affairs,
his deepening sensitivity to his
environment as he grappled withtuberculosis, and his frustrations
with the changes in a 20th century
Japan that was ambitiously on theroad to becoming a world power.
He covered Takuboku’s despair andhis individuality: one revelation wasthat Takuboku continued to refer to
Russia as a world power that wassuperior to Japan despite its defeat
by the Japanese military – a brave
opinion during a time when the
Meiji government was celebrating
the victory as a landmark in Japan’s
march into modernity. Takuboku’s
storied career, however, was a shortone, Keene explained. The poet diedat the age of 26.
It was an evening of fascinatingstory-telling and treasured insights,
the results of Keene’s undying love
for Japanese literature. He has anequal affection for the country,
having recently become a Japanesecitizen – a decision taken to showsolidarity soon after the March 11,2011 major earthquake and tsunamithat devastated the northern coasts
and shook the national confidenceof Japan.
Keene first arrived in Japan asa translator with the American
GHQ and was based in Okinawa,
where he collected the testimonyof Japanese soldiers. In subsequent
writing and interviews, Dr. Keene
recalls how that work awakened
him to the poignancy of a fallen
nation – captured young soldiers
talked of the brutality of war andtheir longing for peace. Listening
to their tortured accounts opened
his eyes to the reality of war, and heremains a staunch pacifist to this day,often using his clout to speak up forthe pacifist Constitution.
After retiring from teaching at
Columbia University for six decades,
Keene now lives in Komagome with his
adopted son, a well-known shamisenartist. He is a cultural treasure and abridge between Japan and the U.S., withhis views widely sought by academics
and experts in both countries.❶
Suvendrini Kakuchi is the Tokyo
correspondent for University World News.

13

EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN

Discount LexisNexis
Subscriptions
for FCCJ Members

The eminent professor and author stopped by the Club to discuss his new book.

spent looking over photos as Mr. Hata asked T tochoose which one should be displayed at his funeral;
when I asked T to help me wake Mr. Hata from a deep
sleep, and he gently placed his hand on his shoulder
and called, “Father.”
One night after Mr. Hata went to bed, I shared withT some of the enthusiastic comments the story of theirreunion was receiving from people all over the world.
With film-making, you only learn about the audience’s
reception a year or more after it is made, but in thiscase the reaction was instantaneous. In real time, people were sending words of encouragement and T and I
were able to immediately respond with words of gratitude for their support. It was thrilling, nerve-wracking
and humbling.
Reactions from around the world flooded in and myfollower count soared. Compared to an average month,
the engagement rate on my Twitter account doubled
that month and statistics for retweets, likes and replies
went up an average 10-fold. I became more consciousthat what I was producing was being “consumed.”
This affected how I told the story, such as how much personal information I chose to share with the public. I consciously decided not to use their full names, the names ofthe places where they live or even the circumstances underwhich the father and son were separated. And yet, because of
the personal nature and immediacy in how I shared the story,
I think most readers did not realize how much was not sharedand instead were simply engaged in the story.
Which leads to another issue: how much to share what you
are doing with your subject. Generally speaking, I would suggest that having your protagonist be so aware of the documenting process could negatively affect what it is you are
documenting, so while I would encourage the filmmaker/
journalist to be honest about what they are doing, I would
also discourage them from sharing how their story is being
received while it is still happening. That being said, I think oneof the reasons T was so open and seemingly unaffected by thewhole process was because he is a writer himself.

IRAQ

SOUTH KOREA

For a Japanese journalist, an Islamic State logo leads to misunderstanding
and incarceration in the dangerous region outside Mosul.

