The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

BecomingfamilyMay 2019 Vol. 51 No. 5 ¥400

The joys and obstacles offostering children in Japan
Multi-faceted
The Yomiuri Institute’s
Michio Hayashi

Responsibility
What is the legal liability
when journalists suffer?

In Memoriam
Bernard Krisher’s
different angles

In this issueVol. 51, Number 5

May 2019

contact the editors

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

From the President by Peter Langan
4
Freedom of the Press news:
4
Under watch: Reporting in China’s surveillance state
From the archives: Master of mime by Charles Pomeroy 5
FEATURES

THE FCCJ ONLINE: www.fccj.or.jp

My two (foster) sons, three years on
by Caroline Parsons

6

The life of Bernie Krisher,journalist and philanthropist
by The Cambodia Daily

8

Michio Hayashi, Yomiuri Research Instituteby Gavin Blair

10Page 10:Michio Hayashi isinterviewed for his profile

MEMBER EVENTSPRESS CONFERENCE VIDEOSCLUB CALENDARCLUB INFORMATION

Are media companies liable for journalists’ trauma?
by Matthew Ricketson and Alexandra Wake

12

That’s entertainmentby Julian Ryall

14

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

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKSCLUB NEWSLens craftby photographer Members
No. 1 SHIMBUN ONLINEFREEDOM OF THE PRESS INFO

Press conference voices
FCCJ Exhibition
Join the Film Committee . . .
Historic artwork returns
New Members, New in the library
FCCJ

MAY 2019

16

17-19

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

“When every corner is monitored, you do bring danger to your sources.”

The Front Page

FROM THE PRESIDENTFREEDOM OF THE PRESS NEWSDEAR FELLOW MEMBERS,
I’m writing this a day after the April
FCCJ Board meeting which, as
usual, started with a report from theGeneral Manager Marcus Fishenden
on general club affairs. He began
by noting that Mitsubishi has started work on alleviatingsome of the sound leakage problems in the new Club.
The work includes the main dining area, the studio, andthe so-called Skype booths, and is well in progress.
Some Board members complained about the soft jazzbackground music playing out of a small speaker behind
the Main Bar, a sentiment that was not shared by all. But
a vote was held and the music killers prevailed 4 to 3 (youcan guess my vote). However, I believe that in an age of
populism, the broader membership should have a say inthis, just like Brexit. So please make your views knownat the office to Mr. Iwamura or Mr. Fishenden. Vote forsound to soothe the savage breast!
Speaking of voting, the Board decided on June 27 as
the date for the Annual General Membership Meeting.
More details on the meeting will follow, as well as thesetting up of an Election Committee for the next Board
election. (Yes, that time of the year is approaching again.)
The Board also voted on a date for the first increase
in initiation fees for new Associate Members, passed
at the last GMM. This increase will be on May 31, 2019.
Applications for Associate Membership arriving after
May 31 will require an initiation fee of ¥400,000
compared to the previous ¥300,000. The Board did
not decide a date for the other agreed increase ininitiation fees to ¥500,000 for new Associate Members.
But if you have friends considering a Club Associate
Membership clearly now is the time to act. And also
remember, Associate Members can claim a tax deduction
for Club fees.
The Swadesh DeRoy Scholarships were awarded in
April to students considering a career in journalism.
Abby Leonard, David Satterwhite and Daniel Hurst,
the organizers and judges of the submissions this year
in Pen, Photography and Video categories, said thecompetition was tough and resulted in some joint prizes.
The winning entries will be featured in next month’s
Number 1 Shimbun.
Finally, a shout out to our Professional Activities
Committee (PAC) staff who work behind the scenes tomake the press events go smoothly. PAC events are like
icebergs, and what you see represents just 20 percent of
the work that goes into making them happen. The same
applies to the Library staff, who run excellent researchservices for those in need and have been behind some
excellent book breaks this year. If you meet these staff
around the Club, take a moment to say thank you.
Will leave you with a sailing thought for the day: “Thepessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects
it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
See you in the Club.
– Peter Langan
4

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Under watch: Reporting in
China’s surveillance state

We (a TV crew of three) traveled to
Wen’an, Hebei for a story on plastic
recycling. Within about half an hour, a
local official along with a couple of bao’an
security officers and several other men
in plainclothes drove up and met us.
The official told us they’d been looking
all over the small town for us and foundus because of the surveillance cameras.
They escorted us to the county line toensure we left.

Master of mime

■ Bill Birtles, Australian Broadcasting
Corporation

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB OF CHINA (FCCC),
based in Beijing, recently surveyed foreign journalist
members to assess how their reporting was being affectedby state-electronic and human surveillance in the People’s
Republic of China. The survey was conducted in December,and 109 of the 204 correspondent members responded.
According to the FCCC, the survey, released on Jan. 29of this year, “painted the darkest picture of reporting
conditions inside China in recent memory. Rapidly
expanding surveillance and widespread government
interference against reporting in the far northwesternregion of Xinjiang drove a significant deterioration in thework environment for foreign journalists in China in 2018.”
Some highlights of the survey:

Most of my trips to the field revolve
completely around how to get as muchas we can before we are likely stopped
or detained, with a lot of strategizing
about easier, less sensitive stories that
could be done first so as not to comeback completely empty-handed. On atrip to Ningxia, I aborted a story entirelyout of fear that I had been compromised
and would get anyone I subsequently
interacted with in trouble.

■ Becky Davis, Agence France-Presse

In Xinjiang, in a lot of situations, I didn’t
even try to conduct an interview, because
we didn’t want to get anyone in danger.
And when every corner is monitored, you
do bring danger to your sources.

■ Axel Dorloff, ARD German Radio■ Nearly half of the correspondents directly experienced
human surveillance, being followed or having their hotel
room entered■ 22 percent of respondents said they were awareof authorities having tracked them using public
surveillance systems■ 50 percent of respondents said surveillance impacted
their reporting
The expanding scope of surveillance means journalists
have been subject to intimidation in their personal lives, andmade unable to contact sources or even report at all in someregions. Following are some of their experiences.

