The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of JapanMay 2016, Volume 48 No. 5, ¥400

The
photographer’s
legacy:Ourmembers
speak out
about theirwork

Vol. 48, Number 5

May 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; Patrick Zoll, Neue
Zürcher Zeitung; Sonja Blaschke, Freelance;
John R. Harris, Freelance

In this issue
The Front Page
From the President by Suvendrini Kakuchi
Collections: Kyushu earthquakes by the numbers
From the archives by Charles Pomeroy

p14
4
4
5

Cover photo of Minamiaso, Kumamoto by Everett Kennedy Brown

Wreckage – and recovery
Photographs by Richard Atrero de Guzman and Michael Penn

6State of the art
by Tim Hornyak

8

Taken
Club-member photographers’ portfolio

11

ProfileBob Kirschenbaum
by Bob Neff
Exhibition
Ise Jingu and the origins of Japanby Miori Inata
Club News
Asa-kai/Meet the Press/
New Members/New in the Library
FCCJ

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17

17

FCCJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President Suvendrini Kakuchi,
University World News, UK
1st Vice President Peter Langan, Freelance
2nd Vice President Imad Ajami, IRIS Media
Secretary Mary Corbett, Cresner MediaTreasurer Robert Whiting, Freelance
Directors at Large
Masaaki Fukunaga, the Sanmarg
Milton Isa, Associate Member
Yuichi Otsuka, Associate Member
James Simms, Forbes Contributor, Freelance
Ex-officio Lucy Birmingham
Kanji William Sposato, Freelance

MARTIN HLADIKBob
Kirschenbaum

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

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/

3

FRONT PAGE

COLLECTIONSKYUSHU EARTHQUAKESBY THE NUMBERS

From thePresident

500+

Number of earthquakes between
Thursday, April 14 and Monday, April 18

6.5 7.3

Saturday, April 16

Magnitude offirst major quake

70+
450

earthquakes higher
than 4 on Japan’s
intensity scale of 7

26

in Oita
Prefecture

110,000

The number of people in shelters at
the peak, Sunday, April 17
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3.2%
97+

Number of people
who sufferedeconomy-classsyndrome after
sleeping in car

1.8 million
300

Number of emergency meals gov’t shipped

Magnitude ofsecond major quake

elementary, junior highand high schools in
Kumamoto Prefecture
closed after the quake

KIICHI MIYAZAWA’STRAVAILS

Nikkei fall on the
Monday after
the earthquakes➔

Length of one strip ofland that shifted 2 meters➔– Suvendrini Kakuchi

50km➔

MAY MARKS THE END of this Board’s tenure and mystint as your FCCJ president.
We’ll wrap up our year in early June with a final
meeting, followed by elections and the handover to thenew officers. It’s a cycle that has governed our Clubfor years. Some people believe it is too short; after all,what can a board of directors achieve in just a year.
Others, like me, who are still active in developing theirjournalism careers, find the call to serve the Club formore than a year a difficult decision, since the time andcommitment required is a demanding sacrifice.
While that debate continues, however, I want toremind Regular Members that there is still time fornominations. I urge everyone to take the opportunity
to support and guide the FCCJ as it faces several
crucial decisions – the upcoming Club move to a newlocation and building a stable financial platform. This
year, we’ve made enormous progress towards thesegoals. For a start, we’ve begun to share a number ofexpert opinions with members in efforts to facilitate
open debate. A lot of progress has been made on thisfront, which I believe is a very good thing for the Club.
I have learned several important lessons during myterm. I strongly believe there are capable people out
there who can provide valuable support in making
important reforms. By this I mean that journalists
and Associates should respect each other’s talents.
The crucial fact is that some Associates represent
management expertise that journalists need whencalled to govern the Club.
At the same time, the FCCJ is a journalist club
representing the core principles of free speech,transparent debate and respect for diverse opinions.
All efforts in Club management must go towards
protecting this reputation and extreme care must be
taken to maintain it. With mutual respect between
associate and regulars, we can work together to makea strong FCCJ, and I would hope that this remains animportant platform for future boards.
This can only work if there is open debate. We haveour differences and they should be clearly addressed.
But the bottom line is what is best for the FCCJ – notproving a personal point.
A difficult proposition? I don’t think so. One of mymost memorable moments as president was making
the toast at our 70th anniversary celebration last
October. Digging into the FCCJ past to find inspiration
to write my speech was quite an experience. Indeed,
the origins of the FCCJ’s birth, when journalists fromall over the world gathered to report on democracy inEast Asia, must not be forgotten.
As we dash through another busy day of reporting
the news, I urge Regular Members to consider being
a candidate for the elections and to keep the FCCJ
flag flying.
Have a wonderful month of May.

