The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

Jan. 2019 Vol. 51 No. 1 ¥400

Year of the Pig:
FCCJ journalists
look to the future
The Japan Times:
Language, thepast tense and thefuture imperfect
Carlos Ghosn:
Deciphering a fallen
corporate icon
2019 gets underway . . .

Reporting Thailand
Policing events in
the FCCT

Spotting fake news
How to recognize amanipulated video

Building a profile
Stirling Elmendorf,
photographer

In this issueVol. 51, Number 1

January 2019contact the editors

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

From the President by Abigail Leonard
Freedom of the Press news: The FCCT’s ongoingstruggle with the Thai military government
by Michael Mackey
From the archives: Canadian turned Britishpress mogul
by Charles Pomeroy

4
4

5

FEATURES

THE FCCJ ONLINE: www.fccj.or.jp

The Dog days are over.
Welcome to the Year of the Pig
by Members

6

War of words
by Tim Hornyak

9Page 10: Following Nissan CEO
Hiroto Saikawa’s press conference
about chairman Carlos Ghosn’sarrest, Ghosn’s former speechwriter
looks at what Ghosn did for Nissan– and what Nissan did for Ghosn.

AP PHOTO

MEMBER EVENTSPRESS CONFERENCE VIDEOSCLUB CALENDAR

OPINION

The savior who fell to earth
by John R. Harris

10

PROFILECLUB INFORMATION

Stirling Elmendorf
by Justin McCurry

12

Editor Gregory Starr
Art Director Andrew Pothecarywww.itsumo-music.jp/design
Editorial Assistants 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 Ayako Mie
Professional Activities Tetsuo Jimbo,
David McNeill
Public Relations Rose Argyropoulos
Publications Gavin Blair, Geoff Tudor
Special Projects Haruko Watanabe
Foreign Press in Japan Robin Harding

COLUMNS
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

New technology and the fake news battlefront
by Francesco Marconi and Till Daldrup
Last month in photosby photographer Members

1416CLUB NEWSNo. 1 SHIMBUN ONLINEFREEDOM OF THE PRESS INFO

Join the Film Committee . . .
Exhibition: Year of the BoarIn Memoriam: Remembering Jack Spillum
New Members, New in the library
FCCJJANUARY 2019

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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 design: uses Apple emoji

3The Front Page

FROM THE PRESIDENT
DEAR FELLOW MEMBERS,
A very happy New Year fromPresident Peter Langan and myself!
We are all settling into the newfacility and getting to know thepremises. On the dining front,
we’re happy to announce that the Correspondents’
Lunch is once again on the menu and, as of thiswriting, we are very close to agreeing on a new Foodand Beverage contract that promises exciting new
dining choices in the year ahead. This has been a longprocess and we appreciate everyone’s patience; we’re
hopeful the new food will make it well worth the wait.
Meantime, the Professional Activities Committee
has been doing great things, hosting a press
conference with former Tokyo Governor Shintaro
Ishihara as well as Kazuhisa Takeda, former directorof Takeda Pharmaceuticals, who spoke about
his opposition to the company’s acquisition of
Shire. We also held a lively discussion about press
freedom, which over 66,000 viewers watched on
the livestream. Looking forward, the committee has
tentatively booked famed American film director Rob
Reiner in February.
And there is more good PAC news to report:
We’re very close to hiring a new staff member.
That will be a big help in ensuring we get the best
speakers at the club and should also make the current
staff’s workload a bit more manageable. A special
thanks to Ito-san for holding it all together these pastfew months.
There have been other successful events at the
Club: The Communications & PR Committee held a
Rugby Media Night on Dec. 3. Committee members
Kumagai-san and Yamada-san as well as board liaison
Dan Sloan were instrumental in setting up theevent with rugby counterparts, and the GM and his
team did an excellent job with food and beveragearrangements. Total attendance was 280, including
the chairman of the Japan World Cup Committee andother sport VIPs and some members of the Tokyo
2020 Organizing Committee, as well as some 116
paying guests.
Finally, we’d like to issue one last reminder thatthe deadline for the Swadesh DeRoy Scholarship is
Jan. 18, 2019. This year’s theme is “Japan’s Future
in a Changing World: Geopolitical, Economic, or
Demographic Dynamics.” Any current undergraduate
or graduate student in Japan, or any Japanese student
enrolled in an overseas journalism program, is eligible
to apply, so please encourage the aspiring journalists
in your lives to enter.
This has been a challenging but also very exciting
year for the Club, so on behalf of President Peter
Langan and the rest of the board, thank you for youroptimism and support. We are all looking forward to
big things in the year ahead.
– Abigail Leonard
4

FREEDOM OF THE PRESS NEWSFROM THE ARCHIVES

The FCCT’s ongoingstruggle with the Thai
military government
By Michael Mackey
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE OF freedom of the press isn’t
an easy thing to do in a country run by the military. The
Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand has tried towalk a fine line in continuing an active events program
despite some serious restrictions – and even shutdowns
by the authorities. What it can and cannot do is weighed
down by some fairly draconian pieces of legislation and,since the 2014 coup, a military government with very
definite opinions about the press.
Things got off to a rough start in the early days of thecoup when the Club upset the authorities by allowing the
fugitive politician Chaturon Chaiseng a platform.
“Chaturon was one of the last of the former cabinet
members to turn himself in, and a subject of genuine
media interest,” says FCCT President Dominic Faulder.
“He made no attempt to resist arrest after he had finishedmaking a statement, and the soldiers sent to collect him

Six times since the coup, police
have shut down or forced
cancellation of Club events . . . it isclear who still wields the powerfrom the clubhouse in steel helmets and webbing arrived
twenty minutes late. Three weeks later, we had the new
junta spokesman sitting in the same spot.”
Things have improved since. Police no longer enter theClub and sit around as they did in the early days of thecoup. “It’s pretty stable, and it’s not gotten worse,” says
Faulder. “Our relationship with Lumpini police station,
which has the Club in its precinct, is civil enough. We are
not an activist organization – we are a press club. Muchof our programming is geared to current events andwhatever happens to be topical. That can unavoidably
cause friction.”
A non-provocative approach has been key to how
the FCCT has dealt with Thailand’s military rulers. The
military was looking for a way to talk to the foreign media
and the Club’s attitude has been that it is there for thegenerals as much as the politicians. That seems to havesome traction with the military.
“We want to hear what they have to say – our door
has always been open to them,” says Faulder, thoughappearances by government officials, in some ways
the lifeblood of any press club, have been scanty since
the coup. In fact, since 2014, no prime minister has
appeared at the Club, while prior to that it was an annual
JANUARY 2019