■ Nathan VanderKlippe, Globe and Mail

I’ve come into the office several times
while dealing with a sensitive story andmy computer hasn’t started up. One
of my reporters had computer issues
while covering the trial of a humanrights lawyer. As a security measure,
we recently decided to reimage every
computer in the bureau.

Multiple phone calls were cut off while discussing
politically sensitive subjects.

■ Josh Chin, Wall Street Journal

Police officers told me they knew about a social event
I was organizing that I had privately invited friends tousing WeChat.

■ Yuan Yang, Financial Times■ Bureau chief of a US news organization

WeChat messages sometimes mysteriously disappeared
from my phone while sharing politically sensitive
information with my colleagues via a group chat.

■ Tomoyuki Tachikawa, Kyodo NewsMAY 2019

I was followed and tracked for nearly
1,600 kilometers by at least nine carsand 20 people – most of whom refused to
identify themselves or their organizations.
I was also threatened with arrest, and had
armed police approach my vehicle withshields raised and told to put my hands
outside the car. I was detained numerous
times. A police officer seized my cameraand deleted pictures without my consent.

FCCJ

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China is a

Beijing-based professional organization comprisingmore than 200 correspondents from over 30
countries and regions.
FCCJ

MAY 2019

Laughter reigned during the professional luncheon for world-famous
French actor and mime artist Marcel Marceau at the Club on Oct. 30,
1986. Seated to his left is then Club President Bruce MacDonell (Globe
Net), and to his right is Richard Pyle (AP), both mirthfully enjoying his
presentation. Since his appearance at the Club, a photo of Marceau,holding fingers to lips in a call for silence, has occupied a conspicuous
place in our library.
Born in Strasbourg, France, into a Jewish family as Marcel Mangel
on March 22, 1923, Marcel Marceau took on the name he was to later
make famous in order to evade the Nazi occupiers during WWII. He
and his brother, Alain, who also took on the Marceau name, thenjoined the French Resistance and assisted Jewish children to escape
into Switzerland. Fluent in French, English, and German, he joined theFrench army after the liberation of Paris and served as a liaison officer
with the US army.
Soon after, under the early influence of a Charlie Chaplin film,
Marceau took up the study of dramatic acting and mime in Paris.
Early success in a pantomime role was followed by his creation of “TheOvercoat,” a “mimodrama” presented in his silent style of dramatic
action that brought major acclaim. In 1947 he more firmly establishedhis reputation with “Bip the Clown,” a character drawn in part from
Chaplin’s “Little Tramp,” and later founded the world’s only pantomime
company. His extensive and numerous tours, especially across the US
during the 1950s, further solidified his international popularity. He also
appeared in several successful films.
Marceau’s achievements ranged from establishing a school in Paristo teach his so-called “art of silence” to creating a foundation in New
York to promote this art form. He was the recipient of numerous Frenchawards and a US Emmy. He was also declared a National Treasure
here in Japan, where Noh drama was one of many early influences on
his work. Returning the favor, he later had some influence on Japan’s
evolving art of butoh. He was an inspiration to Michael Jackson, too, whobased his “moonwalk” on Marceau’s movements, as well as to countless
young performers in many countries.
After an illustrious career as a master of mime, Marcel Marceau diedin Paris at the age of 84 on Sept. 22, 2007.

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

Feature: Japan’s child welfare systemdemo left me with an indelible stamp on my heart
and a promise to myself to offer the children theirown home one day if I could.
MEANWHILE THE BOYS ADAPTED to essentiallyhaving two homes. Their institution is a “model
home,” a small modern unit with teachers who aremostly young, unmarried and childless themselves.
Trained in social welfare, they are kind and hardworking, rotating on shifts. The boys like theirteachers, but they do not think of them as parents,
nor are they encouraged to.
By 2014 the boys had become much less of a handful and were developing wonderful friendships in
our local community which I wanted to encourage.
I asked if they still wanted to live in my house if it

My two(foster) sons,three yearson

THE BOYS AND I WERE FORBIDDEN FROM SEEING EACH OTHER WHILE
THEY WERE INTERVIEWED TO ASSESS WHETHER THEY COULD LIVE WITH ME.
BUT IN THE END THE ANSWER WAS “NO.”was possible and the answer was a resounding yes,
so I decided to try to make it happen.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the first coordinator’s advice did not represent the view of thedecision-makers at the CGC. Transferring the boys
from the institution to their foster parent was simply not their idea of a good idea. They were resolutethat there would be no change of policy for my foster sons, who they thought were most stable staying in the institution where they had been placed at
two and three years old. I was told I could not apply
for accreditation and asked to continue the sameschedule. If it was costing me too much, they said,
I could simply reduce the number of days the boys
visited. In 2016 I again asked them to re-consider
and again I was turned down.
“Japan’s overwhelming use of institutions insteadof family-based care is failing thousands of vulnerable children by not preparing them for independent, productive lives in society,” claims Human
Rights Watch in the report “Without Dreams” onchildren in alternative care in Japan. These children are being
denied a family life and being set up to fail, says the report.
The issues that impede faster development of the fosteringsystem here are complex. One is the right of the birth motherto refuse permission for her child to go to a foster parent –even if she cannot live with the child herself. Another has
been the public’s lack of familiarity with fostering and adoption. Then there is the very complicated close relationshipbetween the CGC and the institutions.
In the current set up, the CGC, already over-worked andunderstaffed, is very dependent on the institutions. Whenemergencies arise – all the time, as that is the nature of childwelfare work – the institutions are there to quickly take on
rescued children. (It’s an imperfect system and some tragic
consequences have been in the public eye recently, but that’s
another story.) And the institutions, which need to pay teachers, cooks, cleaners, office and many other staff, are dependent for their own survival on the CGC.
CAROLINE PARSONS

Despite global
awareness that children
thrive best in family
situations (biological,
adoptive or foster),Japan’s child welfare
system is stuck in an
institutional approach.