4

FROM THE ARCHIVES

FCCJ

teams of medical professionals who carriedout relief activities across Kumamoto Pref.

20,000
Number of

SDF personnel deployed to help

“Severalhundredbillion yen”

Amount PM Abe has requested for
emergency spending
Sources: AP, Reuters, Kyodo, the Japan Times,
the Asahi Shimbun
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Kiichi Miyazawa,
candidate for Secretary
General of the Liberal
Democratic Party (LDP),
presents his views at theClub on Oct. 6, 1987.
He was the first of threecontenders for the LDP’s
top spot to speak at the
FCCJ that month, followedby Noboru Takeshita andShintaro Abe. Naoaki
Usui (McGraw-Hill), thenpresident of the FCCJ,
sits next to Miyazawa.
Miyazawa ended up losing
to Takeshita, who was
supported by outgoing PM
Yasuhiro Nakasone, butlater won the post in 1991.
In early January of 1992,
he gained worldwide fameas the receptacle for the“Bush Barf,” when U.S.
President George H. W.
Bush vomited into his lap
during a state dinner.
Miyazawa had an exceptional career as a bureaucrat andpolitician, but one plagued by scandals. He was born intoa political family – both his grandfather and his father had
been Diet members – but he began his career in 1942 as abureaucrat with the Ministry of Finance, which allowed him
to avoid military service during World War II. After switching
to politics, he was elected to the Upper House of the Diet in
1953, then to the Lower House in 1967. Prominent posts heldby Miyazawa included Minister of International Trade andIndustry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Director General of
the Economic Planning Agency, Chief Cabinet Secretary and
Minister of Finance.
When the Recruit scandal wracked the LDP in 1988,
Miyazawa, as Minister of Finance, resigned along with othermembers of Takeshita’s cabinet. He became prime ministerin 1991, just in time to oversee the bursting of Japan’s asset
bubble, which some partly blame on his earlier low-interest
policies. Foreshadowing current events, a law passed by his
administration allowed Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to be sent
overseas for “peacekeeping missions.” Miyazawa’s financial
reforms, introduced to cope with post-bubble economic
stagnation, had little effect and another scandal involving amember of his faction brought a no-confidence motion in theDiet and his resignation in 1993.
Miyazawa, however, returned to government in 1998,
serving as Finance Minister until 2001. He retired frompolitics in 2003 after Prime Minister Jun’ichiro Koizumi set anage limit for LDP political candidates. Miyazawa died in Tokyo
at the age of 87 on June 28, 2007.

— Charles Pomeroy
5

FEATURE
KYUSHU EARTHQUAKE

Helping hands

Top to bottom: Trucks deliver
water after supplies were cut;
A priest makes his rounds
past a collapsed home in
Kumamoto City; young men
with salvaged materials fromthe ruins in Mashiki.
Frame grabs from videos by
Michael Penn (Shingetsu News
Agency)Wreckage – and recovery

A clean breakBoys take a welcome bathprovided by the Self-Defense
Forces after the quakes
destroyed houses and cut
off the water supply. Mishiki,
Kumamoto. Photograph byRichard Atrero de Guzman

Proving that news photography still has the ability tomove us emotionally, some Club Member photographers
captured striking images from Kyushu following the seriesof powerful earthquakes last month.
6

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FEATURE
PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIAL
An FCCJ photography roundtable discusses everythingfrom camera bodies to copyright in the selfie age

State of the art
by TIM HORNYAK

I

t’s been nearly two centuries since Nicéphore Niépce created what’s
recognized as the world’s first photograph with an 1820s view of rooftops
in France. It took at least a day to develop that grainy image, a span oftime that today sees over a billion photos uploaded to social media sites. With
smartphones in the pockets of nearly everyone, we live in a kind of vast social
spectacle powered by the camera. As the French Marxist writer Guy Debord
wrote long ago about the spread of consumer culture, “The spectacle is not acollection of images; rather, it is a social relationship between people that ismediated by images.”
The FCCJ has long served as home to photographers who have documented
news, social affairs and people of all walks of life in Japan and East Asia. A groupof club members who work in photography in various capacities recently got
together to discuss what it’s like to be a photographer in Tokyo today and the many
challenges of the profession. The participants were Michael Penn, Rodrigo Marín,Martin Hladik, Yoichi Yabe, Katsura Endo, Said Karlsson and Bruce Osborn.