FCCJ

event. Only three ministers have visited inthat time.
There have been moments, especially inthe early years of military rule, when theClub’s position was precarious. Six times
since the coup, police have shut down orforced cancellation of Club events. The mostrecent incident shows that it is clear who
still wields the power.
The FCCT had organized a panel
discussion for Sept. 10 about a UN reporton the Rohingya. That itself, while there areparallels with Thailand, wasn’t the trigger
for what turned out to be a swift and brutal
response. But the flyer promoting the event
named General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s
military commander. Although he’s been
cited by the UN for his involvement in
the crackdown on Rohingya, he has somefriends in very high places in the Thai
military and political establishment and wasable to mobilize them to halt the event.
With two hours to go, a dozen Lumpini
police officers showed up, shutting down
the event on the grounds it was a threat tonational security. They were quite clear about
the Club’s lack of options. “We are not asking,”
said Police Col. Thawatkiat Jindakuansanong.
“We are ordering you to cancel.”“In hindsight, we should have left [hisname] out,” says Jonathan Head, former
FCCT president and one of the organizers.
“It’s a reminder that they are watching andthat they will intervene.”
Such heavy-handed responses have forced
the FCCT into some nimble footwork about
rescheduling and repackaging their events.
Another event in May 2017 that promised
to focus on the theft from a public placeof a plaque marking the end of Thailand’s
absolute monarchy (still unsolved, by theway), was also shut down. So the Club very
quickly held an event on the freedom of thepress where the issue of the plaque, among
others, was raised.
With elections scheduled for February,
the hope is things will get easier, althoughgiven the turbulence of Thai politics that is
not a given.
The FCCT has kept going through four
sometimes difficult years, been one of
the few places in Thailand where rational
debate is free and open and kept the issue
of press freedom alive in a country, and aregion, where it is under constant threat.
That is a significant achievement – one ithopes to build on in the coming years. ❶Michael Mackey is a journalist based in Bangkok

and author of the book Sulphated Dreams.

FCCJ

JANUARY 2019

Canadian turned Britishpress mogul

Lord Thomson of Fleet Street updated Club members on his latest press
moves on Oct. 5, 1967. Seated to his left is FCCJ President Al Kaff ofUnited Press International, and to his right is Masaru (Mas) Ogawa of
the Japan Times, who both served on the Board multiple times during the
1960s and were longtime Club stalwarts.
Born in Ontario, Canada, on June 5, 1894, to a Canadian father andan English mother, Roy Herbert Thomson started his career sellingradios. To increase demand for his product, he launched a radio
station in 1931, then bought a local newspaper in 1934. Acquisition of
more radio stations and newspapers followed, as did diversification
into other commercial activities. By the early 1950s, his organization
had grown to 19 newspapers, including one in Florida.
With this as a base, Thomson launched the Canadian Weekly Review,a newspaper for expats living in Britain, purchased the Scotsman
newspaper in 1952 and in 1957 bought Scottish Television. Two years
later, in 1959, his company acquired a group of UK newspapers that
included the Sunday Times, and in 1966 he bought the Times, bringing
the two newspapers under common ownership for the first time.
Thomson’s media empire eventually came to include more than 200
newspapers in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. as well as television andother diversified interests. In the 1970s his involvement in an oil
venture in the North Sea was also successful.
In 1964, Roy Thomson was honored in the U.K. for his public service
by being named Baron Thomson of Fleet, the acceptance of which
resulted in the loss of his Canadian citizenship. Even as a baron,
however, he was known for avoiding ostentation, and continued touse London’s subway system to commute to his office. Later, in 1970,
he was also made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British
Empire (GBE).
Lord Thomson of Fleet died in 1976, leaving his title and businesses
to his son, Kenneth Thomson, who became the 2nd Baron of Fleet but
used the title only in his London office. The son went on to further
expand the Thompson holdings, at one time being named by Forbes as
the richest Canadian, but that is another story.

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

Feature: Predictions

The Dog days are over. Welcome to theAn aging Japan continues to tackle
its labor shortage problem, withflexible work hours, counselingand time off for couples trying toconceive. (If it all fails, companies
to introduce AI and robots toremove human workers from theequation forever.)Year of the Pig– Ilgin Yorulmaz

Dateline, Los Angeles: Shohei Ohtani hits 40
home runs in a year of performing exclusively
as a batter, goes on to star in his first
Hollywood movie and marry Taylor Swift.

Jan. 23: Inspired bytheir success inredesignating theaircraft carrier,Izumo, as a “multipurpose operation
destroyer,” Japan’s
Self-Defence
Forces comes up withimproved names forother military equipment.
Hand grenades are to be renamed “security
fireworks”, assault rifles will be known as “projectile
projectors”, and flame throwers will be rebranded as“utility cigar lighters”. Seppuku is to be referred to as“tummy tickling”.

– Richard Lloyd ParryTOKYO OVERWHELMED
BY FLOOD OF– Bob Whiting

Happy days are here again,
as FCCJ correspondents maketheir predictions for headlines
and stories in 2019

What’s in a Name?

In a bid to reduce costs, newsrooms employ artificial
intelligence to replace editors. The change is quickly
reversed once the internet-connected AI softwareturns every publication into a Trump Twitter feed.
– Albert Siegel

27

FOREIGN WORKERS AFTERCHANGING IMMIGRATION LAW.
– Isabel Reynolds

Diet session extended as gov’t admits it
needs to lose weight– Daniel Hurst

GRAPHICPHOTO | DREAMSTIME.COM‘HonEn’ Trade Deal Hailed as
Example for World6JANUARY 2019

FCCJ

A trade agreement signed on June 1 will set
a vibrant, exciting example for all newly
independent and reformed countries, said
representatives of the Federated State of Honshu
and the Counties of United England.
The agreement comes after the islandsof Okinawa, Shikoku and Hokkaido heldreferendums and voted for independence fromthe island of Honshu.
As Scotland, Wales and Northern Island had
similarly voted to break away as independent
nations from England following Brexit, theHonshu-England, or HonEn, deal made a lot ofsense, the representatives said, declining to be
named or give any details.