By Caroline ParsonsP

art dance in heaven, part ghastly nightmare. The
first part describes my experience as a foster parent(sato-oya) of two Japanese brothers, now aged 15 and16. For more than ten years, they have come to my house forsome weekends and school holidays from the welfare facility
where they spend most of their lives. (I wrote of our early life
together in the July 2016 issue of this magazine.)
The second part describes my experience with the welfare
bureaucracy in my attempts to offer the boys a life in a family
home instead of in an institution. Of all the children in statecare in Japan, some 85 percent grow up in institutions. The
same was true 30 years ago in the UK, where I come from. But
today, well over 70 percent of children in the UK are placedwith foster families. In Japan, that figure is only 15 percent.
In 2010, soon after I began foster parenting, I was encouraged by the coordinator at the Child Guidance Center, (the6THERE ARE A LOT of groups now working to address thesedeep and political issues and a breakthrough came in April
2017 when the Child Welfare Act was amended to prioritize
family-based care. That has resulted in much more media
coverage, which is a positive. But for the ‘New Vision’ offamily-based care to really take root, the general public has
to become much more familiar with the situation, especiallyas taxpayers are paying for it. Sato-oya Renrakukai, a foster
family group, estimates the total cost of raising a child frombirth to 18 in Japan’s institutional set-up to be ¥120 million,
four or five times what an average family spends over thesame period.
In 2017 I decided to make one more attempt at accreditation. I hired a lawyer to help me understand the legalities. I found out that anyone has a right to apply, which isthen assessed by an outside board of specialists. The lawyer

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare agency responsible forwhere children are placed), to consider applying for full foster parent accreditation which requires some extra training
and assessments. If I was successful in getting that certificate, the boys could live with me and I could receive adequate
financial support to foster them, she explained.
She knew that it was costing me a lot, and the Volunteer
Family category I was in offered only a very small subsidy.
But at that time, the boys were still “wild balls of dynamite”– albeit adorable ones – and I was unsure if I was up to having
them on top of working full time. I decided to continue withthe weekend and holiday scheme.
The coming and going had its challenges, though. One Sunday night stands out: the older boy (then six) sat down in the
middle of the road leading to the facility. He was not going
back, he screamed, because he was “moving into Parsonssan’s house.” A teacher carried him unceremoniously inside
as I walked away in agony. The courageous little one-boy
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FCCJ

FCCJ

MAY 2019

obtained the appropriate forms and as I had already attended foster training sessions and had a good track record as amodel foster parent, I was approved and got my certificate inJanuary 2018. I knew the foster parent has no right to choose
which children – if any – they are assigned.
Soon after, the boys and I were forbidden from seeing eachother for four months while they were interviewed extensively
to assess whether they could live with me. But in the end theanswer was “No.” I was given the news by a case worker new
to our case at a meeting that the head of fostering (who had
called the meeting) did not attend. Exhausted, I don’t evenremember asking ‘Why?’ When I next saw the boys, the older
brother was very upset that his request had been refused; theyounger brother had not even been asked his preference.
SO WE HAVE FINALLY given up our goal of living together in“our home” before they turn 18. The process has become too
stressful. Better to look for the positives, I tell myself. The
younger brother has recently taken to writing novels online– and seems to be showing amazing promise. He used to love
when we visited the FCCJ in Yurakucho for hamburgers on
Sundays and I’m delighted he finds writing exciting.
The older brother is very aware that at age 18, he will haveto leave the institution for good and make his way into theworld. “Can I come and live here
when I am 18?” he asks, as we sitin the living room over tea witha neighbor, a great friend to theboys and I. I point out that in two
years he may feel differently andhave other places he wants to go.
He turns to our friend. “I know
children usually want to separate
from parents when they are 18,”
he tells her. “But I just want to go
home.” ❶Caroline Parsons has lived in Japan for 38 years, working as aphotographer, reporter, writer and narrator.

7

Feature: In Memoriam

The life of Bernie Krisher
journalist and philanthropist

By the Cambodia Daily

L

When the former memberof the FCCJ passed away inMarch, he left a legacy ofjournalistic and charitableachievements that won’t
soon be forgotten.

egendaryjournalist
Bernard
Krisher, former bureau chief for
Newsweek magazine and memberof the FCCJ from 1962 to 2001, passed
away on March 5 at a hospital in Tokyo.
He was 87. His death from heart failure
was disclosed by his family following a
private burial in New York.
Krisher, who began his career as a foreign correspondent
in Japan, had dedicated his last three decades to humanitarian work in Cambodia.
Krisher was born on Aug. 9, 1931, in Frankfurt, Germany,
where his mother had gone to give birth close to her parents. The family lived in Leipzig, where his father, a Jew from
Poland, owned a fur shop. They fled Germany in 1937 for the
Netherlands and France to escape Nazi persecution, and heattended two years of elementary school in Paris. When theGermans invaded France, Krisher’s family fled to the Spanish border seeking onward transit to Portugal. There, Krisher
had a fateful encounter on the street with Aristides de Sousa
Mendes, the Portuguese consul who issued visas for his family
and countless other Jews, against the order of his government.
In 1941, the family emigrated to the US on the vessel Serpa
Pinto, known as the “ship of destiny” for its role in transporting European refugees to safety on the other side of the Atlantic. After arriving through Ellis Island and settling in Queens,
Krisher began attending New York City public schools despite
his lack of English, and eventually graduated from Forest
Hills High School. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from the city’s Queens College in 1953.
FROM THE TIME HE was a child, Krisher knew that he wanted

