The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

February 2016, Volume 48 No. 2, ¥400

The livesof journalists incourt, on the page,
finding funds, on
stage and withgovernments

JOURNALISMJOURNALISMJOURNALISMJOURNALISMJOURNALISM
and freedom of the press in Korea

and the history of the Stars and Stripes

and funding stories

and performance poetry

vs diplomacy

Vol. 48, Number 2

February 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
From the archives by Charles Pomeroy

p8
4
4
5

I testified for Sankei in a Seoul courtroom
by Donald Kirk

6

The many lives of Yuri Kageyama
by Tim Hornyak

8

ProfileGregory Clark
by Gavin Blair

10

U.S. military newspaper still publishing in Japanby Mark Schreiber

12

In need of a career boost?
by James Simms

14

Exhibition
Into the Heart of the Arctic
by Yoichi YabeClub News
Join the Film Committee . . . /Hacks & Flacks/
New Members/New in the library

16
17-18

EBA CHAN

Yuri Kageyama,
right, with
Trupti Pandkar

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
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 Suvendrini Kakuchi
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
70th Anniversary Panel Yoshio Murakami
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/
Cover design by Andrew Pothecary

FCCJ

FEB 2016

3

FRONT PAGE

COLLECTIONSFROM THE ARCHIVES

SEIDENSTICKER SENSEIDAVID BOWIE AND JAPAN
From thePresident
THE FCCJ GREETED 2016 with our traditional
Hacks and Flacks Party, bringing correspondents
and journalists together with foreign and Japanesedignitaries, business figures and PR managers who
were invited to support better networking and sharing
of information. The annual party, as always, was wellattended – with drinks and food at hand.
This year marks yet another crucial one for the
FCCJ as we strive to increase our membershipnumbers and strengthen our services to ensure thestability of this organization, both economically andprofessionally. To assist the Club in this importantmission, I recently established an ad hoc Futures
Committee, comprised of respected older journalists
who will work with correspondents dabbling with
online journalism. The Committee also includes
associate members, invaluable members of the Club
who bring legal and business talent to the table. Their
numbers are increasing and no doubt they expect the
future of our Club is to continue to be the dynamic
journalist hub it has always been.
How this pans out in the next decade is an
important challenge. As I have said previously, I
believe the current diversity of our correspondent
members is a solid platform to build a futuristic vision.
An Asia Journalist Forum has also been formed,
including correspondents from Taiwan, Singapore,
Bangladesh and Vietnam, among others. Our new
little group will provide a space in our Club for turning
the spotlight on news in the region and will also act asa catalyst to increase the number of correspondents
who are interested in this specific area. Indeed, the
FCCJ’s koeki status is contributing to the global
journalism debate.
Other important news is that we will soon be
replacing the grand piano that has served ourwonderful Club for so many decades. The purchaseis being facilitated by a financial contribution fromour dearly loved but now departed member,
Chuck Lingam.
A sad but heart-warming event was the memorial
held for former AP bureau chief Jim Lagier, who
passed away in the U.S. last year at the age of
80. Friends and colleagues who had worked with
him in the Tokyo bureau gathered at the Club fora memorial. It was a poignant evening, as thosegathered reminisced not only about Jim’s remarkable
charm but also used the moment to walk back down
memory lane to a time when martinis were servedlate into the night to correspondents discussing thehard work of the day and their upcoming schedules.
As Kaz Abiko, formerly with AP and a former
president recalled a speech by Jim at the FCCJ
50th anniversary when he affectionately describedcorrespondents in Tokyo as scallywags, articulate,petulant, caring and much more. And, two decades
later, I have to agree with him.
– Suvendrini Kakuchi
4

The instrumental “Moss Garden”
features Bowie playing the koto

On “Heroes,” 1977, and inspired by a visit to Saihoji in Kyoto“I don’t know why he was so attracted
to things Japanese, but perhaps it
wasn’t so much Japan or Japanese-ness
itself. He knew when he looked goodin something.”
Kansai Yamamoto, clothes designer,
BBC News website, Jan. 12, 2016

He also sometimes wore a kimono-inspired capewith traditional Japanese characters on it whichspell out his name phonetically, but also translate to“FIERY VOMITING
AND VENTING
IN A MENACING
MANNER”

俺の頭に弾を打ち込めば
新聞は書き立てる“Put a bullet in my brain
and it makes all the papers”
Lyric spoken in Japanese, “It’s No Game,
Pt 1,” Scary Monsters and Super Creeps, 1980

“I wanted to break down a particular
type of sexist attitude … the ‘Japanesegirl’ typifies it, where everyone
pictures them as … very sweet,
demure and non-thinking, when infact that’s the absolute opposite ofwhat women are like. … I wanted to
caricature that attitude by having avery forceful Japanese voice on it. So
I had [actress Michi Hirota] come out
with a very samurai kind of thing.”
David Bowie about “It’s No Game,
Pt 1,” quoted in The Man Who Changed
the World, by Wim Hendrikse

BBC News website, Jan. 12, 2016

About

10,200,000
Google search results for “David Bowie Japan”“A world inwhich David is
not living still
feels totally
unreal.”Miu Sakamoto, daughter
of Ryuichi Sakamoto,Twitter, Jan. 11, 2016. Miumeets Bowie in the photo
she tweeted, left.