BOJ keeps rates on hold (Jan. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Mar. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Apr. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Jun. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Jul. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Aug. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Sep. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Oct. 20, 2019)
BOJ keeps rates on hold (Nov. 20, 2019)– Robin Harding– Peter Langan

FCCJ

JANUARY 20197

Feature: Predictions

Feature: The language of reporting

Winter Cancelled, Cherry
Blossoms Bloom in January;
Nation goes straight fromsweaty autumn to humid spring– David McNeill

RYOKANS ALLOWCUSTOMERS TO HAVE
BREAKFAST FROM 9 AM
– Sonja Blaschke

BREXIT FOR QUEEN: MONARCH PASSES
ON, LEAVING UK AS UK LEAVES EUROPE– John Harris

Aug. 15: Japanese officials are stunned to find that 90 percent
of foreign workers arriving under immigration laws passed lastyear hail from post-Brexit Britain. . . . Sep. 28: On a visit toTokyo, British prime minister Boris Johnson squashes anothersmall child during a Rugby World Cup event. . . . Sep. 30:
In a welcome speech at the Kantei, prime minister Shinzo
Abe congratulates his British counterpart on securing anagreement to sell jam to Saitama.

– Julian Ryall

Dog Days of August
On Aug. 23, 2019, U.S. President Trump, Russian President
Putin and Chinese President Xi stun the world by concluding
a “non-aggression and friendship treaty.” Afterward,
President Trump proudly declares, “This is the deal of the
century, which will stabilize world order.”Soon afterwards revelations surface that the pact
contains a secret protocol by which the three signatories
agree to partition the world, particularly natural resources,
according to their respective spheres of influences.
Based on the terms of the protocol, China will acquire
the disputed Senkaku Islands and Russia will continue its
occupation of the Northern Territories. Bewildered andhumiliated, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces his
resignation, saying “The international situation is bizarre.”
Some observers pointed out that the signing marked 80
years to the day on which the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was
concluded on Aug. 23, 1939, that contained a secret protocol
defining Soviet and German “spheres of influence.”– Eiichiro Tokumoto
8

A year after changing owners, the Japan Times
finds itself embroiled in a fight over the past.

– Justin McCurry

Invasion ofSouth Korea
will ‘savedemocracy’:
Kim Jong-un

War of words

Shinzo Abe tries marijuana edibles
during a trip to the U.S. andbecomes an instant convert andstaunch advocate. On his returnto Japan, he rams through therepeal of the Cannabis Control
Law, decriminalizing medical andrecreational use with immediate
effect. Premium Fridays arerenamed Freaky Fridays andworkers are encouraged to start
the weekend early with a few hits
from a bong. A plethora of creative
solutions to Japan’s demographic,
economic and social problems
spring forth, but nobody can bebothered implementing them. The
birthrate ticks up slightly.
– Gavin BlairAt the Rugby World Cup, Japan’snational team counters All Black’s haka;
performs choreographed routine toNamie Amuro song
– Mustela Nigripes

OSAKA TO OPEN
NATION’S FIRST CASINORESORT IN 2024
– Michael Penn

Osaka wins the nation’s first integrated casino
resort and unveils a detailed plan for the casino
floor that includes hourly performances by
Yoshimoto Kogyo comedians, a special “Yakuza VIPMembers Only”-room, 24 hour takoyaki stands in thelobby, and one-yen slot machines.
– Eric Johnston

By Tim HornyakP

be formed and assigned to review the matter of the controversial wording.
On Dec. 6, an extraordinary message signed by Mizuno wassplashed over one full page in the paper. Titled “We are listening,” it was a statement in which he took responsibility for thedecision to run the Editor’s note and apologized for damaging the trust of readers and employees.
Mizuno, whose only previous byline in the paper had been
an interview with the prime minister, did not walk back thechanges, but said the paper would discuss its choice of language. “It pains us, as journalists, that this note has tarnishedour reputation as an independent voice,” wrote Mizuno, who
did not respond to questions from the Number 1 Shimbun.

ress freedom in Japan has been the focus of growing
debate in recent years amid reports of pressure on
reporters to toe the line of the Abe administration. The
latest episode in this saga was a change in editorial policy on
BUT NOT ALL THE reaction to the JT’s move was negative.
WWII-related terms at the Japan Times, under new manageSome welcomed it. In a Dec. 6 Twitter post retweeted overment since 2017, that sparked heated debate in the newsroom
8,000 times, American attorney and author Kent Gilbert—
and threats of cancellations from irate subscribers.
who contributes a weekly column to the conservative tabloid
It began with a Friday, Nov. 30 page-two “Editor’s note,”
Yukan Fuji – called on his followers to send messages of supappended to a story on a judgment by South Korea’s Supreme
port to the JT. And on Dec. 7, Twitter also saw Masahisa Sato,
Court against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for its use of KoreJapan’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, wonder aloud
an workers. The paper mentioned it was changing nomenwhether the change was “the result of accumulated efforts
clature when referring to comfort women and forced laboror a symbolic change,” seeming to hint that there could haveers to “women who worked in wartime brothels, including
been outside pressure on the paper.
those who did so against their will, to provide sex to Japanese
In response to questions from the Number 1 Shimbun, thesoldiers” and “wartime laborers.” Many readers, including your humble scribe(disclosure: I am also ancern,st”
contributor to the Japan
extremein co
of
pa
e
at
th
st
a
in
ve
ha
“beinggh levels of fright geable coenditions
Times), were surprised.
an
ou
ch
th
rtain
The reaction from readdepended on ce
ers of the paper was swift.
In a blog entry later thatday,
MinakoKambara“preference for one institution
thator person,” while acknowledging
Suematsu, CEO of the JT’s
g to historicalpreference can vary accordin
views
politicalgpervadin(or contemporary)owner News2U Holdings,
wrote of her astonishment
Japan Times denied any government pressure behind theat the intense response from readers on social media and inchange. Asked whether it was motivated by South Korea’s
phone calls. She said the change in wording was the result
decision to dismantle a Japan-funded foundation for comfort
of long discussions among the editors with diverse opinwomen, the paper said, “No. Our discussions regarding comions, and expressed support for the editorial department.
fort women began long (almost a year) before this move.”
She closed with the vague promise that “The Japan Times will
The paper’s new owner has generally played its cards close
continue to correctly communicate the present and future of
to its vest while quietly making changes. “Overall, the paper’s
Japan to the world.”
editorial policy has lurched rightward,” says Jeff Kingston,a history professor at Temple University Japan, whose longMEANWHILE, THE MOVE BY the paper was generating internarunning column – often critical of the Abe administration
tional headlines and an internal revolt. Over the weekend, the– was terminated in 2017. The JT has increased columns by
Guardian, NPR and the Chosun Ilbo, among others, ran stories
op-ed writer Kuni Miyake, a former Japanese diplomat andon the change in wording, reporting critics’ views that theassistant to Akie Abe; meanwhile, syndicated American libpaper had bowed to rightwing pressure to change historicaleral columnist Ted Rall hasn’t appeared since October.
descriptions. The New York Times, whose international ediThe Japan Times is Japan’s oldest English-language daily.
tion is distributed by the Japan Times, appeared to have been
For over 120 years, it’s been a vital voice for Japan in theblindsided by the paper’s move. Danielle Rhoades Ha, NYT VP
international community, surviving mergers, wartime stateCommunications, told the Number 1 Shimbun: “The New York
control and the decimation of newspapers amid digitization.
Times uses precise language on this topic and will continue
In a market with countless online choices for news, aligningto do so.”editorial views with government policy seems a surefire way
As discontent among staff members continued to simof turning loyal readers off. After all, independence is a newsmer, the paper had to act. On Monday, Dec. 3, Executive
paper’s raison d’être. ❶Editor Hiroyasu Mizuno met with the staff over two hours
in an attempt to calm the waters. He and CEO Suematsu
followed up with another marathon session the next day, in
Tim Hornyak is a freelance writer who has worked for IDG News, CNET
which many reporters and editors expressed their views. In
News, Lonely Planet and other media. He is the author of Loving thethe end, a compromise was reached: a new committee would
Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots.