Around the table:

Left to right: Bruce Osborn, Katsuro Endo,
Said Karlsson, Martin Hladik

FILM VERSUS DIGITAL

The seven lensmen represent a range of imaging work,from commercial photography for advertisements to news
photography for photo agencies to casual gigs such as taking photos for tourists in Japan. Whatever their focus, theyexamined the need to keep up with ever-evolving camera
technology. New high-end digital single-lens reflex (DSLR)
cameras, such as the 24-megapixel Canon EOS 80D or
the 20-megapixel Nikon D5, cost thousands of dollars but
become obsolete in a matter of years. One of the best things
about living in Tokyo, however, is the abundance of highquality used photography gear at shops such as Fujiya in
Nakano, a favorite among participants at the roundtable.
“When I buy a new lens, I don’t care if it’s second-hand, but
I care when I buy a new body because I don’t know what thesensor condition is like in second-hand cameras,” said Marín, aTokyo-based photographer originally from Mexico. “I buy new
camera bodies and the most important feature is shutter speed.”
Not all photographers are focused on speed. Endo runs
the Hakone Museum of Photography, which features his
stunning images of nearby Mt. Fuji and other landscapesof Japan; he also photographs Buddhist statuary for temple
preservation projects. Aside from a Canon DSLR, Endo uses
a large-format 8 x 10 film camera to capture super high-resolution imagery. Such cameras are cumbersome and slow
but the results are worth it.
“I’m a big fan of old and weird cameras,” said Karlsson,a Swedish photographer and journalist whose images haveappeared in GQ, Bloomberg and other media. “Two of thecameras I enjoy using the most I bought in a flea market in
Hungary 13 years ago. One is a Pentacon Six, which is like an
Eastern Bloc Hasselblad copy with Zeiss glass. The other is a
Canon Dial 35 – it uses regular 35-mm film but you get halfframes for 72 shots per roll, or two pictures on each photo.
I only take one frame a month on average with it. So when I
develop it after a period of two or three years I can get somereally nice surprises. It’s a lot of fun.”

You might be surprised to learn that film photography is
still alive and well among FCCJ shutterbugs. Film sales havedeclined dramatically in recent years, but old-school canisters can still be had at photo outlets such as Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku. In deciding what camera system to use, many
photographers look at the tradeoff between convenience andquality. Of course, seeing the results right away on a camera’s LCD screen can mean the difference between successand failure at a photo shoot or breaking-news event. Waiting hours or days for a lab to develop film seems ridiculously
backward in 2016.
“For everyday use, digital is better. It’s easier, faster,” said
Czech-born Hladik, who focuses on corporate photography,
reportage and portraiture. “But for art output, film is good.
So I think it will continue to exist alongside digital. One reason
is that you don’t need to deal with all these technologies. You
just learn how to shoot film and that’s it. You can concentrateon your photograph instead of dealing with software systems.”“If you go to galleries in New York, I think you’ll find that
fine-art photographers are much more inclined to shootfilm,” said Osborn, an American commercial photographer
who is known for his Oyako portraits of parents and children
in Japan. He has also shot old-style motion pictures for music
videos with a vintage Canon 8-mm film camera he acquiredin Los Angeles.
“Frankly, by the time anything goes through the publication process, you can’t tell the difference,” he added. “Digitalis so much easier to publish and there’s so many advantages
to using it with the internet. Other than for one-of-a-kind fineart, there are very few reasons to shoot with film. There arecertainly possibilities, but I wouldn’t say they arise very often.”

8

STAYING FLEXIBLE
One theme that emerged early in the discussion was the need
to be flexible and adaptive in an era of overwhelming numbers of images generated by people everywhere. That means
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FCCJ

images of, say, Shibuya Crossing that are near professional
quality can easily be found on any number of photo sites such
as Instagram.
“With every door that closes there’s always another opportunity, so you have to cope with that,” said Osborn. “The trick
is to be changing and shifting. It’s always been the case thatyou have to move, and keep looking around and using yourimagination.”“Sure, there are more photos around these days but thanks
to the internet there has also been an explosion of potential
clients,” said Karlsson. “Clients that would never have beenable to locate me 10, 15 or 20 years ago can easily find me.”
The tidal wave of selfies inrecent years has seen the inevitable ban on selfie sticks on Japanese railways. But it has alsoengendered ennui of amateur
snapshots with the result thatsome tourists visiting Japan wantto hire photographers to produce
pro-quality portraits and photosof their travels, said Hladik. Both he and Karlsson do touristtrip photos as well as occasional wedding shoots to supplement their income.