FEB 2016

FCCJ

The two of us were sitting at
the bar by the beach … whenan attractive young woman
passed by [and] exclaimed,“OH MY GOD, I DON’T
BELIEVE IT. IT’S ROGERPULVERS!” I was theone who couldn’t believe
it, and Bowie . . . gave out ahearty laugh. . . . “That waswonderful,” Bowie said, turning
to me and smiling generously.

“JUST ABSOLUTELYWONDERFUL.”

Roger Pulvers remembering a break withDavid Bowie during the filming of Nagisa
Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence,
the Japan Times, Jan. 14, 2016
FCCJ

FEB 2016

At a professional luncheon on April 27, 1983, noted translator, author, and Japanologist
Edward G. Seidensticker expanded on his recent book, Low City, High City: Tokyo from
Edo to the Earthquake. He also detailed some of the intricacies of converting Japanese
literature into an interesting read in English while remaining true to the spirit of theoriginal. Seated next to him is then-president Karel van Wolferen (NRC Handelsblad),
who himself would soon become famous for his controversial book on Japan, The
Enigma of Japanese Power. Partially visible next to him is Richard Pyle, a veteran
AP correspondent noted for his coverage of the Vietnam War, who had re-energizedjournalistic discussions in the Main Bar after being assigned to Tokyo in 1980.
Edward Seidensticker became well known for his deft translations of Japanese
literature, both modern and ancient. Translations of works by Kawabata Yasunari,particularly Snow Country (1956) and Thousand Cranes (1959), led to Kawabatawinning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968. During the same time frame healso translated two books by Tanizaki Junichiro, Some Prefer Nettles (1955) and The
Makioka Sisters (1957), and then In Praise of Shadows (1977) two decades later. Equallywell known are his translations of the Heian-era Kagero Nikki, which he rendered as
The Gossamer Years (1964), and the exceedingly difficult Tale of Genji (1976).
As an author, Seidensticker followed up Low City, High City with a second book,Tokyo Rising: The City Since the Great Earthquake (1990), that continued his historyof this great city. (Both volumes were combined into one in 2010, with a preface
written by his old friend, Donald Richie.)
Seidensticker, born in 1921 in Colorado, was a graduate of the University ofColorado (1942) where he also studied Japanese at the U.S. Navy’s Language
School. Following service as a language officer with the U.S. Marines during WWII
and a stint in Japan as a translator, he obtained a master’s degree from Columbia
University before going on to study Japanese literature at the University of Tokyo.
Seidensticker was also an educator. And as one of his former students I canreport that he was a good one, with a sense of humor. His course, “The Cultural
History of Japan,” was quite popular at Sophia University at the end of the ’50s
and early ’60s. Those years were no doubt a good warm up for his later teachingpositions at Stanford, University of Michigan, and finally Columbia, from 1978
until retirement in 1985.
After retirement, he divided his time between Japan and Hawaii (where it wasagain my good fortune to meet him at a house party in Honolulu in 2003 andreview the good old days at Sophia).
He died in 2007 following a fall while on his customary stroll around Shinobazu
pond in Ueno. A head injury eventually led to his death in a Tokyo hospital at
the age of 86. Among the honors he had received over the years was one of theJapanese government’s highest, the third-class Order of the Rising Sun, for his
work in introducing Japanese literature to the outside world.

— Charles Pomeroy
5

FEATURE
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

Word out

AP PHOTO

Tatsuya Kato speaking
at the FCC in Seoul.

Is freedom of the press at stake in South Korea?
Some recent actions by the authorities seem to hint at a disturbing trend.

L

I testified for
Sankei in a Seoul
courtroom

By a rather narrowibel law is a favorite
margin, it seems, Korea
weapon of authoriavoided punishing someties in Singapore
one whose work had been
and Malaysia, to namemore than a little infuritwo notorious practitioating. The exoneration ofners of the technique ofKato, who had reported
filing charges against
from Seoul on a rumor
news organizations, writthat President Park was
ers and editors for purunreachable for sevenportedly defaming theirhours in April 2014 while
regimes. Defendants are
by DONALD KIRK
the cruise ferry Sewol wasforced to spend hugesinking off the southernsums to defend themcoast on the way to the scenic island of Jeju with hundreds
selves against allegations that are bound to result in convicof high-school students on board, marked a victory for him
tions by highly paid judges who are quite aware of the rulings
as well as Sankei Shimbun. Moreover, his acquittal averted
expected of them.
another irritant between Korea and Japan. Just think of
The case of Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul bureau chief ofthe heroic acclaim he would have received in Japan if theSankei Shimbun, aroused fears that Korean authorities would
court had found him guilty and acceded to the prosecution’s
employ similar tactics. The zeal with which the Korean govdemand for a prison sentence.
ernment pursued the charge of criminal libel bore disturbing
Kato’s acquittal was also a triumph for me personally. I had
parallels to the records of other countries in prosecuting crittestified as a defense witness, arguing that his report was
ics. They profess some measure of democracy, but legal nicetrivial, that it was not deliberately slanderous, that foreign
ties are irrelevant. Censorship prevails – and pity the miscrejournalists often pick up stuff from the local media and theant who gets his adversarial views into print or on the air.
case only publicized a story that no one took seriously. EviIn the Philippines, where there is no censorship, assassins
dently, the court agreed. To everyone’s immense relief, thesimply gun down critics whose voices or articles challenge or
judge’s decision distinguished Korea from other countries
merely offend local warlords and power-grabbers.
that claim to be democracies but abuse their systems by
In South Korea, freedom of the press, and the idea of foreign
bringing libel charges, and worse, against critics and politicalcorrespondents reporting freely, is a relatively new concept.
foes. In a sense, the decision appeared to show the indepenWhen I was reporting from Seoul in the ’70’s and ’80’s, censors
dence of the Korean judiciary. I had predicted, over cups offrom the Korean Central Intelligence Agency were posted incoffee with Kato’s successor, Sankei bureau chief Kinya Fujinewsrooms, excising quotes, paragraphs, stories deemed unacmoto, that the court had to find him guilty and levy a fine but
ceptable. Correspondents were often followed, their phone calls
not send him to jail.
monitored. Mass protests in mid-1987 gave rise to democracy, ademocratic Constitution with presidential elections every five
I WAS GLAD TO testify for two reasons. For one thing, I wasyears, and relative media freedom, but old habits die hard. The
curious about what a Korean court would be like and, for
Kato case (and that of the author Park Yu-ha, see sidebar) show
another, I found it hard to believe that anyone could havethe dangers of slipping back to the era of media repression.
6