ALL THE NEWS WITHOUT nnnn OR nnnnn

FCCJ

JANUARY 20199

Opinion: On Carlos Ghosn

The savior
who fell toearth

Thoughts on the riseand fall of Nissan’scontroversial ex-CEO by
his former speechwriter.

By John R. HarrisC

arlos Ghosn would scoff at my contention that I wrote“something like 250,000 words he uttered” as his
speechwriter from 2005 through 2008. Having once
said, “I have a horror of approximation,” he would demand
the exact figure. However many, every word was a challenge
to write given his standard brief: “Send me something, I’ll tell
you if it’s wrong.”
That made it like golf in the fog. In order to anticipate histhinking, I had to imprint in my brain his voice, his Latinate
mode of expression and every word ever said by or about him.
Ten years later it’s still all there. And since his arrest on Nov.
19, 2018, all that verbiage has continuously run through mymind as I try to make sense of this shocking event.
Speechwriters learn to enter the C-suite like the guy whocleans the lion cage at the zoo, showing boundless respect but
no fear, equally ready for a purring schmoozer or a snarling
furniture thrower. Ghosn was neither of these. There was no
small talk. Behind a cool-as-ice demeanor lay palpable potential for volcanic anger (luckily never directed my way) and asense that his mere displeasure could lead to dispassionate
beheading. But above all, what stood out was his discipline,
focus and grasp of detail. An intimidating cat for sure.
No minutes of my life have ticked by more slowly than thethree I sat in silence across the table as he read my very firstdraft. Occasionally, his imposing eyebrows would lift withquestions like, “Mr. Harris, is there one ‘l’ in fueled or two?”
I might have been more intimidated, and might not havesurvived, but for the fact that I’d spent the three prior years
working closely with two Ford-appointed Mazda CEOs (Mark
Fields and Lewis Booth) on a turnaround equally significant
if less high-profile than Nissan’s “Revival.”
Having been close witness to two analogous automakerturnarounds, I have an informed perspective on the first of
two questions the “Ghosn Affair” raises in my mind.

10

JANUARY 2019

FCCJ

AP PHOTO

What did Ghosn do for Nissan?

“Le Cost Killer,” the nickname French media gave Ghosn
before his arrival in Japan, has led too many journalists into
the lazy trope that curing a sick automaker is mainly aboutcost-cutting. In fact, what Ghosn did was much more complex
and profound. Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa further distorted
history in his post-arrest presser by dismissing Ghosn’s contribution to Nissan’s revival. Fact is, it would never have happened without him, if only because Renault would never have
bet $5 billion on Nissan without Ghosn to drive it.
In 1999, Nissan was a dysfunctional mess. Where other Japanese automakers, like Mazda, have head offices inside theirplants with the roosts ruled by oil-stained engineers, Nissan’s
Ginza HQ was stuffed with headless chickens, Keio and Todaimen with clean fingernails, each jealously guarding his own
fiefdom. Not just unable to see the forest for the trees, they
were obsessed with the sacred cows grazing beneath them.
When confronted with a forest, Ghosn has an analyticalbrilliance that instantly gauges its extent and the average
size of each tree before precisely calculating the market valueof the timber within. That’s why his crucial first move in 1999
was to bring over a hand-picked team and direct their benchmarking of every function in Nissan – just as he had donewith spectacular results two years earlier at Renault.
Once armed with a detailed diagnosis, Ghosn moved quick-