8

to be a journalist. When he was 12, hestarted publishing his own small magazine for teenagers after the magazines
he sold as a delivery boy went bankrupt. He filled his magazine, called
Pocket Mirror (later Picture Story),
which he mimeographed in his Queens
apartment, with interviews of celebrities such as Babe Ruth, Frank Sinatra
and Trygve Lie, the first secretarygeneral of the United Nations.
He said he learned most of his techniques of journalism
during this time. “Persistence, energy, enthusiasm were thekey essentials of this profession,” he said, “and the main enemy is cynicism.”
During college, he worked for the New York Herald Tribune
as a campus correspondent and copy boy, including at the1948 and 1952 Democratic National Conventions. He was also
an editor at the college student newspaper, The Crown, where,
at the height of McCarthyism, he wrote articles critical of theblacklisting of professors branded as communists and being
dismissed from their teaching posts. Krisher took heat fromthe administration. When he didn’t stop writing the articles,
the college president tried to have him removed, even writing the editor of the Herald Tribune in an attempt to have him
dismissed from his job there, but the paper refused.
Krisher was drafted into the army in 1953 and stationed for
two years in Heidelberg, Germany, as a reporter for the European Stars and Stripes.
He joined the New York World-Telegram & Sun in 1955, firstas a reporter, then assistant editor.
From 1961-62, he studied at Columbia University on a Ford
Foundation fellowship in advanced international reporting,specializing in Japanese studies at the East Asian Institute.
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oriented photo-weekly. He later helped set
up the Japanese edition of Wired for anotherpublisher, Dohosha. He was also the Far East
representative for the MIT Media Lab.

In 1962, he left the World-Telegram & Sun andmoved to Japan to join Newsweek as a reporter in the magazine’s Tokyo bureau.
HE HAD TRAVELED TO the country four
years earlier when he was sent to Asia on a
six-week reporting assignment by the New
York World-Telegram & Sun newspaper, andmet his future wife, Akiko, with whom he
was married for 58 years until his death. He
attributed the works of Lafcadio Hearn withinspiring his interest in Japan and on his
decision to live and work there.
Krisher was promoted to Newsweek’s Tokyo
bureau chief in 1967, a position he held forthe next 13 years. He interviewed many
notable personalities including all Japaneseprime ministers and other politicians, business leaders and cultural figures. His most
famous interview was a one-on-one exclusive
print interview with Emperor Hirohito justbefore the emperor’s historic visit to the US
in 1975. (For the inside story of this reportage, see the article “The Emperor, Newsweek
and the ‘Nisei Onassis,’” by Eiichiro
Tokumoto in the June, 2014 issue of
Number 1 Shimbun.)
Krisher’s beat included other partsof Asia, and he traveled widely throughparts of Southeast Asia and made frequent trips to South Korea. He succeeded in landing the first exclusive
interview with Indonesian President
Sukarno in 1964, at a time when Western journalists were on the leader’s
blacklist. Sukarno also introduced him
to Cambodia’s Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who invited him to Cambodia.
Sihanouk, however, severed ties
with the US in 1965, in part over the
US government’s refusal to apologize over an article Krisher wrote
for Newsweek. Sihanouk eventually
restored diplomatic relations with
the US, and the prince and Krisher
subsequently formed a close friendship that led to Krisher’s humanitarian workin the country later in life.
Krisher was also supportive of Kim Daejung when the South Korean dissident wasa political prisoner. He ran interviews andarticles critical of the South Korean government in the magazine, and when Kim
became president of the country in 1998, hekept his promise made years ago of granting
Krisher the first interview.
After Newsweek, Krisher moved to open theTokyo bureau for Fortune magazine in 1980,
remaining its correspondent until 1984. At thesame time, he joined a leading Japanese publisher, Shinchosha, as chief editorial advisorand helped start up Focus, a successful newsFCCJ

MAY 2019

Pictured in action
From top: a comic book-stylefeature showing a teenage
Bernard Krisher editing his own
magazine in 1947;
Emperor Hirohito greets
Krisher before their exclusive
interview in September, 1975;
Krisher pictured with Cambodia
Daily editors Gretchen Peters,
Matthew Reed and Barton
Biggs in Phnom Penh in the
mid-90s; Krisher meetswith foster children andorphans supported by hisorganization, in Phnom Penhin November 2011.

IN 1993, KRISHER LAUNCHED the Cambodia
Daily to help establish a free press in Cambodia. It was a time of reconstruction andrehabilitation in the country, following the1991 Paris Peace Agreement concluding two
decades of civil war and Sihanouk’s returnfrom exile and instatement as head of state.
It was the country’s first English-language
newspaper and was a training ground for
Cambodian and expatriate journalists, publishing local and international news to readers in Phnom Penh.
Against the advice of many, including Sihanouk who cautioned him that he might bekilled, Krisher started the newspaper believing that a democracy needed a free press andtold his staff that a paper should be like agadfly to keep a check on those in power. The
regime’s forced closure of the print editionin September 2017 drew internationalcondemnation.
For Krisher, his crowning achievement was the construction in the
mid-1990s of the Sihanouk HospitalCenter of HOPE in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, which provides free
medical care to the poor and ran atelemedicine program in remote villages. He was the founder and chairman of the hospital, which was built
on land donated by King Sihanouk.
A rural schools project which healso founded has, to date, built over
560 state schools across every province. While not personally wealthy,
Krisher leveraged his rolodex andchutzpah to solicit funds from private donors, and the World and AsianDevelopment banks. Known by manyaround him as Bernie “Pusher,” heonce said, “I remain very New York– quite aggressive, confrontational against
authority and establishment.”
Krisher credited the humanitarianism ofAlbert Schweitzer, the Nobel Peace Prizewinning medical missionary who had built acharity hospital in Africa and whom he met
in New York in the 1950s, as his inspiration
to embark on his work in Cambodia.
Krisher also made several trips to North
Korea in the 1990s to distribute rice andmedical supplies to famine victims.
Krisher is survived by his wife, his twochildren and two grandchildren. ❶Excerpted with permission fromThe Cambodia Daily.
9Series: Profile