FEB 2016

FCCJ

been so concerned about Kato’s report, which he had purloined from an unsubstantiated piece in Chosun Ilbo, Korea’s
biggest-selling newspaper. The scrupulous attention given
my testimony by the court was a revelation in itself. For fourhours one day in June, I answered questions from teams ofdefense and prosecution lawyers while an interpreter translated from Korean to English and English to Korean andanother interpreter translated everything into Japanese.
At one point the chief judge asked if I understood the difference between German law and the U.S. Constitution onfree speech. The first amendment of the latter states unambiguously, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press….”
However, under German law, the judge told me, an insult tohuman dignity would be libelous. Somehow, as I looked backon the point that he had made, chances of Kato’s acquittal did
not seem good.
Considering how sure I was of a conviction, I was not only
happily surprised but incredibly relieved when news came of
Kato’s acquittal. Nonetheless, the elaborate, protracted natureof the case aroused questions. Why did the prosecution go tosuch lengths over a trivial gossipy story, and why did the court
schedule only one hearing a month, doing nothing other thanlisten to my testimony on the day of my appearance? A month
later the court heard the next defense witness, Yuichi Ueda,
Seoul bureau chief for Nishi Nippon Shimbun, the leading daily
in western Japan. One month after that came the turn for thethird and final witness, Dr, Yasuhiko Tajima, journalism professor from Sophia University in Tokyo.
Perhaps more importantly, why did President Park, sohurt by gossip linking her reported absence to a liaison witha gentleman friend, want the system to dedicate such time,
trouble and expense to pillorying an obstreperous foreigner?
Why is libel a criminal rather than civil offense in Korea – andwould the prosecution exercise its right, under Korean law,
to appeal?
The answer to that final question was, no, the prosecution
wisely decided not to appeal, but the reason is nothing so simple as the folly of the case. It is that the foreign ministry, so
immersed in such difficult issues with Japan as the ongoing
controversy over the comfort women who served as sex slaves
for Japanese troops in World War II, did not want to have todeal with yet another annoying problem. A conviction would
have made Kato a hero, a martyr, in Japan. The case would
have provided material for endless stories about freedom of
the press in Korea more than 35 years after the assassinationof President Park’s father, the dictatorial Park Chung-hee, whocracked down on any sign of dissent in the media.
It’s worrisome enough that the government pressed libel
charges; but still more worrisome is that authorities mightsomeday follow the example of other countries, notably Singapore, and use criminal libel as a weapon. If Kato’s acquittal contrasted with the guilty verdicts that the courts in Singapore routinely hand down against foreign media, it does
not exactly resolve the longer term question of the limits ofthe freedom, even impunity, with which foreign as well as
domestic journalists can report from Korea.
Tensions between North and South Korea, as well as
unhappiness in the South over unemployment, rising prices
and a widening rich-poor gap, will undoubtedly give rise tocommentary and reporting displeasing to authorities. Morestrains on media freedom are inevitable. The outcome of the
Kato case was a good sign, but far more serious issues are atstake. How they are decided will test the endurance of democratic freedoms in South Korea. ❶FCCJ