hit anything like the big time. Catapulted into the number
two spot at Renault in late 1996, he returned to the bright
lights of Paris and quickly pulled the rabbit from the hat that
presaged his feats at Nissan. Even after moving to Tokyo,
though, Saturday night chez Ghosn was hardly a glamorous
affair. While four teenagers did homework, Rita would often
invite neighbors over to play cards.
In 2008, after 10 years of dogged effort at Nissan, Ghosn at
54 was at the pinnacle of success just as his personal circumstances started to shift. Once the youngest child departed foruniversity, his marriage began to dissolve. After decades ofhighly disciplined existence, he was ripe for a midlife crisis.
Ghosn is studiously discreet, but a number of puzzle pieces
from that era suggest a pattern. His long-time personal assistant was shunted off to a new role. In the name of diversity, hebegan surrounding himself with women who just happened
to be attractive. Rumors of affairs began to circulate. Likethat classic comic about a nerdy, sexually repressed gaijin
who finds fulfillment in Japan, it seems Ghosn discovered his
inner Charisma Man. Add to that the 2009 arrival in Japan of
his co-accused, Greg Kelly, the Tennessee fixer who secured
tax incentives that greased the move of Nissan’s North American base to Nashville.
Fast-forward to October 2016, when Ghosn rented Versailles
for an opulent Marie Antoinette-themed second wedding to
the glamorous blonde Carole Nahas. Her kids were in the photos, his were nowhere in sight. How far Ghosn had gone in a
decade from Saturday night bridge with the neighbors.
None of this is to suggest Ghosn is guilty of anything. The
point is that rock star success seems to have changed him. Had
his most notable traits – discipline and focus – not somehowslipped, surely he would not be in his current predicament.
What did saving Nissan do to Carlos Ghosn?
And, while any knife thrust from an embittered ex-wife
It made him a rock star, and as many a poor boy has learned,
must be taken with a whole shaker of salt, Rita’s social media
that can be a lethal dose of success. To understand his trajeccomments since Ghosn’s arrest are disturbing:
tory, consider who Ghosn was before he burst onto Japan’s
stage in 1999.
“All narcissists are hypocrites. They pretend to have morals
Forget the boilerplate that dubs him, “French-Brazilian.” Inand values that they really don’t possess. Behind closed doors,
his socks, Ghosn is Maronite-Christian Lebanese, a cohesive
they lie, insult, criticize, disrespect and abuse. They can do andArab tribe with a vast diaspora found even in remote locales
say whatever they want, but how dare you say anything backto them or criticize them. They have a whole set of rules
for others, but follow none of their own rules, and pracGENIUS COMES IN A COMPLICATED PACKAGE tice nothing of what they preach.”
Perhaps we shouldn’t be shocked. Genius often
comes in a complicated package, and according to alike the Amazon, where his grandfather ran a bush airline.
study widely reported in 2016, one-in-five CEOs are psychoBoth wives have been of this tribe, and first wife Rita started
paths. That’s not to say Ghosn is, but the man I encountereda restaurant in Daikanyama because Tokyo had no decent
would turn on impressive charm when required then flick
Lebanese food.
it off straight after – which made his warmth feel somehow
His French-ness was painted on by Jesuit schooling in Beifeigned. So while my own experience with Ghosn left me withrut, and math brilliance opened doors to the top schools inenduring respect for his ability, I have few warm memories.
Paris. But as a nerdy lad in a snobbish city that generally
Still, I sympathize with his current plight, jailed indefishuns Arabs, it’s unlikely that university was a garden of carnitely with no chance to defend himself as his reputation isnal delight for young Carlos.
destroyed by a daily torrent of abuse. This hideous process
Most of his career was spent in drab backwaters like Clerreveals Japan’s justice system as only one step removed frommont-Ferrand, the grim French industrial city where he met
Saudi Arabia’s. While Japanese prosecutors have not disfirst wife Rita playing bridge. And Greenville, South Carolina,
membered Ghosn with a bone saw, denying anyone the rightwhere three of four offspring were born. Social life there
defend himself or to bail goes against all principles of natural
revolved around playing cards with the Rotary set. By somejustice. At the end of this sordid affair I believe Japan’s repuaccounts Ghosn was a hen-pecked husband. “Was Rita domitation will have suffered more than Ghosn’s. ❶neering?” I asked someone who socialized with the couple inTokyo. “Oh, totally! Over the top.”
John R. Harris is a veteran speechwriter who has served CEOs andIt was only two years before his first Tokyo visit that Ghosn
politicians on three continents from his forest lair on Chiba’s Pacific coast.
ly to fix what he found. Sure, cost cuts were part of the remedy. But any automaker is like a giant clock with literally millions of moving parts, and Ghosn quickly and brilliantly got
the whole works ticking in harmony.
He broke down siloed fiefdoms by slaughtering sacredcows their chieftains had long defended and mandating“cross-functional teams.” He eradicated the headless chickens by focusing each team on three do-or-die commitments.
He instituted promotion by merit, not seniority. But crucially,
he got everyone onside by communicating brilliantly to theworkforce. This was true leadership.
Equally significant, as an Arab outsider, Ghosn shunned what
his French colleagues might have tried. Raised on the Babarbooks, about an elephant who is turned into a proper Frenchman, the French have a powerful instinct to impose their own
norms. Instead, Ghosn was careful to maintain Nissan’s Japanese “identity” (one of his favorite words) in the Alliance.
The result: after eight years in the red, Nissan was back inthe black within two years – recording its highest profit ever.
Ghosn made other brilliant contributions, too. Stung by
criticism that Nissan was an environmental laggard, at the
FCCJ in 2006 he quipped that “if you criticize hybrids people
think you are retarded.” Shortly after I counseled him not
to use that term again, he had a road-to-Damascus conversion, leading the industry in deciding that the future was allelectric. Overriding the objections of Nissan engineers, helaunched development of the LEAF EV.
What did Ghosn do for Nissan? Beyond question, he saved
the company. There was no one else to do it, and he did it. The
question is . . .