Michio Hayashi,

Yomiuri Research Institute
By Gavin Blair

RICHARD ATRERO DE GUZMAN“I10MAY 2019

FCCJ

Something else from that day
felt like I was carrying athatleft a lasting impression on
copy of a universe in miniaHE WAS ROBBED AT GUNPOINT,
Hayashi was the story of Depture,” says Michio Hayashi
CAME UNDER ROCKET FIRE, HAD A
uty Secretary of State Richardof the newspapers he delivered
BULLET COME THROUGH THE ROOF
Armitage sending his Pentagon
on weekends for eight years to
OF HIS TAXI – INCIDENTS HE SAYS, “I staff home before he took partsave money to travel abroad. As
in a sweep of the building withwell as allowing him to go overNEVER TOLD MY MOTHER ABOUT.”
sniffer dogs. Despite the heroseas after university, deliverism seen on that day, Hayashi
ing 300 copies of the “pricelessbelieves it was the catalyst for the transformation of America
collection of information from all corners of the world” also
from a “very generous country” to “deeply worried, suspicious,
sparked his desire to become a foreign correspondent.
angry” though also “united.”
At university in the mid-1980s, he studied news items from
Hayashi filed around a thousand articles from America inaround the world, many about the Cold War, with a profesthe year after the Twin Towers came down and remembers
sor and a group of friends. Following graduation, he studied
the “surreal feeling” of writing the first one after that not
English in London for three months before joining the Yomirelated to terrorism or national security.
uri Shimbun in 1987. He spent his first four years reporting on
local news in Hamamatsu in Shizuoka, “while the Berlin Wallwas coming down.”
HE RETURNED TO JAPAN in 2002 to cover politics, including
During a stint back in Tokyo doing page layout in the evethe prime minister’s office, briefly, the foreign ministry andning, he attended French language school in the daytime.
the then defense agency. Reporting on the base controver“Back then, wannabe foreign correspondents had to learn
sies in Okinawa was something of a natural progression given
at least two languages,” says Hayashi, who laments the fact
his knowledge of US military issues, he says. After a stretch
that requirements these days are less stringent. A chanceas an assistant editor on the international desk in Tokyo, heencounter in the school’s smoking room led to his first overwas again posted abroad, this time to Brussels in 2006, fromseas posting, a temporary, but life-changing, assignment towhere he covered the EU, NATO and Benelux countries.
Afghanistan as the Mujahideen forces were taking over fromThe following year he was made Paris bureau chief, a post he
the Soviet-backed regime.
held until returning to Tokyo as deputy editor of international
Next was a three-and-a half-year posting to the New Delnews. In 2011, he took over running the Yomiuri’s operations
hi bureau, from where he covered seven other South Asianin Europe as general bureau chief in London, from where hecountries, including frequent trips to Afghanistan to coveroversaw coverage of the London Olympics and Eurozone crithe ongoing civil war. There he was robbed at gunpoint, cameses, including landing a one-on-one with then British Prime
under rocket fire more than once, witnessed limbs being
Minister David Cameron.
blown off and had a bullet come through the roof of his taxi
Back in Japan in 2014, he wrote editorials on interna– incidents he says, “I never told my mother about.” The povtional issues before being appointed managing editor oferty in Afghanistan and India also had a profound effect on
The Japan News, the Yomiuri’s English edition, in 2016. Since
him, driving home the fortune of being born in a rich country.
2018, Hayashi has been a senior research fellow at the Yomiuri Research Institute, where he writes long-form, in-depth
pieces for the Yomiuri quarterly magazine, as well as some
WHILE IN SOUTH ASIA, a one-on-one interview with thenwork for other media.
Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto produced her first public
Hayashi, reflecting back on his career, says, “I feel quite
declaration that her country would respond in kind to Indian
fortunate that my bosses allowed me to follow this path fornuclear tests. The most shocking story he reported on was
nearly two decades – five overseas postings for about 15
the systematic infanticide of female new-borns in Bihar,
years combined.”
India, carried out because the dowries necessary for daughDespite his accomplishments, Hayashi says he doesn’t conters were said to bankrupt families.
sider himself “a true journalist,” a title he reserves for freeTime back in Japan covering the lead up to and the events
lancers, award-winning reporters and editors in chief. Nevof the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics was followed by an inviertheless, his only apparent regrets are having been posted
tation to the US by the State Department, which preceded
overseas at the time of the Tokyo sarin gas attack, as well as
an assignment to Washington. Expecting to write mostly on
the Kobe and Tohoku earthquakes.
politics and economics, he found himself covering the events“I missed all these three major Heisei events,” he says, “so Iof 9/11 and the subsequent seismic shifts in America, whichreally feel something is missing in me as a Japanese reporter.” ❶he points to as a factor that eventually led to the Trump presidency. “As a Pentagon reporter, I rushed to see the burnedpart of the building. . . . Standing on a highway in front of the
Gavin Blair covers Japanese business, society and culture forgaping hole, I wept for a while. I did not know why,” he recalls.
publications in the US, Asia and Europe.
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MAY 2019

11

Feature: Journalists and the law

Areflashbacks
fearmediakids
companiesviolenceliableanxietyfornervous
journalists’victim depression
onedgetrauma
attacked?mind
12