FEB 2016

NO ROOM FOR NUANCE: A CRACKDOWN IN ACADEMIAPARK YU-HA OFFERS what she considers a nuanced view inher book Teikoku no Ianfu (“Comfort Women of the Empire”)
about the women who served Japanese soldiers in WorldWar II. Her narrative, however, is not exactly appreciatedback home.
For writing that unscrupulous Korean collaborators
recruited women, a court in Seoul has ordered her to pay
fines totaling 90 million Korean won, or $75,000 – 10 million
won to each of nine surviving comfort women.
The court one year ago ordered Park, a professor at
Sejong University in Korea, to cut 34 sections said tobe false, including claims that a few of the women fellin love with Japanese and supported the Japanese side.
That’s not too surprising considering how many women –estimates range as high as 200,000 – worked in Japanesearmy “comfort stations.” If some emotional liaisons were
inevitable, however, Koreans don’t want to hear about them.
Park’s legal ordeal is far from over. She now faces the
charge of criminal libel in a trial that’s likely to take months.
Demanding “open discussion,” she’s calling for a committee ofscholars to consider the problem “objectively,” based on facts.
“We should not discuss ideologies,” she said in a panel
discussion that I attended at the Woodrow Wilson Center in
Washington in early January. “We need to stay apolitical. It’s
important we do not let nationalism take priority. We needto look at what really took place.”
Far from distorting the image of comfort women, Park
believes she presents a balanced view. “My book does talkabout issues facing Korean society,” she said. “I have neverdenied this comfort woman question existed. There is somemisunderstanding. I am not trying to whitewash history.”
Her greatest offense may have been to observe thatJapanese were not the only guilty ones. “We know there
were collaborators,” she said, meaning Koreans aiding andabetting the Japanese. “We have not asked collaborators andbrokers to take responsibility. Who are these people?”That question alone shows the obstacles to reaching an
understanding that’s acceptable to all sides. Activists in
Korea are not interested in investigating a Korean role whileattacking the deal reached in December for Japan to put up
one billion yen, more than $8 million, through a foundation
for surviving comfort women.
Did Korea and Japan reach a secret agreement forremoval of the “Comfort Woman Statue” of a demure young
Korean woman across a narrow street from the Japanese
embassy in Seoul? And is Japan holding back on the money
until the statue is removed – a step sure to provoke protests
in Seoul?
Those questions fuel the controversy while Park denies
sublimating its significance. “It’s good it’s achieved
worldwide attention,” she said. “We know what happened.”
But did all the women perform unwillingly? “Somecomfort women have told me there was no force,” she said.
“Some women experienced things other than described in
the media. True voices are not properly heard.”
The question is whether those voices will speak out in a
Korean court – or who in Korea is listening.
–Donald Kirk
Donald Kirk, formerly a long-time member of the FCCJ, has been
covering Northeast Asia for newspapers, magazines, the internet andbroadcast for decades. He is the author of six books, most recently
Okinawa and Jeju: Bases of Discontent.
7

FEATURE
WRITING
A veteran AP reporter
reflects on creative
passion and the poetics
of journalism.

EBA CHAN (SHoOT LiVE)

The many
lives of
Yuri Kageyama“It is human duty to perform this act regularly, like a religious ritual, in homage, in honor, to give thanks, no matter its futility,” writes Yuri Kageyama. She’s writing about
sex – specifically menopause sex – in the middle of a short story about her family. The prose is unvarnished, unflinchingly
personal and adroit in quickly juggling themes of child abuse,
racism and sexuality while maintaining a narrative flow.
Japan watchers and reporters in Tokyo may be familiar withKageyama from seeing her at press conferences and reading
her stories or her updates on Twitter, where she has more than
20,000 followers. She’s a veteran reporter who has been with
Associated Press in Tokyo and the U.S. for 25 years. Her recent
articles have covered everything from Takashi Murakami’s
latest pop art creations to electronics giant Toshiba’s damaging accounting scandal and Tokyo Electric Power’s struggle
to dismantle the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power
plant – as well as the campaign by Japanese activists to allow
married couples to have different surnames.
That versatility is also manifest in her creative side. Published in 2009, the short story “The Father and the Son”
reflects one of the many facets of Kageyama as a creative
writer. She has published two books of poetry and prose andher work has been included in literary journals and websites.
“I became a writer because I want to be honorable,” Kageyama says at a cafe in Shiodome, home to the AP’s Tokyo bureau.
“I want to do beautiful things and live my life in a way that ismeaningful. I became a journalist because I like to write andthat was one way you could get paid.”

Serendipity knocks

Kageyama is also a self-described novice filmmaker and aperformance artist who draws upon her background andexperiences living in two cultures. Born in Aichi Prefecture,
Kageyama grew up in Tokyo, Maryland and Huntsville, Alabama, where her father, an engineer, worked on NASA’s Apollo program, which landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
on the moon in 1969. While studying sociology in the 1970s
at the University of California at Berkeley, she got her startin journalism by writing articles for community newspapers.
One of her professors urged her to pursue a career in news,
8

by TIM HORNYAK

Talent show

L-R: Yuri performing at the Pink Cow,
Tokyo; awarded for 25 years at AP;
her “News from Fukushima” in NY.

persuading her that the prospects were better than academia
and that journalism is a form of sociology anyway. Then aserendipitous event sealed her destiny. When she was jobhunting in Japan in the mid-eighties, she went to the Japan
Times office to get a copy of the classifieds to look throughthe help-wanted ads.
“I walked in and told the subscriptions desk that I needed
the ad section,” Kageyama recalls. “And then the managing
editor walked up and said, ‘Why don’t you just work here?’”It was the easiest job interview ever – especially since she
hadn’t even submitted her resume. At the Japan Times, she
was in charge of putting out the weekly edition and thenworked in the general news department, doing everythingfrom reporting to captions to layout. In 1990, she joined the
AP and has since produced investigative reports, such as a2012 story showing that scientists who helped determine
radiation exposure limits in Japan accepted trips paid forby Japanese nuclear plant operators. A 2014 article, writtenwith Richard Lardner and based on Freedom of Information Act requests, uncovered questionable handling of sexual
abuse cases among U.S. military personnel serving in Japan.
The story added fuel to a campaign to change the way sexualassault cases are prosecuted by commanders.