FCCJJANUARY 201911

Series: Profile

Stirling Elmendorf
By Justin McCurry12

JANUARY 2019

FCCJ

ANDREW POTHECARY

T

that we have never changed is the way we do business,” hehree years surrounded by the bucolic idyll of southsays. “Our goal is really simple – to treat everyone in exactly
eastern Shikoku as a teacher on the Japan Exchange
the same way, to be very casual and extremely friendly, but
and Teaching (JET) program was enough to stir aextremely respectful at all times. And we want people to havepassion for photography that, 14 years later, has given Stirfun. Our photo shoots are not quiet, heavy affairs.
ling Elmendorf a successful career and personal content“The best thing about my job is meeting new people andment in the heart of the Tokyo megalopolis.
having the opportunity to make them feel great about the
Twelve months into his stay in the town of Kaiyo, Tokushiwork that they’ve done. We really appreciate that they put
ma Prefecture, where he lived in an old house near the beach,
their trust in us.”
the American invested in a digital camera, hopped on his
Elmendorf makes time for an eclectic range of assignments
bicycle and let his gift for exquisite composition do the rest.
– constant reminders, he says, of why Japan is such a fascinating
He was immediately hooked, and resolved to take photosubject for an architectural photographer. He is as comfortgraphs for a living on his return to the US.
able photographing houses in Nara and family-run factories in
Based in his birthplace, Washington D.C., Elmendorf started
Osaka as he is shooting brand-nameout shooting for corporate and politioutlets in Ginza and high-rise officecal clients before focusing on archiblocks in Marunouchi. “We shoot everytecture and interior design – a change“FOR ABOUT THE FIRST
thing from kindergartens to Bulgari,he attributes to the influence of his
FOUR MONTHS WE WEREand everything in between,” he says.
photographer mother. Desperate for a
EATING OATMEAL EVERY DAY
The couple lived in Osaka for fivechange of pace, he relocated to northern California in 2009, dividing his
BECAUSE WE HAD SO LITTLE and a half years when they decided
that the time had come to move totime between the Bay Area and downMONEY AND NO CLIENTS.”Tokyo, where many of their clients
town San Francisco.
were located. Eighteen months on,
During a working holiday in Japan,
he is refreshingly free of the cynicism
he met Kumiko, now his wife andthat can creep up on some of the city’sbusiness partner, whose energy andlonger-term residents.
determination make his photography“We’ve only been here for a year andbusiness a genuinely collaborative
a half so we’re really still in candy store
venture. “She is absolutely pivotal
mode, where it’s just fun to be here,” heon the business side of the things,”
says. “We’re surprised and delighted tosays Elmendorf, whose pre-opening
find so much greenery here comparedimages of the FCCJ’s new premises
to Osaka. And we’re shocked by how
feature on the Club’s website. “She’s
well put-together Tokyo is as a city.
an incredible organizer, has a great
It’s very inspiring for both of us. One
relationship with clients and is greatthing I would love to do is shoot more public buildings, likewith people. It doesn’t matter what the assignment is, she
museums, libraries and schools. That would be really fun.”just says we can do it. She’s a little more aggressive than I am
Now 43, Elmendorf had a peripatetic upbringing, spending
and I guess that rubs off on me.”nearly half his life overseas, with periods in Honduras, EcuaThat refusal to take no for an answer served the couple
dor, India, Mozambique, and Rwanda due to his father’s job
well when, soon after they married in the US, they took thewith the US Agency for International Development. For now,plunge and moved to Osaka, Kumiko’s home for the previous
he is happy to explore his Tokyo neighbourhood – by bicycle, of
20 years. There were times, though, when they wondered if
course - and go wherever his assignments take him. He would,
the relocation had been a huge mistake. “For about the firstthough, welcome more time to practice his guitar and indulge
four months we were eating oatmeal for breakfast and lunch
a love of sento public baths that blossomed in Osaka.
every day because we had so little money and no clients,”“My brother and I are really fortunate enough to have
Elmendorf recalls with a laugh.
grown up in countries that were developing and weren’t fisNot to be deterred, they went online and looked up archically in the same place as somewhere like Japan,” he says. “It
tecture and design offices, targeting those whose websites
really helps you appreciate what you’ve got, how hard people
looked in need of a makeover. “We didn’t make any appointwork and how little they have. Not a day goes by that I don’t
ments and literally went door to door. Some people would see
wake up and think how fortunate I am to live in Tokyo andthis foreign man and a Japanese woman wearing wild makeup
how much I love it here.” ❶and take a step back, but some agreed to chat for a few minutes. So we would sit down and talk, sometimes for hours.”
Elmendorf adopts the same disarming approach towards all
Justin McCurry is the Japan and Korea correspondent for the Guardianof his clients, who now include the likes of Carl Zeiss, Fredand Observer newspapers in London and reports for the EnglishPerry, Harry Winston, Bulgari and Rolex. “The one thing
language service of France 24 TV.

FCCJJANUARY 201913

Hacks’ tool box

New technology and thefake news battlefront

The Wall Street Journal is preparing its journalists to detect
deepfakes, a job that is increasingly difficult thanks to advances in AI

By Francesco Marconi
and Till Daldrup
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS FUELING
the next phase of misinformation.
The new type of synthetic media
known as deepfakes poses major
challenges for newsrooms when it
comes to verification.
The Wall Street Journal is taking thisthreat seriously and has launched aninternal deepfakes task force led by the
Ethics & Standards and the Research& Development teams. This group,
the WSJ Media Forensics Committee,
is comprised of video, photo, visuals,
research, platform, and news editors
who have been trained in deepfake
detection. Beyond this core effort,
we’re hosting training seminars with
reporters, developing newsroom
guides, and collaborating withacademic institutions such as Cornell
Tech to identify ways technology canbe used to combat this problem.
“Raising awareness in the newsroom
about the latest technology is critical,”said Christine Glancey, a deputy editor
on the Ethics & Standards team who
spearheaded the forensics committee.
“We don’t know where future
deepfakes might surface so we want alleyes watching out for disinformation.”
The production of most deepfakes
is based on a machine learningtechnique called “generative
adversarial networks,” or GANs. Thisapproach can be used by forgers toswap the faces of two people – forexample, those of a politician andan actor. The algorithm looks for
instances where both individuals
showcase similar expressions andfacial positioning, then look for thebest matches in the background tojuxtapose both faces.
Because research about GANs andother approaches to machine learning
is publicly available, the ability togenerate deepfakes is spreading.
Open source software already enables
14

anyone with some technical knowledge
and a powerful-enough graphics card
to create a deepfake.
DEEPFAKE CREATORS CAN USE avariety of techniques. Faceswap is analgorithm that can seamlessly insert
the face of a person into a target video.
This technique could be used to placea person’s face on an actor’s body andput them in situations that they were
never really in. Forgers can also graft
a lip-syncing mouth onto someone
else’s face, transfer facial expressions
from one person into another video,
making them seem disgusted, angry, or
surprised – or even transfer the body
movements of a person in a source
video to a person in a target video.
Journalists have an important role in
informing the public about the dangers
and challenges of artificial intelligence“We want all eyes
watching out fordisinformation.”technology. Reporting on these issues
is a way to raise awareness and informthe public.
“There are technical ways to checkif the footage has been altered, suchas going through it frame by frame
in a video editing program to look
for any unnatural shapes and added
elements, or doing a reverse image
search,” said Natalia V. Osipova, asenior video journalist at the Journal.
But the best option is often traditional
reporting: “Reach out to the source
and the subject directly, and use youreditorial judgment.”
If someone has sent in suspicious
footage, a good first step is to try
to contact the source. How did that
person obtain it? Where and when was
it filmed? Getting as much informationas possible, asking for further proof ofthe claims, and then verifying is key.