MAY 2019

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An Australian judge recently ruled that anewspaper has “a duty to take reasonable careagainst the risk of foreseeable injury, including
foreseeable psychiatric injury,” to its staff. Will
this push newsrooms to change their healthsupport for journalists?
By Matthew Ricketson and Alexandra WakeA

landmark ruling by an Australian court is expected tohave international consequences for newsrooms, putting media companies on notice they could face large
compensation claims if they fail to take care of their journalists who regularly cover traumatic events.
The Victorian County Court accepted the potential for
psychological damage on those whose work requires themto report on traumatic events, including violent crimes. The
court ruled on Feb. 22 that a journalist for the Melbournebased newspaper The Age be awarded AU$180,000 (about$127,000 US) for psychological injury suffered during thedecade she worked there, from 2003 to 2013.
The journalist, known in court as “YZ” to protect her
identity, reported on 32 murders and many more cases asa court reporter. She covered Melbourne’s “gangland wars,”
was threatened by one of its notorious figures, and found it
increasingly difficult to report on events involving the deathof children, such as the case of four-year-old Darcey Freeman, who was thrown by her father from a bridge in 2009.
After complaining that she was “done” with “death anddestruction,” the journalist was transferred to the sports desk.
But a senior editor later persuaded her, against her wishes, tocover the Supreme Court, where she was exposed to detailed,graphic accounts of horrific crimes, including the trials of Donna Fitchett, Robert Farquharson and Darcey Freeman’s father.
THE REPEATED EXPOSURE TO traumatic events had a serious
impact on her mental health. YZ took a voluntary redundancy
from the newspaper in 2013.
In her court challenge, the journalist alleged that The Age:
• had no system in place to enable her to deal with the traumaof her work,• failed to provide support and training in covering traumatic
events, including from qualified peers,• did not intervene when she and others complained, and• transferred her to court reporting after she had complainedof being unable to cope with trauma experienced from previous
crime reporting.
The Age contested whether the journalist was actually suffering from post-traumatic stress. It argued that even if a
peer-support program had been in place, it would not havemade a material difference to the journalist’s experience.
The newspaper also denied it knew or should have known
there was a foreseeable risk of psychological injury to its journalists – while simultaneously arguing that the plaintiff knew
“by reason of her work she was at high risk of foreseeable injury.”
Judge Chris O’Neill found the journalist’s evidence morecompelling than the media company’s, even though the psychological injury she had suffered put her at a disadvantage
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MAY 2019

when being cross-examined in court.
“This is a historic judgment – the first time in the world,
to my knowledge, that a news organisation has been foundliable for a reporter’s occupational PTSD,” said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the Dart Center for Journalism andTrauma in the United States.1
THIS WAS NOT THE first time a journalist has sued over occupational PTSD, as Shapiro calls it, but it is the first time one
has succeeded.
In 2012, another Australian journalist unsuccessfully sued
the same newspaper. In that case, the judge was reluctant toaccept either the psychological impact on journalists covering traumatic events or The Age’s tardiness in implementing
a trauma-aware newsroom. In contrast, the judge in the YZ
case readily accepted both concepts.
Historically, the idea of journalists suing their employers
for occupational PTSD was unheard of. Newsroom culture
dictated that journalists did whatever was asked of them,including intrusions on grieving relatives. Doing this sort ofwork was intrinsic to the so-called “school of hard knocks,”
part of the initiation process for rookie journalists.
The academic literature shows that newsroom culture has
been a key contributor to the problem of journalists feelingunable to express concerns about covering traumatic eventsfor fear of appearing weak and unsuited to the job.
What was alarming in the evidence provided to Judge
O’Neill was the extent to which these attitudes still hold sway
in contemporary newsrooms. YZ said that as a crime reporter she worked in a “blokey environment” where the implicit
message was “toughen up, princess.”
THE YZ CASE SHOWS The Age had learned little from its earlier
court case about its duty of care to journalists. One of its own
witnesses, the editorial training manager, gave evidence of
his frustration at being unable to persuade management toimplement a suitable training and support program.
The Dart Center has a range of tip sheets on its website forself-care and peer support. But what’s clear from this case isthat it’s not just about individual journalists and what they
do – it’s about editors and media executives taking action.
One media organization leading the way is the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation. The national broadcaster has had
a peer-support program in place for a decade. Such programsare vital, not just for individual journalists, but for democracy
and civil society. That’s because, despite the massive changes
that have been sweeping through the news industry, there’s
been no real change in the number of disasters, crimes, andtraumatic events that need to be covered.
News workers need help. And they are beginning to
demand it. ❶Matthew Ricketson is a professor of communication at Deakin University
in Victoria, Australia. Alexandra Wake is a senior lecturer in journalism
at RMIT University in Melbourne. This article is reprinted from The
Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

1. Disclosure: Matthew Ricketson is chair of the board of directors of the Dart
Center Asia Pacific, which is affiliated with the Dart Center for Journalism andTrauma in the US It’s a volunteer position. During part of the period coveredby the YZ court case, he worked as a journalist at The Age. Alexandra Wakealso sits on the Dart Center Asia Pacific board, and in 2011 was named a Dart
Academic Fellow, which included travel to New York for training at Dart’s expense.
13

Feature: In the houseas local varieties of sake that are only available when a prefecture puts on one of its eventnights,” she said.
MORI FIRST SERVED ON the Entertainment Committee as board liaison in 1999. She presently serves
as chair of the five-strong team – “five is a goodnumber because we get things done quicker andbetter” she confides – that plots members’ amusement for the months to come. She is keen, however, to make sure that credit for the foundationsof the committee’s work is apportioned correctly.
“Much of the good work was done by Glenn
Davis, who started the Saturday Night Live program all those years ago. I remember going todozens of live houses and other venues to checkout acts that we wanted to bring to the Club,”she said.
“Saturday Night Live was dear to Glenn. Even
after he retired and went back to the US, he keeps
calling to ask what is going on and who is coming
for the next Saturday Night Live,” she said. Davis
remains an adviser to the committee, as does for-That’sentertainment! A
Meet the committee that brings the fun.

By Julian Ryall
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MAY 2019

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Entertaining discussion
Opposite, members of the committee at the pianoin the Main Bar: left to right, Masayuki Hattori,
Akihiko Tanabe, Suvendrini Kakuchi, Kaori Furuta
and (seated) Sandra Mori. Sandra has been a
Club Member for more than 40 years and on theEntertainment Committee for 20.