Behind bars in Iraq
by JULIAN RYALL

Kosuke Tsuneoka
at the ClubFROM THE VERY OUTSET of his press
conference at the FCCJ in November,
Kosuke Tsuneoka went to great lengths
to make it clear that he is not an
Islamic State sympathizer and that
he deplores the extremist group’s
interpretation of Islam.
Tsuneoka – who had only arrived
back in Japan two days previously after
being detained for 12 days by Kurdish
forces close to the Iraq city of Mosul– was keen to set the record straightafter a “stupid” error of judgment
was compounded by some inaccurate
reporting by local journalists thatwas repeated by international media.
And, given that he intends to returnto the war-torn region to continue
to file reports for Japanese media,
the 47-year-old Tsuneoka said it isimportant that his name is cleared.
“I was shocked at some of thereporting by the local Kurdish media
that was then repeated in English
and other media,” Tsuneoka said.
“The reports claimed that I had beenworking as an interpreter for IslamicState and that I had been awarded a
medal for my work with them.
“This is completely false
information,” he said. “And if it
continues to be reported and thenbecomes accepted as accurate, thenthat would be extremely unfortunate.”
Tsuneoka’s story is, nevertheless, aremarkable one. He has visited areas
14of Syria and Iraq controlled by IslamicState on three occasions, building
sufficient rapport with some of theorganization’s leaders to be invited
to visit the caliphate’s self-declaredcapital of Raqqa in Syria in September
2015. At the end of that reporting
trip, aboard a bus heading towards
the Turkish frontier, he fell into
conversation with a Russian IS fighter.
At the end of the journey, the Russian
gave him a key holder bearing the logo
of Islamic State.
Tsuneoka thought nothing of the gift
and said he was interested in following
up on a future visit to see if IS was
manufacturing tourist trinkets and if
it might make an interesting story. He
kept the key holder on his latest visit to
the region and, unthinkingly, had it in a
pocket of his backpack when he tried toenter a press conference given by Iraqi
President Fuad Masum, outside Mosul.
The unmistakable logo triggered an
immediate reaction from the security
officials surrounding the venue
and Tsuneoka was handcuffed andtaken into custody for interrogation
by Kurdish intelligence officials.
“Obviously, I was suspected of being an
IS member who was trying to sneak into
the news conference,” he said, addingthat he had been “completely idiotic.”
THAT IDIOCY WAS MADE worse whenlocal media reported that the key ring

was, in fact, a medal that Tsuneoka
had been awarded by Islamic State foracting as an interpreter on a previous
visit. He vigorously denies that claim,
although he confirms that he didvisit IS-held areas with a Japanese
academic who had been asked toattend a hearing of an IS court and tointerpret proceedings.
The Kurdish authorities were nottaking any chances with Tsuneoka andtransferred him to Erbil, where he wasquestioned for two days by security
officials. “I didn’t feel the need to hide
any information or refuse to answer
their questions, particularly thoseabout my history of reporting fromthe area,” he said. “For the first houror so, it was very tense, but after thatthe atmosphere changed and becamealmost genial – to the point where wewere laughing together.”His interrogators were particularly
amused by an exchange of messages
between Tsuneoka and a Chechen
commander fighting for Islamic State
that he had met on a previous trip.
With neither of the men speaking
much of each other’s language, they
had been forced to communicate inbasic English. That led to a bizarre
exchange in which the Chechen
fundamentalist had messaged “I loveyou” to Tsuneoka, to which he had
replied, “Me too.”
Given that he was getting on so wellwith his captors – they had told himthat they did not consider him to be a“dangerous individual” – Tsuneoka said
he assumed that he would be released
very soon. The Kurdish intelligence
officers said they just wanted to checkthe contents of his mobile phone.
Instead, it was a week before thedoor to his room was unlocked andan official of the Japanese embassy in
Baghdad was ushered in. Tsuneoka wasinformed that he was not completely
in the clear and that the Kurdish
officials were taking a hard line on his
activities. It was an anxious further
five days before the official was able
to secure Tsuneoka’s release, on
condition that he return to Japan on
temporary travel documents and thathis passport would be posted to him 17
days later.
Kurdish officials did confirm that
he would be permitted to return in the
future if their investigation clearedhim. Tsuneoka is unequivocal on thatscore. “I want to make it clear that I
am not and never have been a memberof IS and that I am not a supporter ofIS,” he said. “I am a Muslim . . . but my
Islam is not their faith.” ❶DEC 2016

FCCJ

A former Seoul bureau chief who was on the sharp end of South Korea’s
defamation laws may have touched upon the president’s biggest taboo.

No sympathy for Park’s pickle
by JULIAN RYALL

BY THE TIME THE printed edition ofthis magazine reaches its readers,South Korean President Park Geun-hye
may very well have been impeached,
forced to step down and be facing
criminal charges for a snowballing
corruption scandal. But Tatsuya Kato,the former Seoul bureau chief for the
Sankei Shimbun, has little sympathy for
Park’s plight.
Kato was targeted by the Park
administration after writing a story
that repeated local media reports
about the president’s whereabouts
on the day of the sinking of the Sewol
ferry in April 2014 – a tragedy thatclaimed the lives of 304 people, themajority of whom were high school
students. As well as quoting fromSouth Korean media, Kato’s sources
also claimed that Park was with aman on the day of the disaster andonly reappeared to take charge of thesituation seven hours later.
Kato was charged with defaming
the president. Although he faced an
18-month prison term if found guilty,
he opted to fight the case rather thanpublish a retraction and an apology.
And as he continued his examinationof goings-on in the Blue House, Kato
told a press conference at the FCCJ
on Nov. 16, his reservations about thepeople exerting pressure on Park’s
administration quickly grew. “My
suspicion was that she was just making
statements and comments according
to whatever her close and powerfuladvisor was instructing her to say,”
Kato said.
“Today, the Park administration andher close friends and family members
are under investigation for having
access to state secrets,” he continued.
“My personal impression is that theirinfluence has been the cause of thepresident’s unique world view.” A namethat has dominated South Korean
headlines for the last month is that of
Choi Soon-sil, who is being questioned
by authorities over her alleged access tosecret state documents and of using her
close friendship with the president toconvince many of the nation’s biggest
companies to pay vast sums of money tofoundations set up in her name.
FCCJ