If the video is online and theuploader is unknown, other questions
are worth exploring: Who allegedly
filmed the footage? Who published andshared it, and with whom? Checking
the metadata of the video or image
with tools like InVID or other metadata
viewers can provide answers.
IN ADDITION TO GOING throughthis process internally, the Journal
collaborates with content verification
organizations such as Storyful andthe Associated Press. This is a fastmoving landscape with emerging
solutions appearing regularly inthe market. For example, new tools
including TruePic and Serelay use
blockchain to authenticate photos.
Regardless of the technology used,
the humans in the newsroom are at
the center of the process.
“Technology alone will not solve
the problem,” said Rajiv Pant, chief
technology officer at the Journal.
“The way to combat deepfakes is
to augment humans with artificial
intelligence tools.”
Deepfakes are often based onfootage that is already available online.
Reverse image search engines like
Tineye or Google Image Search areuseful to find possible older versions of
the video to suss out whether an aspectof it was manipulated.
Editing programs like Final Cut
enable journalists to slow footage
down, zoom the image, and lookat it frame by frame or pause
multiple times. This helps reveal
obvious glitches: glimmering andfuzziness around the mouth or face,
unnatural lighting or movements, anddifferences between skin tones aretelltale signs of a deepfake.
In addition to these facial details,
there might also be small edits inthe foreground or background of the
footage. Does it seem like an object wasinserted or deleted into a scene thatmight change the context of the video(e.g. a weapon, a symbol, a person,etc.)? Again, glimmering, fuzziness,and unnatural light can be indicatorsof faked footage.
In the case of audio, listen for
unnatural intonation, irregularbreathing, metallic sounding voices
and obvious edits, all hints that theaudio may have been generated byartificial intelligence. However, it’s
important to note that image artifacts,
JANUARY 2019

FCCJ

glitches, and imperfections can also
be introduced by video compression.
That’s why it is sometimes hard toconclusively determine whether avideo has been forged or not.
A NUMBER OF COMPANIES are creating
technologies – often for innocuous
reasons – that nonetheless could
eventually end up being used to create
deepfakes. Adobe is working on Project
Cloak, an experimental tool for object
removal in video, which makes it easy
for users to take people or other details
out of the footage. The product could
be helpful in motion picture editing.
But some experts think that microedits like these – the removal of small
details in a video – might be even moredangerous than blatant fakes since
they are harder to spot.
There are algorithms for imagetranslation that enable the alteringof weather or time of day in a video.
These could be helpful for postproduction of movie scenes shot
during days with different weather.
But it could be problematic fornewsrooms and others, because inorder to verify footage and narrow
down when videos were filmed, it iscommon to examine the time of day,weather, position of the sun, and otherindicators for clues to inconsistencies.
Audio files can also be manipulated
automatically: One company, Lyrebird,
creates artificial voices based on
audio samples of real people. One
minute of audio recordings is enoughto generate an entire digital replicathat can say any sentence the user
types into the system.
While these techniques can beused to significantly lower costs ofmovie, gaming, and entertainment
production, they represent a risk fornews media as well as society more
broadly. For example, fake videos could
place politicians in meetings withforeign agents or even show soldierscommitting crimes against civilians.
False audio could make it seem likegovernment officials are privately
planning attacks against other nations.
“We know deepfakes and other image
manipulations are effective and canhave immediate repercussions,” said Roy
Azoulay, founder and CEO of Serelay,a platform that enables publishers toprotect their content against forgeries.
“We need to really watch when they
become cheap, because cheap andFCCJJANUARY 2019

Video fakery
Screen grabs from an original and analtered video. The second and fourthcolumn are stills from the original.
The first and third columns have had
Barack Obama’s facial movements
mapped on to ex-president Ronald
Reagan’s. The video is on the Nieman
Journalism Lab site here:
https://bit.ly/2zZxqH8
effective drives diffusion.”
Publishing an unverified fakevideo in a news story could stain anewsroom’s reputation and ultimately
lead to the public losing trust in
media institutions. Another danger
for journalists: personal deepfake
attacks showing news professionals incompromising situations or alteringfacts – again aimed at discrediting or
intimidating them.
As deepfakes make their way intosocial media, their spread will likely
follow the same pattern as otherfake news stories. In an MIT study
investigating the diffusion of falsecontent on Twitter published between
2006 and 2017, researchers foundthat “falsehood diffused significantly
farther, faster, deeper, and more
broadly than truth in all categories
of information.” False stories were 70

percent more likely to be retweeted
than the truth and reached 1,500
people six times more quickly thanaccurate articles.
Deepfakes are not going away
anytime soon. It’s safe to say that theseelaborate forgeries will make verifying
media harder, and this challenge could
become more difficult over time.
“We have seen this rapid rise indeep learning technology and thequestion is: Is that going to keep
going, or is it plateauing? What’s
going to happen next?” said Hany
Farid, a photo-forensics expert. “I
think that the issues are coming to ahead,” he said, adding that the next
18 months leading up to the 2020
election will be crucial.
Despite the current uncertainty,
newsrooms can and should follow theevolution of this threat by conducting
research, partnering with academic
institutions, and training theirjournalists how to leverage new tools. ❶Francesco Marconi is R&D chief at the WallStreet Journal. Till Daldrup is a research

fellow at the Journal and a master’s candidate
at NYU’s Studio 20 journalism program. This
article originally appeared on the NiemanLabwebsite and is used with permission.
15

Photographer Members

Club NewsJOIN THE FILM COMMITTEE. . .
. . . on Tues., Jan. 15 at 7:00 pm for the acclaimed feature
debut of Nanako Hirose, His Lost Name. Like her mentor,
Cannes Palm d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda, Hirose
takes her time with her storytelling, and revelations do
not arrive until long after the film’s opening scenes. A
troubled young man (Yuya Yagira, winner of the Best
Actor award at Cannes for Kore-eda’s Nobody Knows) is
rescued from an apparent suicide attempt by taciturnwidower Tetsuro (Kaoru Kobayashi of Midnight Diner),
who gives him a place to stay, a job and most importantly,
a sympathetic shoulder. But it’s soon clear that the young
man isn’t the only one haunted by his past. Hirose will join
us for the Q&A session after the screening.
(Japan, 2019; 113 minutes; in Japanese with English
subtitles.)– Karen Severns
FCCJ EXHIBITIONThe Year of the Boar

Illustration Group Exhibition
Curated by Niya Niya Studio

The year-end in photos

Christmas slips away A diver dressed as
Santa Claus swims with a moray eel in theSunshine Aquarium, Tokyo by Yoshikazu Tsuno

by Motoko Matsuda

Season’s leavings
Fallen gingko leaves
by Stirling Elmendorf
16

NIYA NIYA STUDIO WAS
founded in Kamakura,
Japan in 2017 by artists anddesigners Tada Kono andYura Osborn. After working
in the creative field in Los
Angeles and New York, they
have relocated to Kamakura
where they started theirdesign studio. They hope tomake everyone smile with
their artwork.