PHOTOS: RODRIGO REYES MARIN

If the professional activities are the soul of the Club,the entertainment events are its heart.

fter a long day chasing down leads, cajoling ministry officials to share informationor placating a disgruntled editor, a hackreally needs to be able to let his or her hair down,says Sandra Mori. And even today, in an era of
instant amusement in a city that has countlessoutlets for relaxation, it is important that the
FCCJ continues its tradition of putting on a show,
she adds.
That task falls to the Entertainment Committee, the group behind a surprisingly broad rangeof events at the FCCJ – from the annual family
Christmas party to golf and billiards tournaments,
national evenings, celebrations of cities andregions around Japan and the Club’s consistently
popular Saturday Night Live events.
“The committee is here purely to satisfy ourmembers,” said Mori, a Club member for morethan 40 years. She first arrived in Japan in 1946,
when her father was posted to General Douglas
MacArthur’s occupation staff. “We are here toentertain and even educate, to provide members with music and culture that they might nototherwise have a chance to experience, such

mer Club president, Dennis Normile.
“After all the hard work that Glenn had done getting Saturday Night Live up and running, it was
Dennis who really put meat on the event, making
sure that we were bringing in really good performers and making it what it is today,” Mori adds.
Pressed for a personal favorite in all the years,
she pauses. But it’s clear the hesitation is only
because there have been so many memorable
nights over the years. The night that brought
together no fewer than 12 nations from Southern
Africa, complete with their cuisine, music anddancing, is one that has stayed with her. So have
the Christmas parties with wide-eyed children sitting on Santa’s knee, the benefit event for the New
Orleans victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and
FCCJ

MAY 2019“WE ARE HERE TO ENTERTAIN AND EVENEDUCATE, TO PROVIDE MEMBERS WITH
MUSIC AND CULTURE THAT THEY MIGHT NOTOTHERWISE HAVE A CHANCE TO EXPERIENCE”
the evenings at which Japan’s legendary ninja got to show off some of
their skills. A troupe of attractive dancers who put on a show at a Brazilnight some years ago made for an unforgettable experience for everyone who was there, she added.
MORI IS A PROUD promoter of the events, pointing to the impressive
crowds they regularly draw. “National nights always bring in more than
100 people and sometimes we can get as many as 150. It’s about the samefor our city or regional nights,” she said. In February, she even asked
for a night-out pass from hospital in good time to be able to attend theClub’s SNL Mardi Gras, with Washboard Chaz and Steve Gardener providing an authentic New Orleans sound.
It’s obvious Mori has a soft spot for Saturday Night Live, which she
describes as the “crown jewels” of the committee’s work – rattling off
The Moonshots, Jim Butler, Gardener and jazz performer Harvey Thompson as some of her favorites. “With no cover and no music charge, it isalways full,” she said.
The weekly treat is not only a mustattend for music lovers; it has becomesuch a key part of the city’s live performance scene that bands are lining up
for a chance to play at the FCCJ, Morisays. “These are bands that perform
all around Tokyo and further afield,
but they still want to come here forour members,” Mori said. “Right now,
every slot is booked up for the rest of
this year and nearly all of them only
get one evening. They love the ambience, they know they’re going to be
performing to a good crowd and that
it will be a fun night out for everyone.”
MORI REFERS TO KAORI Furuta, who is the Club liaison on the committee, as “Miss Saturday Night Live,” and Furuta seems to embrace therole. “I really enjoy it because I get to see performers I have never heardof before and would not have a chance to see,” she said. “I have realized
there is such a wide diversity of music on offer in Tokyo.”
Furuta said working with the committee is relatively straightforward
because it operates so smoothly and musicians are booked as much as ayear in advance. “We don’t really have to do too much work to get them
here,” Furuta added. “They come to us asking to perform.” The new Club
location has also helped attract musicians, with some saying that they
prefer playing at the new premises, in part because the tiled floor in the
new bar is acoustically far superior to the former FCCJ building, where
the carpet served to muffle or deaden the sound.
But leaving the Denki Building location after so many memorable
events did result in some mixed emotions. Just before the move, theEntertainment Committee oversaw a “Sayonara Yurakucho” evening,an event that Mori describes as bittersweet. “We turned Saturday Night
Live into a sayonara event as it was the very last event to be held there.
It just seemed so fitting,” she said. Now, however, it is time to look to
the future. ❶Julian Ryall is Japan correspondent for the Daily Telegraph.
15

Photographer members

Club NewsFCCJ EXHIBITION

Portraits of African musicians

Tsunehiro Takukuwa Photo Exhibition

Tsunehiro Takukawa first set foot in Africa in 1991. Since
then, he says, “I have taken numerous portraits of sometremendous African musicians using a large 4x5-inch
camera. I believe that this format helps capture the soul ofthe subject.”Song, dance and rhythm are an indispensable part ofthe daily lives of Africans, and Takukawa says his photos
are unsolicited love letters to the people he’s encounteredon his travels. “Their engaging faces,” he says, “seem torepresent something of humanity that the Japanese are indanger of losing.. ❶Lens craft

Hand outs
People reach for the new Imperialera (and the free, special-edition
announcement) with both hands at
Yurakucho station on April 1.
by Katsumi Kasahara/Gamma-Rapho

Takakuwa Tsunehiro was born in Nagoya in 1955. He continued his photography while working
as an editorial designer and editor, establishing himself as a photographer at the age of 30 .

At
the
Club

THE DAMAGE THESE
WOMEN SUFFEREDIS SIMPLY THAT BYDISCRIMINATINGAGAINST THEM,
TOKYO MEDICALUNIVERSITY DESTROYEDTHEIR SELF CONFIDENCE
AND MOTIVATION
AND THE POSSIBILITY OF
A BRIGHT FUTURE IN
MEDICINE.”