unexpected sales coups including one photo that became
the cover of a Swedish edition of a Haruki Murakami novel;
another snapshot he shot in a Berlin park ended up on a package of breakfast cereal.
“That was good money because it was printed by the millions,” Karlsson said. “The Murakami book didn’t bring inmuch. Books in general don’t.”
Since agencies want to maximize the earnings potentialof any given image, they often require model-release forms
when people are photographed. Even a casual snapshot, likethe Berlin park photo, can be sold or licensed to third parties for commercial purposes. Not only does the paperwork
present a hassle for photographers, the unfamiliar legalese canbe very daunting to subjects. The
process can quickly kill the delicate spontaneity of snapping a
powerful portrait.
“Maybe you’re just shooting
because something is interestingin that moment,” said Marín, who
was asked to get release forms when he was on assignment
after the 2011 Tohoku disaster. “It takes a lot of time to shootsomeone and then ask for a signature.”
If that weren’t enough, agencies also require release forms
for certain kinds of privately owned property. Marín notedthat operators of landmarks such as Tokyo Tower and Tokyo
Skytree demand permission forms and fees for commercial
images taken on their premises.
“Generally, if you take a picture of someone’s house andthat picture will be used for commercial purposes, you need aproperty release, which makes it impossible in many cases tosell a lot of pictures,” said Karlsson.
Yabe has been photographing yachts for over 30 years,
including boats competing in the America’s Cup. He notedthat they would all need release forms for commercial imagery, and that’s why he doesn’t work with any agencies.

“With every door that closes
there’s always anotheropportunity, so you have tocope with that”

PHOTO AGENCY PITFALLSPHOTOS: ANDREW POTHECARYFROM DSLRs TO COMMUNIST CAMERAS

Photo agencies are one way that photographers in Tokyo canramp up the number of eyeballs viewing their work, but they
have their own challenges. Marín shoots everything frompoliticians to fashion and technology for Tokyo-based Aflophoto agency. He said he went with a local outfit because it’seasier to meet editors, stay in touch and ensure that he’s getting paid properly.
“I can go to the office and say, ‘What’s going on? Why aren’t
my pictures selling?’” Marín said with a smile. “It’s easier tojoin smaller agencies compared to, say, Getty or AP.”
Karlsson is affiliated with two Swedish agencies. He’s had
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MAY 2016

9PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIAL

Taken

A portfolio of
the work of someof the Club’s
photographer Members

Around the table 2:

Left to right: Yoichi Yabe, Rodrigo Reyes Marín,
Michael Penn

PERMISSIONS AND COPYRIGHT
The matter of release forms dovetails into the issue ofattempts to control camera work in general in Japan. Tokyo
police, for instance, have been known to question people
working with tripods and camera gear around the Diet building; the same has happened with shopkeepers in Akihabara.
“If you’re doing journalism, it’s in the public interest andif you’re in a public area, everything is fair game as far as
I’m concerned,” said Penn, who mainly does video reports ofpolitics and other news for overseas news
agencies. “I’ve only had difficultly on private property such as JR stations. Occasionally private security guards will ask
you what you’re doing. I shot somethingat Minato Mirai and got hassled by theirrent-a-cop.”
The right to take a photo is inevitably linked to the right to use that photo.
While the internet has vastly scaled up
sales channels for photographers, italso exposes them to unauthorized useof their works. Karlsson said he gets
requests from independent bloggers whowant to use his Japan street photography,
and he generally grants it for nonprofit
blogs. He also said that the Independent
used a photo from his Instagram feed – ashot of himself in an owl café – without credit or permission
and has ignored his demands to take it down.
Said Osborn: “I don’t worry too much about unauthorizeduse because the use of my photos has been good for introducing myself, as advertising.”

forms, as well as the importance of hashtags for news events.
Marín, for instance, watermarks his social media images with
the Aflo logo, while Endo only puts low-resolution images on
his website.
“If we establish a relationship of trust via email, then I cansend them a better image,” Endo said. “It takes time.”“Everyone will come to your website through Facebook,
Twitter and other social media sites,” said Penn. “Creating
your own brand is a key point of surviving professionally injournalism or photojournalism. You’ve got
to be savvy about your use of the internet.”“Instagram helps build my brand,” said
Karlsson. “It can give people a behind-thescenes view of that one shot that ends up
in a newspaper.”Asked for tips for aspiring or establishedphotographers, the photographers noted
the increasing demand for video over still
images, but emphasized the crucial need
to be passionate and focused.
“You have to find a niche and be the
go-to person for that,” said Penn. “If you
establish yourself in that corner of themarket, then you might be able to survive
by doing it.”“You have to love photography, because
you’re not going to get into it for the money,” said Osborn. “You’ll have some bad days but if you love what
you’re doing you can get through them. The one thing you don’t
want to do is think too much. Nowadays with social media,
you don’t need big publishers like before. If you have the passion and the energy, you can build your own audience for yourphotography.” ❶by Jun Takagi
Irezumi artist Horiyoshi III,
Yokohama
www.JunTakagi.com“You have tofind a niche, thenyou might be able
to survive”