DEC 2016

Tatsuya Kato

“My suspicion wasthat she was justmaking statements
according to whateverher close and powerfuladvisor was instructing
her to say”
Kato said he first came across
Choi’s name in the summer of 2014,
coinciding with the start of the “500days in which I was in a battle with
the Park administration.” Initially,
senior Blue House staffers took
exception to Kato’s reporting, but heclaims the Park administration later
commissioned a citizens’ group to
carry out various kinds of harassment
before he was formally charged withdefaming the president.
AFTER KATO REFUSED TO retract thearticle and issue an apology, he wasindicted by local prosecutors. “For thoseof us familiar with Japanese democracy,a court is usually seen as a place toobjectively make judgments based onlaw and evidence, a place for findingout the truth and delivering justice,”
he said. “However, in my opinion, theSeoul central district prosecutors’
office seemed to see court as a place topunish and condemn this unfavorable
Japanese journalist rather than to serve
as a place of judgment and fairness.
“For me, the thought that anation state could see an article in aforeign language and for a foreignaudience as a threat and to use thatas justification to prosecute a single
journalist seemed fundamentally
removed from modern values.”
Addressed as “suspect Kato”
throughout the investigation and court
proceedings, Kato was asked why he
had written about the president andher close friends, who his sources were
and whether he had “conspired” with
left-wing media in Korea “to draw out
the president’s personal relationships
with ill-intent. “These questions wereasked so many times, I graduallyrealized that I must have hit upon
President Park’s biggest taboo, which
had previously been a secret.”That taboo was her lack of a grasp
on important events going on aroundher government and her inability toformulate or carry out policies. One
example of President Park’s inability
to make a decision for herself and
her reliance on Choi Soon-sil, Katosuggests, is on the question of freespeech. Questioned repeatedly on her
position on the matter, “she never once
made her own statement on the issue,”
Kato said.
He added that more than one source
has confirmed that Park was also taken
aback when she was informed that
Kato was still in South Korea. “The factthat the president of Korea was notaware of the details of the case, a casethat much of the world was focusing
on with criticism and concern, wasvery troubling and shocking to me,”Kato said. “And this is what led me to
my conclusion that the president was
not receiving accurate information
regarding political issues. She wasdisconnected. I concluded that she
has no initiative when she makes
statements but is merely following a
scenario written by other advisors or
puppet-masters.”
The judge hearing the caseeventually acquitted Kato, saying that
his coverage had been “inappropriate”
but insisted there was a need toprotect freedom of speech.
Given his passport back, Kato
returned to Japan in April and is now
senior writer on social issues for the
Sankei Shimbun. ❶Julian Ryall is Japan correspondent for the
Daily Telegraph.
15

CLUB NEWSCLUB NEWSTHE MEMBERSHIP MARKETING COMMITTEE’S “HIDDEN GEMS”

FCCJ EXHIBITION
IN 2017, THE FCCJ will start a new initiative: “FCCJ in-house Networking,” bringing
together working journalists and PR officials of associated member companies. It
is the brainchild of the Club’s Membership Marketing Committee, of which I – PR
director at Wacom, Co. Ltd. – am a member.
I became an Associate Member of FCCJ in May 2015 in order to develop andstrengthen Wacom’s relationships with the foreign media. Club programs, such as“Meet the Press” – the series of speeches by bureau chiefs of the leading foreign
media – are useful in that respect as we can get acquainted with the people
involved in the program. Building on this momentum, the MMC is planning to begin
a new initiative called “FCCJ in-house Networking” between working journalists
and PR officials of associated member companies.
Specifically, this program offers a platform for match-making among journalist
members, their colleagues and company PR representatives. Company PR officials
will speak about their company’s business and products/services so that journalists
can get in-depth, first-hand information direct from the source. Each session,
which will last from one to one-and-a-half hours, will consist of presentations and
Q&A sessions with representatives from two or three companies.
There are many opportunities in Japan, “hidden gems” one might call them,waiting for discovery by journalists. Some of them, the MMC believes, might beright under our noses, within the walls of the Club itself. 		
– Ted Kanno