Rock me like a Yuricane

While at UC Berkeley, Kageyama met her mentor Ishmael
Reed, an author and educator who published her first poem,“A Song for the Big White Bitch.” Reed later compared theraw power of her writing to a hurricane, and dubbed her
the Yuricane, which is now the name of her spoken word
and world music band. With titles like “Little YELLOW Slut,”“Assumptions” and “an ode to the Caucasian male,” Kageyama’s poems have addressed stereotypes about race and gender roles. They’re made even more powerful when Kageyama
recites them with collaborators such as Ghanaian percussionist Winchester Nii Tete on African drums and Keiji Kubo
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.

FEB 2016

FCCJ

on didgeridoo. Against the backdrop of
AP story – what are you going to do with
Poem for Kenji Goto, a journalist,a traditional Noh stage, it’s a heady, gloall the emotion that’s left?” she asks.
Feb. 1, 2015
balized mix of words and music, espe“It has to come out in some way. Then I
cially when the topic is making love tohave to write a poem. By being engaged
by Yuri Kageyama
younger men.
in the world, your poems are certainly
Kageyama’s “News From Fukushima”
going to be better.”i have already written about you
is a multilayered dance, music and spoanother journalist
ken-word piece that was staged at New
your story as a hostage
Wearing many hats
York’s La MaMa Experimental Theater
somewhere far away
Kageyama’s lyrics were recently highin September 2015. It’s one example ofin a wind-blowing desert
lighted in “I Will Bleed,” a song she
a subject that Kageyama has explored
your story about
wrote with Indian singer-songwriterboth as an artist and journalist, having
how it all ended
Trupti Pandkar that was inspired byspent many days covering press confertoday
Chikamatsu’s Sonezaki Shinju, theences at Tokyo Electric Power’s office
i do not know you
famous bunraku puppet play about loveafter the March 11, 2011 cataclysm andbut i have to write somethingsuicides. It speaks of crossing boundlater visiting the disaster zone; it also
else for you
aries, with lines such as “Not afraid ofincorporates elements of racism, sexthis poem
different tongues/Our blood joined will
ism and abortion as well as friendshipit just doesn’t seem rightmake us one.” The slow, soulful tune
between women.
unless i do
was a finalist in the R&B category in“I always felt that literature was supepeople say you caredthe 2015 UK Songwriting Contest andrior to journalism – that it took more
you were great to work withwill be included on a forthcoming CD
talent to write a real poem than an
you will live on in our hearts
that Kageyama, Trupti and bassist
article,” Kageyama says, “but when the
Hiroshi Tokieda are working on. Meanyou laugh in your own videos
disaster happened, I realized how powwhile, Kageyama is trying to get her“No matter what happens to me,”erless poetry can be, and that people
Fukushima piece staged in another city
you say before you leave,need journalism in the wake of a disasand has a children’s book in the works“I will always love the people of Syria.”
ter. When Fukushima happened, I realwith an illustrator. She’s determined
you are calm
ized it was the story of my life.”
to keep up her creative output despite
you look straight into the camera
Switching from an objective, factthe demands of her reporting job andyou are gentle in your deathoriented writing approach for an AP
will continue to draw inspiration fromyou are brave in your deathstory (while observing AP style, ofnews events and collaborations withi just have to write thiscourse) and then going home to write
other artists.
in even that video
a free-form poem or essay about the“I’m not that inhibited about what
you are beautiful
same topic, yet with a deeply personalart is or where borders lie, because myangle, has never been a problem forlife has been about defying borders, so
first published in Tokyo Poetry Journal
Kageyama. For instance, she has writI don’t think that there’s such a thingten both articles and a poem about
as what is proper,” Kageyama says. “I’m
Kenji Goto, the Japanese video journalist beheaded by Islamnot writing to please anybody. I think rules are there to be
ic State militants in January 2015.
broken and you cross the borders and you see what happens.
“You have all of this emotion, and you contain that to do theThat’s one of the better things we have going in life.” ❶FCCJ