SELF-PROMOTION AND ADVICE
Just like other artists and entrepreneurs, photographersmust promote themselves. The attendees discussed the pros
and cons of Instagram, Facebook and other social media plat10

by Katsura Endo
Blue Mt. Fuji: a mountain’s shapewww.hmop.com/katsura/by Takashi Aoyama
A man walks past the five-story pagoda
of Sensoji temple in Asakusa, Tokyo.

Tim Hornyak is a freelance writer who has worked for IDG News,
CNET News, Lonely Planet and other media. He is the author of Loving
the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots.
MAY 2016

FCCJ

www.takashixphoto.com
FCCJ

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11

PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIAL

by Martin Hladik
by Bruce Osborn

Elderly people from thecountryside come to Tokyo to sell
their products. This woman takes amoment of rest at Shinjuku Station
before moving her heavy luggage
back to the train.

Child: Akira Kagenaka/Buddhist monk
Parent: Taijun Kagenaka/Buddhist monkwww.bruceosborn.com

www.agencymh.com

by Richard Atrero de Guzman
Sept. 16, 2015: Protesters scuffle
with police in front of the National
Diet building to protest against the
security bills, the day before thecommittee passes the legislation.

by Said Karlsson
Halloween 2015, Tokyo,
in coverage for Bloomberg
http://saidkarlsson.com

www.bahagski.com

by Rodrigo Reyes Marin
Pro-wrestler Owashi Toru,
wearing a Mexican Charro hat,sits on a spectator during the
Lucha Festa match at Zepp
Tokyo. March 20, 2009, Tokyo.
Photo for Aflo.

by Yoichi Yabe
Gigantic J Class yacht“Endeavour,” the 1934 America’s
Cup challenger, sails St. Barths
Bucket Regatta

www.rodrigoreyesmarin.com

12

www.yoichiyabe.com

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13

PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIALPROFILE

Bob Kirschenbaum
by BOB NEFF“I

t’s not an easy business,” says Bob Kirschenbaum about
the world of photography, in which he’s been deeply
involved for more than half a century. But it has beena good business for the 80-year-old head of one of Tokyo’s
most dynamic photo agencies. His career has not only satisfied his love of art but given him much pleasure over his years
of interacting with some of the world’s great photographers.
Interestingly, Kirschenbaum has never wanted to be a photographer. “Photography never interested me as photography,”he says. “It interested me as art. To this day I don’t really know
how to use a camera, with all the settings and stuff.”
He stumbled into the field through standard journalism.
After growing up in Manhattan and attending the acclaimed
Bronx School of Science and Mathematics, he found himself
at Purdue University in Indiana, best known at the time forits engineering program and powerful football teams.
But that wasn’t enough to maintain the interest of
Kirschenbaum, who dropped out, wandered around theAmerican South, got picked up for vagrancy, and beat jail by
joining the U.S. Air Force, which taught him Russian in order
to listen in on Soviet internal communications. Soon after,in 1957, he wangled a transfer to Japan, mainly to escape ananti-Semitic superior, and within three months had become
editor of a newspaper at the Tachikawa U.S. Air Force Basewest of Tokyo.
“I’d know if the photos were good or not because of myinterest in art,” he recalls. He also spent time learning page
design, a job that proved fateful because it led to sharing an
office with Al Cullison, the base historian. Cullison was alsoa venerable denizen of the FCCJ’s then highly popular No.1
Shimbun Alley bar.
Kirschenbaum drifted back to New York after being discharged and, at Columbia University, completed Japanesestudies he’d begun in the Air Force. But bitten by the Japanbug, he moved back to take a job with the Japan Times. When
Cullison, who was then at the Asahi Evening News, sponsored
him for membership in the FCCJ in 1963, he signed up. Except
for a brief stint in Seoul to help set up what is now called the
Korea Herald, he has been here ever since.
KIRSCHENBAUM HAD LEFT THE Japan Times and establisheda fairly successful PR company when he decided to launch
the photo agency Pacific Press Service (PPS) in 1965 in partnership with Cullison. Among the first syndicates they represented were the London Express News and Feature Services,and the Telegraph and Sunday Times magazines, at a time
when newspapers’ weekend magazines were lavish publications with many well-known and well-paid photographers.
Getting the Sunday Times business was a real coup, andcame with the help of fellow FCCJ member Henry Scott
Stokes. The owner of the company, Lord Thomson, was on his
way to Japan for business talks in 1969, when Stokes begged
Kirschenbaum to give him a briefing about the Japanesenewspaper business. Kirschenbaum agreed, and spent overan hour breaking it down for the press magnate.
As their meeting drew to an end, Lord Thomson said, “You’ve
Bob Neff is a former president of the FCCJ.
14