Yumi Itakura, Secretariat of
Lawyers acting to eliminate
discrimination against womenin medical school entrance
examinations, March 25

JOIN THE FILM COMMITTEE. . .
. . . on Wed., May 8 at 7:00 pm for the awardwinning debut of 22-year-old director Hiroshi
Okuyama, Jesus. Suffused with a nostalgic
glow and told entirely through the eyes of its
11-year-old protagonist, the film follows young
Yura as he moves with his parents to a rural
backwater and discovers that his new school
is Christian. One day, the Son of God appears
to him during the Lord’s Prayer, and when
Yura’s initial requests are granted, he quickly
develops a belief in His power. But a tragedy
leads to a full-blown crisis of faith. The debutof a unique new voice, Jesus is both comical
and melancholy, and a real treat. Okuyama will
join us for the Q&A session after the screening
with actors Chad Mullane and Hinako Saeki.
(Japan, 2018; 76 minutes; in Japanese withEnglish subtitles.)– Karen Severns

Kaze
Picturing the wind earlier this year.
by Bruce Osborn

Hanami-iiiii!
People enjoying cherry blossoms
and a roller coaster ride in Toshimaen
amusement park, Tokyo, April 6.
by Yoshikazu Tsuno
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MAY 2019

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MAY 2019

17

Club news

NEW MEMBERSHISTORIC ARTWORK RETURNSPHOTOS: YOSHIKAZU TSUNOREGULAR MEMBERSYUMIKO HORIE is the“Blessing,” an artwork by
the renowned artist Toko
Shinoda that has long
belonged to the FCCJ, wasunveiled in a new place ofhonor by Tokyo Governor
Yuriko Koike on March 29.
The work was restored andreframed by the Tolman
Collection, whose founder,
Norman Tolman, is an
Associate Member.
“Blessing,” now displayed
at the junction of the main
corridor leading to the Main
Bar, is a stunning exampleof traditional Japanesecalligraphy and modern
abstract expressionism by
Shinoda, who turned 106
the day before the event.
A number of her otherworks were also on display
at the Club for several
weeks, courtesy of the
Tolman Collection.
In her remarks at theunveiling, Governor Koike,an admirer of Shinoda’s art,
expressed her appreciation
to the Club for its support ofJapanese artists.

At
the
Club

Carlos Ghosn, former
Nissan CEO, in a video
message after his rearrest,
April 9Junichiro Hironaka,
Carlos Ghosn’s defense
lawyer, April 2

18

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Miho Hoshino, Chuo Gyorui Co., Ltd.
Masayuki Yamada, Chuo Gyorui Co., Ltd.
Yuji Kumahara, Daiwa Asset Management
Takeshi Maeda, Mitsubishi Corporation
Katsunori Nishikawa, Matsui & Company, Ltd.
Noriko Sato, US Naval Air Facility Atsugi,
Japan
Atsushi Yamakoshi, Keizai Koho Center
REINSTATEMENT (ASSOCIATE MEMBERS)
Toshio Egawa, Egawa Strategics Laboratory
Nobuo Jinnai, Sumitomo Mitsui AssetManagement Co., Ltd.
Hiroko Nakamoto, K.K. Nakamoto

NEW IN THE LIBRARY
Japan Story: in Search of a Nation,
1850 to the Present
Christopher Harding
Allen Lane
Empire of Hope: the Sentimental Politics
of Japanese DeclineDavid LehenyCornell University Press
Oyako: an Ode to Parents and Children
Bruce Osborn
Sora Books
Gift from Bruce Osborn
Tinian and the Bomb: Project Alberta andOperation Centerboard
Don A. Farrell ; Gordon E. Castanza (ed.)
Micronesian Productions
Gift from Mark Schreiber

PHOTOS: ALBERT SIEGEL

Junichiro Hironaka, Carlos Ghosn’s defense lawyer,
April 4

Opposite: Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike unveils
the artwork alongside the Club’s Second Vice
President Robert Whiting, and above, celebrates
with Norman Tolman.

“I WANT TO TELLYOU THAT THIS IS ACONSPIRACY.
THIS IS ABOUT A
PLOT, A CONSPIRACY,BACKSTABBING.”“WE CANNOT RULE OUT THE POSSIBILITYTHAT THE PROSECUTORS MAY ADD SOMEADDITIONAL CHARGES AGAINST MR. GHOSN.
IF THIS WERE TO BE THE CASE, THE TRIAL
MAY GO ON MUCH LONGER THAN WE NOWEXPECT. BUT THIS IS IN THE HANDS OF
THE PROSECUTORS.”“GIVEN THE CONDITIONS AGREED TO
WHEN HE WAS RELEASED, THERE WASNO RISK OF MR. GHOSN DESTROYINGEVIDENCE OR FLEEING. TO REARRESTSOMEONE ON A RELATED CHARGE IN
THIS SITUATION IS UNHEARD OF. . . .
THE REASON IS TO CONTROL HIM AND
STOP HIM FROM SPEAKING FREELY.”

deputy editor-in-chief of
AFPBB News, a Japaneseaffiliate of Agence France
Presse. She started hercareer as a Yomiuri Shimbun
correspondent, covering
a wide range of social
issues, including natural disasters andremnants of war in Japan. Her interests
include conflicts and humanitarian
responses, which led her to an MSc in
conflict studies at SOAS, Universityof London, and a subsequent careerwith international organizations suchas the UN and INGO. She returned tojournalism in 2018 with AFPBB.

Carlos Ghosn’s video press
conference on April 9(above, with lawyer Junichiro
Hironaka in foreground) wasvery well attended.
MAY 2019

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MAY 2019

Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Moneyand How to Spend Smarter
Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler ; Matt Trower (ill.)
HarperGift from Jeff Kreisler
19