FEB 2016

9

SERIESPROFILE

Gregory Clark
by GAVIN BLAIR

I

t was 1964, I was sitting in the middle of the Kremlin
around the green baize table; on the other side was Kosygin, the premier, and Gromyko, the foreign minister. On
our side was the Australian foreign minister, Hasluck.”An interview that kicks off in that fashion would seem tosuggest an eventful career and some good yarns; Gregory
Clark qualifies on both counts.
After graduation from Oxford University (he was accepted
at 16) and some adventures in Europe, Clark headed backhome to Australia in 1956 to begin a diplomatic career in the
Department of External Affairs. It was to include a year of
Chinese studies in Hong Kong, which would help stimulate along fascination with Asia.
After a couple of years as the China Desk officer in Canberra, he was posted to Moscow, where the Kremlin meeting
above took place after the Australian foreign minister “arrived
demanding a meeting with the top Soviet leadership for whom
he had an urgent message.”
The message contained what Clark describes as not only
a misunderstanding of geopolitics in inviting Russia to join
the Vietnam War to stop China – which Canberra believed
was pulling the strings – but of basic geography, mistakenly
identifying the province of Sinkiang as Russian territory
coveted by China.
“The Russians were amazed,” says Clark, and after correcting the visitors’ geography, they informed the Australiansthat they would support the “brave struggle of our Vietnamese comrades against American imperialism, and wished theChinese would do more to help.”
After resigning in disgust at what he saw as ignorance
about the Vietnam War, in October 1964, Clark was offered
the chance to express his views on Vietnam in Rupert Murdoch’s newly-launched newspaper. “People forget, but theAustralian was a very progressive newspaper at the beginning,launched by Murdoch to oppose
the Vietnam War.”The article detailed what Clark
believes was the myth that theconflict was caused by Chinese
aggression. Finding outlets forhis contrarian view on China difficult to come by, he took a year off from his studies to write abook on the subject. The research for In Fear of China brought
him to Japan, where he would meet his wife and future motherof his two sons. Translated into Japanese after it was publishedin 1967, it later opened doors for him in the country.

fog, to Sydney for printing. The print unions knew this. So
sure enough, come five o’clock in the afternoon, a demand
would come through, threatening a 24-hour strike.”
The reporters and management, including Murdoch, would
have to go down and lay out the type themselves, a laborious and messy process in those days. “You could see the lookon Murdoch’s face as he did this: ‘If this is what they do tothe one progressive newspaper in Australia, to hell with theunions and the left wing.’”
Setting up the paper’s bureau on the sixth floor of the Nikkei’s building turned out to be serendipitous, as Clark wasable to see the Japanese business daily before it was put tobed. His Japanese reading ability, which he says was alreadyan advantage over his Australian rivals, was now put to use
scanning for stories.
After what he calls “four great years at the Australian,” anda year back in Canberra working for the government, Clark
was approached in the 1970s to write a book for the Japanesemarket. “The Japanese were getting very curious to know how
the rest of the world saw them.”
Clark already had an idea for a book about why the Japaneseand Chinese were so different. On delivering the manuscript,
the publishing company boss gave it the title The Japanese:
Origins of Uniqueness, although that wasn’t really its theme,
recalls Clark.

THE TITLE DID GENERATE enough publicity to sell the book,and more importantly, made Clark a fixture on the corporate lecture circuit. He spent the next 20 years being paid
handsomely for 90-minute talks on the theme of “Japaneseuniqueness” to audiences across the country a few times a
week. The higher profile also boosted his career at Sophia
University, where the faculty
upgraded him from visiting lecturer to full professor.
The lucrative lecture gig cameto an abrupt end when the Sankei
ran an article by Yoshihisa Komori accusing Clark of dismissing
the North Korean abduction
issue as a fiction. Clark says thiswas entirely inaccurate, but thedamage was done.
Shortly afterward, in 1995, Clark was asked to be vicepresident of Tama University, stepping up to president a few
months later when the incumbent suffered a heart attack.
Later Clark served as vice president of Akita International
University from 2004 to 2008.
Along the way, he has found time to write half a dozen
more books, serve on numerous government committees,
OFFERED THE CHANCE TO launch the Australian’s Tokyo
appear as a commentator on Japanese TV and write regularly
bureau in 1969, which also began his long FCCJ membership,
for publications from the International Herald Tribune to the
Clark was sent for a two-month journalism crash course at
Japan Times – his eventful path being very different from thethe paper’s HQ. There he witnessed a pivotal episode that
one he envisaged as a young diplomat.
Clark says helped change Murdoch from a liberal to a scourge“I’ve enjoyed the transition, but I never had the chance toof the left.
properly use the Chinese and Russian“For national news, the plates
Gavin Blair covers Japanese business, society andthat I learned. That's a big regret inwere prepared in Canberra, and had
culture for publications in America, Asia, and Europe.
my life, particularly the Chinese.” ❶to be flown, or driven if there was
10

FEB 2016

FCCJ

ANDREW POTHECARY“You could see the look on
Murdoch’s face: ‘If this is what
they do to the one progressive
newspaper in Australia, tohell with the unions.’”