FCCJ IN-HOUSE NETWORKING BETWEENJOURNALISTS & PR OFFICIALS• FCCJ offers a platform for match-making among FCCJ-enrolled media andcompany PR representatives• FCCJ gathers up to a dozen journalist for a session by company PR reps (30minutes/company). 2-3 groups in one session will be arranged.

Tannery: photographs by Akihito Yoshida
THERE IS A SOUTHWESTERN district of Dhaka, the capital city of
Bangladesh, called Hazaribagh that is known for its densely concentrated
oxhide processing. Ninety percent of domestic oxhide production comesfrom Hazaribagh and isexported worldwide.
Japan is the biggest
importer of oxhide from
Bangladesh, mainly in theform of about four million
pairs of leather shoes per year.
While the oxhide industry
is the second biggest sourceof foreign currency after the
textile industry, according tointernational environmental
watchdog Blacksmith Institute,
Hazaribagh is one of the 10
most toxically polluted areas in
the world.
There are 150 to 200
oxhide factories with roughly
20,000 workers who handle
the toxic chemicals withbare hands and feet. There
are no safety regulations.
Unfiltered incinerators and dumping of unprocessed chemical materials
and hazardous waste are common sights. Workers who spend substantial
amounts of time here have all sorts of physical problems and a shortlife expectancy.
I headed to Hazaribagh to bear witness to the conditions of theworkers in the oxhide industry. ❶16Company A

15 min presentation

10 min Q&A

5 min breakCompany B

15 min presentation

10 min Q&A

5 min breakCompany C

15 min presentation

10 min Q&A

5 min break• Journalists can cultivate new information sources• PR officials can develop and expand new media contacts

SPECIAL CAMPAIGN OFFER FOR
NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERS

The FCCJ is offering a special deal for
new Associate Members. From the
beginning of September to the endof the year, those joining are eligible
for a ¥100,000 DISCOUNT off of theregular fee of ¥300,000.
If successfully approved, theapplicants will be able to enjoy all
the member benefits: attendanceat all the major press conferences
and professional and social events;
dining services at the Main Bar, Pen& Quill Executive Dining area and the
Masukomi Sushi Bar; special discounts
on sports, arts and cultural events;
free wi-fi, half-price parking, the Club’smonthly magazine; and access toreciprocal press clubs around the world.
Present members can also benefit.
A ¥20,000 restaurant voucher will
be given to those who introduce
successfully approved new Associates.
For more information, or to pick up an
application form, go to the front desk.

JOIN THE FILM COMMITTEE . . .
. . . at 6:45 pm on Wed., Dec. 14 for the
extraordinary musical masterpiece The
Ondekoza, which returns in a blaze of cinematic
glory, 35 years after its heralded premiere andsubsequent disappearance from public view.
Marking the 100th anniversary of the birthof director Tai Kato (1916-1985), Shochiku
has digitally remastered the documentary,
and it is sure to astound today’s audiences
not only with its glorious visuals and dazzlingmusical performances, but also with its
groundbreaking photographic artistry. The
film follows the young people who formed aJapanese music ensemble called Ondekoza
in 1971 on Sado Island, under the leadershipof Tagayasu Den. They live, rehearse andphysically train together in Spartan conditions,
crafting their own instruments, creating theirown choreography and sewing their costumes.
And then, they begin to perform. Working with legendary designer Tadanori Yokoo and Chiyo Umeda, who create colorful,otherworldly sets, Kato’s unique camera techniques match their visual brilliance, capturing the performers as they achieveastonishing levels of virtuosity, transforming the screen into a perfect expression of art’s transcendent power. Acclaimed
musician Eitetsu Hayashi, Ondekoza’s breakout star, and remastering producer Tetsuya Nakagawa will appear at a Q&A session
following the screening. (Japan, 1981; 105 minutes; Japanese with English subtitles.)			
– Karen Severns

Akihito Yoshida taught Japanese for a year at auniversity in Thailand followed by six years in a
Kyoto elementary school. He started a careerin photography in 2010. He has published two
books, Brick Yard (2014) and Tannery (2016) andhas won several photographic awards.
DEC 2016

FCCJ

FCCJ

DEC 2016

17

CLUB NEWSPRESS TOUR TO TOHOKU, HAKODATE WITH HOKKAIDO BULLET TRAIN

Hui Zhao hooks a squid.
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE start of the first leg of the
Hokkaido Bullet train between Aomori and Hakodate, the Special
Projects Committee arranged a press tour to Aomori and Akita
in the Tohoku region and Hakodate in Hokkaido from Oct. 31 toNov. 2.