At homeat work

Bob
Kirschenbaum
at his agency
offices

Photograph by MARTIN HLADIK

been so generous. What do you want in return?” “I’d like to represent the Sunday Times magazine,” Kirschenbaum recalls
saying. “And Lord Thomson said to me, ‘Okay, it’s yours.’”
The opportunity to represent the respected photo agency
Magnum soon followed. In 1969, Kirschenbaum received aphone call from a magazine editor acquaintance offering to
introduce him to the photographers Cornell Capa and André
Kertész, who were hanging an exhibition called “Concerned
Photography” at the Matsuya Department Store. “I went overand met them and Hiroshi Hamaya and Hiroji Kubota,” says
Kirschenbaum. “Over dinner with Cornell I found out that
Magnum had dropped their Japanese agent, and after about a
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FCCJ

year of negotiations I ended up representing them.”
By 1974, things were running smoothly enough that
Kirschenbaum could look for new frontiers. “I realized there
was a huge market for photography exhibitions at the department stores, which were doing great shows of art, kimono,lacquerware . . . everything.” He had visited an exhibition heldby the well-known photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson in
Paris. “I met him there, and even though he was surprisedthat a stock photo agency wanted to do it, he said okay,”says Kirschenbaum. He made a presentation to the Odakyu
Department Store, who signed on. “It just seemed like a natural progression for our company to me,” he says.
FCCJ

MAY 2016

It was clearly the heyday for such exhibitions. Kirschenbaum
organized more than 50 major shows over the years, producing lavish catalogs of 100 to 150 pages that would sell forunder ¥2,000. The list of photographers was impressive: Ansel
Adams, William Klein, Sarah Moon, Alfred Stieglitz. . . . The
shows would draw two or three thousand visitors on weekdays,
with double and triple those figures on the weekends.
IT WAS A PHENOMENON THAT was particular to Japan andnowhere else – and one that has since collapsed along withthe department store business. But at the time, PPS was also
helping develop the business of selling prints, an area that
15