FCCJ

FEB 2016

11

FEATURE
NEWSPAPERSI

For over 70 years since it began printing in war-ravaged
Japan, the Stars and Stripes has offered its militarycommunity readers a taste of press freedom, U.S. style.
by MARK SCHREIBERt owes its initial creation to the celebrated Gen. “Black Jack”
Pershing, who commanded U.S. troops in WWI. During
WWII, U.S. Generals Patton and Eisenhower once engaged
in a rancorous disagreement over the rumpled and unshaved
appearance of cartoonist Bill Mauldin’s GI characters Willie and
Joe that appeared on its pages. (Mauldin would receive a Pulitzer Prize for his efforts.) And among the more celebrated readers of the U.S. military newspaper the Pacific Stars and Stripes
edition was Hirohito, then emperor of Japan (see sidebar).
While U.S. soldiers began receiving the Stars and Stripes in theEuropean theater as early as 1942, it did not appear in the Pacific until three years later. Issues printed in Hawaii first appearedin Japanese territory in May 1945, distributed to the troops andships at sea while the battle for Okinawa was still in progress.
The Tokyo edition was launched in October 1945, consisting of four pages, distributed free of charge. Printing at firstwas outsourced to the Nippon Times (as the Japan Times called
itself from 1943 to 1956), but before long the Stripes had its
own building and was being typeset and printed in Roppongi,
on a site that originally quartered the Third Imperial Guard of
the Imperial Japanese Army.
In the years after the occupation ended the Stripes enjoyedits golden age as a city newspaper with extensive local coverage. Its Tokyo bureau generated considerable local content,
running columns by such popular regulars as entertainment
columnist Al Ricketts and sportswriter Lee Kavetski. The latespecial correspondent Hal Drake, long a fixture at the FCCJ
Main Bar, proved a virtuoso at compiling oral histories, tracking down and interviewing Japanese who willingly gave personal testimonies about their involvement in the Pacific War.
Another celebrated Stripes alumnus was Texas native Millard “Corky” Alexander, who in February 1970 launchedanother tabloid, the free community newspaper Tokyo Weekender. “We had a bar, and the manager, a master sergeant,lived right next door,” Alexander once recalled to a UPI
reporter, about what the Stripes had been like in its heyday.
“He’d open the bar at 8:45 in the morning, but he’d consent toopen earlier if it was an emergency.”
In 1985 the Stripes’ Tokyo newsroom still maintained an
editorial staff of 82 – 44 military personnel and 38 civilians.
That figure was to shrink drastically in the ensuing years, as
the Washington headquarters assumed control over editorial
work. “We used to have several versions of the paper, up to six
at one point,” said current commander, Air Force Lt. Colonel
Brian Choate. “We now have just one. We used to have a lot offolks scattered all over the Pacific. Today we have 16 offices
located around the Pacific.”
12

A typical edition, selling for 50 cents (“Free in deployedareas”) consists of about 32 pages, of which nine are devoted
to sports coverage. Most of the military-related stories are
generated by in-house writers, with other news and op-eds
from the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and syndicatedwire services like AP.
Delivered to homes in some areas as well as sold fromvending machines, Stripes print editions are issued Monday
through Thursday and special Weekend Editions on Friday.
In addition to the regular newspaper, readers in Japan, Okinawa, South Korea and Guam receive weekly or biweekly supplements carrying area-specific news and feature articles,
along with local advertising.
The Stripes greatest recent growth, not surprisingly, hasbeen in its electronic versions, and the paper is making
an effort to move from newsprint to digital. “Visits to thestripes.com website range from 1.5 to 4 million sessions amonth,” said Choate. “Quite a few folks from outside the regionlog on, looking for information on this region.”
Choate gives especially high praise to the 147 Japanese“We have our mission first, and
we look to that mission before we
look to the bottom dollar.”nationals employed by the paper, a highly skilled labor force
involved in printing, design work, distribution and othertasks. Printing of the daily edition and work on the electronic
edition, along with the advertising sales are conducted at
Hardy Barracks in Roppongi, across the street from Aoyama
Cemetery. The building’s ground floor features a small Navyexchange and surprisingly large fitness gym.
The Roppongi facility also once housed the Stripes’ Japanbureau and distribution departments as well, but some years
ago these shifted to a nondescript one-story building on
Yokota Air Base. Some staff must rise before the dawn for thelong commute from Yokota to Roppongi.
While largely dependent on non-appropriated funding, theStars and Stripes is partly subsidized by American taxpayers. (In 2014 it was allocated $7.8 million.) “We do get someappropriation, but the majority of our funds have to be self
generated,” Choate explained. “So we’re never going to turna profit. We have our mission first, and we look to that mission before we look to the bottom dollar. However, we cannot
FEB 2016

FCCJ

Thursday's child

Emperor and emperor-to-be share a Dec. 27, 1945 edition of the paper.

always been that way, and it’s enforced today more than ever.”So with U.S. politics virtually certain to become ensnarled
in a bellicose presidential campaign in the months ahead, I
asked Choate how the paper would negotiate the tightrope
between the two parties’ candidates. His response – and who
can blame him? – was to cringe in mock terror. “When we passon our news and information, it’s the most up-to-date andaccurate that we can manage, without any taint at all.”
Not leaving such matters to chance, in the early 1990s Congress created the post of ombudsman, to ensure that “journalists operate with editorial independence and that . . . readers receive a free flow of news and information without taintof censorship or propaganda.”
Choate emphasized that under the Department of Defense
the Stripes is “the only entity with such privilege, and I thinkthat makes us extremely unique.” ❶FCCJ