New
Members

Escorted by a matagi (a traditional bear hunter), six journalists
took a short trek in the 12 Lakes area in a nature reserve, where
they could admire the autumn leaves in the beech and maple
forests for which the region is famous. They could also experience
the sight of the season’s first snows in the local mountains.
In Hakodate’s Morning Market the party could experience theunique squid-fishing pool where visitors can fish for live squid. The
price tag per creature depends on the market supply and is usuallyin the range of ¥800 to ¥1,000. Bad weather had prevented the
local fishermen from sailing and had driven up the prices. Party
member Hui Zhao caught a specimen costing ¥1,600, which wasthen cut, roasted and eaten by the FCCJ members.
In comparison to the rural farming villages of Tohoku,
Hakodate – which was one of the first international treaty ports
opened at the end of the Tokugawa government – shows aturn-of-the-century sophistication thanks to its churches andwestern-style restaurants.
The press visit was supported by the Japan Tourism Agency(JTA), the tourism arm of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,
Transport and Tourism. 		
– Haruko Watanabe

REINSTATEMENT (REGULAR)

BRADLEY MARTIN has been a Regular Member off and on for four decades,
and has resumed his membership after two years’ teaching journalism in the
United States. A former Club director at large, secretary and vice president, heis a freelancer currently reporting and writing (once again) for Asia Times withtwo more books in the pipeline.
REGULAR MEMBERSKAZUYA KITAGATA is the chief editor of the foreign news section of the Jiji
Press news agency. He has been with the company for 34 years. After domestic
posts, he was sent to Vienna in 1990. Since then, between he has interspersed
posts at home with time as the chief correspondent in Moscow, where hewatched the political movement in Russia, and as bureau chief of the Jakarta andManila offices, covering regional issues. He was named to his present post in May.
SHINICHIRO NAKAJIMA is the manager for International Affairs at the Yomiuri
Shimbun. He joined the paper in 1993 after graduating from Waseda University.
Nakajima was with the International News Department, assigned to Rio de Janeiro
from 2004 through 2007. He was named Deputy Manager in the Administration
Department in September 2014, and assumed his present position last June. His
hobbies are the piano and listening to jazz and Brazilian music.
PROFESSIONAL/JOURNALISTASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Peter Durfee, Nippon
Communications Foundation
Ryuichi Teshima, Nippon
Communications Foundation
Sadafumi Tani, Nippon
Communications Foundation

18

REINSTATEMENT (P/J
ASSOCIATES)
Emiko Doi, Nippon
Communications Foundation
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Brian Lee, Line Corp.
Hitoshi Ariwaka
Tomoko Fukumoto, Genetic
Nobuo Hatae, OOCL
Tatsuo Maeda

Takuya Nomura, Knowledge
CapitalGotaro Ogawa, Kohlosha
Icho Saito, Line Corp.
Atsuo Suetsugu, Hi-Bridge
Shuichi Taniguchi, Tsukuba
Golf Course Co., Ltd.
Yoshihiro Yano, Japan
Automobile Manufacturers
Association, Inc. (JAMA)

New in the
Library
Nihon wa teroo soshi dekiruka
Keiichi Yoshikawa
Kindaishobosha
Gift from Keiichi
Yoshikawa

Inventing the Wayof the Samurai:
Nationalism,
Internationalism,
and Bushido inModern Japan
Oleg Benesch
Oxford University
Press

Kojin o kofuku ni
shinai Nihon no
soshikiHajime Ota
Contemporary Japan
Shinchosha
Duncan McCargo
Gift from Hajime Ota Palgrave Macmillan
The Osamu Tezuka
Story: A Life in
Manga and AnimeToshio Ban andTezuka Productions;Frederik L. Schodt(trans.)Stone Bridge Press

Japan, a modern
history
James L. McClain
W.W. Norton & Co.
Japan, Russia andtheir Territorial
Dispute: The
Northern Delusion
James D.J. Brown
Routledge

DEC 2016

FCCJ

RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
PR Department
8-13-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku,
Tokyo 104-8222
Tel: 03-6278-5228
Email: koho@ricoh.co.jp
www.ricoh.com