CLUB NEWSand is, second to none.” In
had been largely ignored
Bob at the FCCJ
fact, at one time, Sony had
in Japan. “We sold amore than five calendars
tremendous
amountfor their various markets,tomuseums,”says
and PPS was selling corKirschenbaum. “A collecporations photographs bytion of 412 prints by Cartsuch esteemed shooters as
ier-Bresson to the Osaka
Ernst Haas.
University of Arts. 542
prints of Eugene Smith’s
TIMES CHANGE, AND SO
only exhibition and thehas the photography busifirst photography bookness, though Kirschenbaumin history, The Pencil of
remains optimistic. “We had
Nature by Fox Talbot,
70 employees in our Ginza
and 542 prints of Eugene
office at the peak,” he says,
Smith’s only exhibition to“and we have 12 now. And
the Tokyo Metropolitan
instead of people squinting
Museum of Photography.
at light boxes we have peoWe sold a lot, includple peering at computers,
ing 100 prints by Robwhich can call up over 30
ert Capa, to a Yokohama
million photographs.”
museum.”And while one might
But some sectors of
think that someone who
the market were evenbuilt a business might be bitter about the technological revobeyond the talents of Kirschenbaum and PPS. While Japaneselution that has changed all the parameters, Kirschenbaum
were, and are, interested in looking at great photographs, theysays no. “The world changes,” he says. “Technology changes,
do not collect it. Or hang it on their walls. “The average perscience changes, society changes. We have to learn to use theson doesn’t think of using photography in their home,” says
new tools.”
Kirschenbaum. “Photographs are all around and people are
But he does sympathize with the photographers whose
always taking pictures. But the wall space at home, which isbusiness models are changing daily. “You can feel the frusgenerally very small, is mostly for mementoes and stuff. Not
tration of the photographers who see those people who justgreat photographs.”
happen to shoot a celebrity or an accident in the street and
PPS, which was known for having knowledgeable sales
are happy to get five dollars and their name out there,” hestaff who could talk to editors and buyers about photograsays. “That’s run a lot of photojournalists out of the business.
phy, then expanded further. “After meeting Hiroshi HamaIn fact, a lot of photojournalists I know have given up theirya that day with Capa, we became friends, and I ended up
jobs and, ironically, are teaching young people who want toworking with him,” says Kirschenbaum. “We organized thebe photojournalists.”
exhibition on his 50 years in photography.” Hamaya ended
Kirschenbaum, who has just turned 80 but still works
up as one of many local photographers that his agency wentin his office (“as long as I enjoy it,” he says) believes thaton to work with, including Eikoh Hosoe, Takeji Iwamiya andphotographers today need a niche if they want to get by.
many less well-known photographers. The company had
Wedding photography – asuch effect on photograhuge market in the U.S.
phers and photography
LUNCH AT THE CLUB WITH HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON AND
that is making inroads in
in Japan, in fact, thatFORMER FCCJ PRESIDENT AND PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING
Japan – is one example.
the Professional PhoAP PHOTOGRAPHER MAX DESFOR“It’s something similar to
tographers Society ofthe shashinkan,” he says,
Japan gave PPS an award“THIS WAS ABOUT 1978 or 80, somewhere around there. I had“the local photo studios
in 1989 for increasing
just sold Cartier-Bresson’s collection to Osaka University of Arts,
that would take photos ofawareness of the public
and the organizers invited him to Japan for the opening. He camefamilies at important times
about the cultural value
to Tokyo, where he worked out of our office for about 10 days,in their lives. Now peopleof photography.
and we got to know each other. For some reason, I happened toare hiring photographers
Kirschenbaum
says
mention the name of Max Desfor, who was a friend and member
to document the wholethat PPS’s business wasof the FCCJ. And Henri instantly said, “Max? Max Desfor? I gotta
marriage process, fromto make money for thesee him!”betrothal to honeymoon.”
photographers and that’s“So I set up a lunch at the Club. They were so happy to see each
But whether it’s famous
what they did. They did
other because, it seems, they had worked together at Gandhi’s
photojournalists or thoseit by selling to magafuneral way back in 1948. They described what they did together
working at local studios
zines, educational comback then. Caught up in the crowds, Cartier-Bresson was flat onrecording moments in peopanies and advertising
the ground, holding his camera high above his head, so high that
ple’s lives, Kirschenbaum
agencies, among othhe couldn’t reach the shutter. Max had happened to get a perch asays it’s the people behind
ers. Corporate calendars
bit higher up, so Cartier-Bresson asked him, “Max, can you press
the lens that have kept him
became a huge business.
the shutter for me?” So Max did.
focused on photography.
“Most people know about“And what makes the story great is that the picture – which“They are what makes it
the Pirelli calendar,”
Cartier-Bresson had no way of knowing exactly what he wasinteresting,” he says. “AndKirschenbaum says, “butshooting – won the Overseas Press Award. They thought it wasthey are what has kept me
the Japanese corporate
hilarious and were laughing about it over lunch.”going all these years.” ❶calendar business was,Miori Inata graduatedfrom Tama Art University
in Tokyo, having majoredin oil painting. She
taught fine arts before
relocating to New York.
Since returning to Japanshe has photographed
Ise Jingu for more than adecade. Her photographs
have appeared in the
Washington Post, Yomiuri
Shimbun, Vogue Japanand Aera. She has held
exhibitions at United
Nations, Brooklyn
Botanical Garden,
Harvard University, Tokyo
National Museum, theIsrael Museum and manyother locations.

“Technology changes, sciencechanges, society changes. We haveto learn to use the new tools.”

16

MAY 2016

FCCJ

Ise Jingu and the Origins of Japan
photographs by Miori Inata
IN 1991, I MOVED from my homein Japan to New York City, where
I spent the next 10 years. My world changed, however, as
I watched the terrorist attack of 9/11 from my apartment
window. I began a pilgrimage in search of answers—to holysites around America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
Then I was introduced to Ise Jingu. The moment I set
foot on its grounds I could tell that it was a special place. It
speaks to me deeply with its energy. It is very much alive,
and it changes with the seasons. I returned numerous times

FCCJ EXHIBITION

after my first visit, losing myself in my photography.
Over 10 years I shot many rituals of the Shikinen Sengu,
the unique renewal process of Ise Jingu. This “cycle” is one
based on passing everything to the next generation. It is asymbol of a cycle comparable to life itself. Ise Jingu is theultimate expression of humans not only living in harmony
with nature, but living “as” nature.
I feel its philosophy could serve as a beacon of light forhumanity, becoming not only a treasure for Japan, but for
the entire world.❶

IT’S HER BAG

MEET THE PRESS . . .