New Year greetings
A Shinto priest plays the Sho
during the year-end ceremony at
Kanda Myoujin Shrine in Tokyo,
for the start of 2017by Katsumi Kasahara/
Gamma-Rapho
JANUARY 2019

FCCJ

by Sander Studio
FCCJ

JANUARY 201917

Club news

About the reporting of
the rape allegations by
Shiori Ito in Japan:

IN MEMORIAM

Remembering Jack Spillum“THAT INCIDENT WAS
UNFORTUNATELY
SILENCED
IMMEDIATELYBY THE ABE
ADMINISTRATION AND
THE CENTRAL POLICE. . . IT’S ALMOST
LIKE, BECAUSE THE
MEDIA HAS BECOMECOMPLETELY SILENT,THAT THAT INCIDENTDID NOT EXIST.”CLUB DIARY DATEBook Break:David Peace, author ofPatient X: the Case-Bookof Ryūnosuke Akutagawa“No one could match
him for his ready
wit and lightning
reactions. Always
funny and goodnatured, he was a pro.”“I got to know Jackalmost immediately
after arriving in Tokyoin 1977,” says Bradley
K. Martin, a long-timefriend. “He was hard
to miss: a very funnyman, cutting a wideswath as he ambled
through the Main Bar,
stopping at tables
here and there to
crack wise. We had arunning gag about his
state of origin. I would
always introduce him
as a South Dakotan.
Jack would simulate
outrage. He was a
North Dakotan,
damn it!”At one time, Jackwas a pioneering
foreign stockbroker with Sanyo
Securities. “He was a major force inintroducing the Japanese market toforeigners,” says Martin. “Not only
gaijin investors but correspondents,
like me. After I went to work for the
Asian Wall Street Journal in 1983, it wasgood to have a real expert like Jack to
explain things and introduce me tofinancial industry colleagues.”
Jack left the securities business andwent on to other pursuits, including
investment banking, head hunting
and the cedar-home business. He sold
KHALDON AZHARI

Yasuo Ohnuki,
Former NHK Europe Director
General & President of Free Press
Association of Japan,
at the Club, Dec. 7 2018

1/22

NEW MEMBERS

THE FCCJ LOST JACK SPILLUM, an
Associate Member for 51 years, on Nov.
23 in Tokyo. He was 83. A memorial
gathering held on Nov. 30 to celebrate
his life drew 50-plus friends to a
standing-room only reception, an
indication of Jack’s popularity.
John David “Jack” Spillum was born
Oct. 29, 1935 and raised in Grand
Forks, North Dakota. He arrived in Asia
as a radio announcer with U.S. Armed
Services Network in South Korea justafter the Korean conflict.
Jack came to Tokyo in 1957 and

REGULAR MEMBERS
Susumu Arai, The Yomiuri Shimbun
Michio Hayashi, The Yomiuri Shimbun
ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Yoshihiro Hombo, Mitsui & Co.
Hiroyuki Kato, Mitsui & Co.
Yasuro Koizumi, FiNC, Inc.
Shinobu Nakagawa, Fearnleys Japan, Ltd.
Masao Nishikawa, Sekisei Co., Ltd.
Inketsu Okina, Darwin Co., Ltd.
Akihiko Sakurai, Seika Corporation
Motonori Sakai, Wallenius Wilhelmsen
Ocean AS
Yosuke Kano, Element HRC Ltd.
Toru Nishiyama, Maersk Line A/S
Mamoru Sakamoto, Itsumo.Inc
Rembrances
Geoff Tudor and Mehdi Bassiri at thewell-attended Memorial Night at theClub, above. Below, Jack in charge ofa bingo night in 2005.
Jack had a very rough time with
illness in his latter days. He wasstricken by Parkinson’s Disease andits associated illnesses. “One of mygreat regrets has been that when I
tried to visit him some months ago
word came back that he was not up toreceiving me,” says Martin. “Thinking
about that now, I wonder if he wastrying to ensure that I’d remember
the healthy, jolly, larger-than-life
Jack.” Other friends at the reception
made similar observations.
Jack’s son, Jack Spillum Jr., also
attended and paid a tribute to his latefather, with a hilarious anecdote about
their last time together in New York.
“With eyes closed, you could imagine
it was Jack Sr. at the mike,” said Bob
Kirschenbaum, president of Pacific
Press Service. “His dad would havebeen proud.”– Geoff Tudor“No one could match him for his ready wit.
Always funny and good-natured, he was a pro.”never left. He joined the FCCJ in 1967,
where he was a colorful and popularpersonality, perhaps best known
among members for calling bingo
numbers. “Jack was a great Emcee,”said Sandra Mori, who has long been
associated with Club entertainment.
18

FCCJ

FCCJ

JANUARY 2019

My Year of Dirt and Water :Journal of a Zen Monk’s Wifein Japan
Tracy Franz
Stone Bridge Press

REGULAR MEMBERS
SUSUMU ARAI, is,since June 2018, manager
for international affairs at
the Yomiuri Shimbun. He
joined the newspaper in
1991, and has been posted
as a correspondent to New
Delhi, Sydney, Islamabad
and Phnom Penh. His prior position
was deputy editor of the Japan News,
the English newspaper published by the
Yomiuri Shimbun.
MICHIO HAYASHI is asenior research fellow at
the Yomiuri Institute, thethink-tank of the Yomiuri
Shimbun company. His
coverage area centersaround international/
defense issues. Hayashi
joined the Yomiuri Shimbun in 1987
and spent half of his career as acorrespondent overseas. His postings
included New Delhi, Washington D.C.,
Brussels, Paris and London. He later
held posts on the editorial board of
the Yomiuri Shimbun, and as managing
editor of the Japan News.

S
U
H
PITC RY
O
T
S
R
U
YO

one of these to friend and fellow Club
member Bob Neff, then with Businesss
Week magazine, who wrote about theexperience in the publication in June
1993. Later still, Jack had a prized gig
teaching English to top-level Japanesebusiness people.
JANUARY 2019

NEW IN THE LIBRARY

Japanese Contemporary
Politics
Akio Igarashi; Mark E. Caprio
and Miranda Schreurs (ed.)
Routledge
Gift from Akio Igarashi

Pax Japonica: theResurrection of Japan
Takeo Harada
LID Publishing
Gift from Daniel Slater
Make It Happen!: JapaneseCompanies Need To ElevateMarketing As A Core
Function To Succeed Outside
Japan
Robert E. Peterson
CreateSpace
Gift from Daniel Slater

Please send your story ideas tono.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp, and be sure
to note whether you have (or haveaccess to) visuals.
Our rates are ¥20 per published word

19