At the Asa-kai
held on April
12, Hiroko
Samejima, CEOof Andu Amet,
described her
struggles andultimate successcreating a bevy
of beautiful bagsfor her Andu
Amet design
label using thesilky soft leather of local goats in Ethiopia. In thewhole process, she has also developed a market in
Japan for a product with a truly sustainable model
made by local Ethiopian craftspeople – for which she
has won recognition and awards. She recalled herexperiences growing up in war-torn Iran, somethingthat toughened her spirit and led her to create theultimate soft and sturdy bags that “hug you.”

VOA correspondent and former FCCJ President Steve
Herman’s captivating talk at our April 19 Meet the Press
event included insights from a 40-year career traversing
from analog reporter to avid digital correspondent witha Twitter following of nearly 420,000. He highlighted
the importance ofnews organizations
to keep up in this
hyper-speed digitalage and his concern
about the growing
number of fake newssites that appear
legitimate. He cited
one New York Times
editorial that linked
to a fake story, andsaid he’s now making
efforts to educate
the public in news
literacy. (LB)

FCCJ

MAY 2016

17

CLUB NEWS

New
Members

Discount LexisNexis
Subscriptions
for FCCJ Members

YOICHI YABE celebrated his 25th anniversary as a yachting
photographer in 2014. Born in Tokyo in 1957, he graduated from thelaw department of Hosei University and took a one-year scholarship
to UC San Diego, where he also learned how to sail. After working
for Yamaha for four years, he became an editor and photographer ata publisher specializing in marine sports. He graduated from Tokyo
Photography College in 1988, and started a career as a professional
photographer/journalist in 1989. He is the only Japanese member ofthe international marine photographer’s group Sea & Co and the J
Class yacht Endeavour’s current official photographer, and his work is
published in Seahorse and other international yachting magazines.

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

ANNA JULIA ZAPPEI has been news director of AFPBB, a Japaneselanguage news website affiliated with French news agency Agence
France-Presse or AFP, since January 2015. A German native, Julia
grew up in Germany and India before doing a Bachelor’s degree
in journalism at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern
University in Chicago. After university, she worked as a copy editor
for an English-language business daily in Vietnam before moving to
Malaysia. After working as a general news reporter at the AssociatedPress, she joined AFP in 2011, where she covered general news,
including the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370, opposition
leader Anwar Ibrahim’s trial and general elections. She speaks English,
German and French fluently – and hopes to speak Japanese soon.

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.

REGULAR MEMBERSTOMOHIRO OHSUMI is a Tokyo-based photographer specializing
in editorial photography. After receiving a Master’s degree inphotography, he worked for six years as a photographer at a
publisher producing both editorial and advertising photography for
their weekly business magazine. In 2006 he joined Bloomberg L.P.
as a photographer and photo editor covering business, financial andpolitical news and managing regional photographers in Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan. He started his freelance career on Sept. 1, 2015,
after nearly 10 years at Bloomberg.

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Patricia Ockwell, Rachel King,
British Embassy
Kazuhiko Adachi, Intelligent Wave Inc.
Junji Morita, Nihon Food Supply Inc.

New in the
Library

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

Eikokujin janarisuto ga
mita gendai nihonshi noshinjitsu: Nihon wa sekai notakara de aru
Henry Scott-Stokes;
Hiroyuki Fujita (trans.)
IBAS Shuppan
Gift from Hiroyuki Fujita
Rinkai
Eiichiro Tokumoto
Shinchosha
Gift from Eiichiro Tokumoto

The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of JapanMay 2016, Volume 48 No. 5, ¥400

The
photographer’s
legacy:Ourmembers
speak out
about theirwork

REINSTATEMENT (ASSOCIATE)
Tetsujiro Hayashi, National Center of
Neurology and Psychiatry

Genron gaiko: dare ga
higashi ajia no kiki okaiketsu suru noka
Yasushi Kudo
NC Communications
Gift from Suvendrini
KakuchiBakugai to hannichi:
Chugokujin no fukakai na
kodo genri
Ke LongJiji Tsushin Shuppankyoku
Gift from Fujitsu ResearchInstitute

High-stakes schooling:
what we can learn fromJapan's experiences withtesting, accountability, andeducation reform
Christopher Bjork
The University of Chicago
Press
Japan Company Handbook(Spring 2016)
Toyo Keizai Inc.

SUPPORT YOURCLUB MAGAZINE
Please send your story ideas to no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp,
and be sure to note whether you have (or have access to) visuals.
Our rates are ¥20 per published word, ¥20,000 for a front coverphoto. Photo essays: ¥15,000 for full-page photos and ¥5,000
for smaller shots. All payments will be made in chits to yourmember account.

18

MAY 2016

FCCJ