FEB 2016

THE EMPEROR READS THE FUNNIES
AS 1945 DREW TO a close, officials of the Allied Occupation,
including Gen. Douglas MacArthur himself, were busily
engaged in preparations for a major PR makeover for
Emperor Hirohito. This was to culminate in an imperial
rescript, issued on New Year’s Day, that became known as
the Ningen Sengen (“declaration of humanity”), in which theemperor denied his divinity.
In preparation for the announcement, Shogyoku Yamahata,a veteran photographer on contract with the then-Imperial
Household Ministry, took a series of photographs of Hirohito
and his family.
An extensive collection of the photos – including somenever before made public – were recently displayed at amonth-long exhibit in Tokyo. The photograph used on theflyer showed a seated emperor and standing crown prince
reading the U.S. military newspaper, the Pacific Stars andStripes, dated Thursday, Dec. 27, 1945.
Five pages of Yamahata’s
photos originally appeared in
the Feb. 4, 1946 issue of Lifemagazine, under the headline“Sunday at Hirohito’s –Emperor poses for first
informal pictures.” Thecaption suggested Hirohito
and his heir apparent wereinterested in more mundane
aspects of American culture– like the Blondie and Moon
Mullins cartoons at thebottom of page 2 – than
the front page story, “Big 3
Works on Treaty Plan.”“The Japanese imperial
household granted
permission to Life as a‘special honor’ to use four
Sundays in December
photographing the membersof the imperial family,” thestory read. "Since the family
is fearful of assassination,
American photographers
were barred and Japanesephotographers of the Sun
News Agency used.”
At that point in time, thedecision had yet to be madeby the Allies concerning charging Hirohito with war crimes ordemanding his abdication. As Life pointed out, “What happensin the future to Hirohito’s status will not be particularly
influenced by the facts that he is a model family man, aged
44 . . . who was strongly opposed to the war.”
Still, the makeover of the Emperor’s public persona– including this photo showing him reading newspapers
published by his former enemy – no doubt played a significant
role in keeping him on the chrysanthemum throne.
– Mark SchreiberMark Schreiber’s ties to Stars and Stripes extend back to 1958, when
he sold the European edition (at 5 cents each) to U.S. soldiers in
Aschaffenburg, Germany.

13

JAPAN CAMERA INDUSTRY INSTITUTEMARK SCHREIBER

U.S. military
newspaper still
publishing in Japan

operate without some sort of revenue, so we’ve had to develop a business side here in Tokyo proper, and we’ve done that.”
Their distribution outlets are limited. Civilian sales inJapan are out; Stripes cannot sell to non-military subscribers, although in many Southeast Asian locales, copies of thepaper can be found for sale at hotel bookstands. According toJapan/Guam area manager Monte Dauphin, copies go out on adaily flight to Singapore and are shipped as far as to the U.S.
Naval Support Facility at Diego Garcia in the southern Indian
Ocean. “Which probably makes us the longest paper route in
the world,” says Dauphin.
It’s understandable that media watchers might harbor
expectations that the newspaper is no more than a propaganda organ for the purpose of indoctrinating American troops.
But Choate is quick with his denial: “The thing that remains
one of our most prominent features is the First Amendment
protection,” Choate stressed. “There is no influence over ourcontent whatsoever. We are completely editorially independent, so no commander can tell us to censor anything. It’s

FEATURE
JOURNALISM

In need of a career boost?

HELPFUL ORGANIZATIONSPHOTOS: MICHAEL KODAS

If you are reading this, you most likely understand the benefitsof belonging to an organization of professional journalists. But
based on my personal experiences you shouldn’t just stop at the20th floor of the Yurakucho Denki Building:

A new career in a new town

The author and other members of the Ted Scripps Fellowship inEnvironmental Journalism at the University of Colorado on a visit to
the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s National Wind Technology
Center in Boulder and at one of the weekly fellow seminars.

It’s a tough world out there, but finding funding
through fellowships, grants and awards can help ajournalist to recalibrate or renew the path ahead.

“Jsider things, recalibrate and maybe even reournalism doesn’t pay – especially if one
by JAMES SIMMS
launch,” he says. “There are some points duris a freelancer.” That’s the common wising a person’s career when this makes more
dom these days, and it has a ring of truth
sense than others. Is this the right point in yours? Are you
to it. Media outlets seem to want more and more; they want it
truly ready to make the most out of a fellowship? Not just takyesterday and often for next to nothing.
ing a break but taking advantage of the opportunities that a
But there are ways to fund the stories that you want tofellowship can offer?”
write, even if an outlet doesn’t want to make it worth yourThe application process can be a bit grueling, requiring thewhile – ways to do a deep investigative dive, supplement
same amount of effort as applying to a U.S. college or graduincome and even spend a semester or two delving into newate school, except there are no standardized tests involved.
or familiar topics.
(My vision was blurred by the end of February – most deadThere are literally dozens of fellowships, grants and awards
lines are March 1 or before, after staring at the computer
available for foreign and Japanese journalists, ranging fromscreen for weeks on end.) Applicants should also carefully
funding of a couple thousand dollars to year-long fellowships
read and understand the fellowship content, and it helps towith stipends of up to $85,000. While I will focus on U.S.become familiar with projects done by past fellows in the probased programs, there are others in Europe, including withgrams they wish to join.
the Reuters Institute at Oxford University and the Robert
Yulsman has further advice for applicants: “Be prepared to
Bosch Foundation in Germany.
articulate in a clear and concise way where you think you want
The toughest to get but most rewarding are the semesterto head and why – and how you think the specific fellowshipor year-long fellowships at universities and research instituyou are applying to could help you. Not just a fellowship intions. Such programs include stipends, fees and class tuition,
general, but this particular fellowship, in this particular place.”
usually to attend as an auditor. In some cases, they cover
After completing one major application package, however,travel and research costs for stories, allow one to earn graduit should be much easier, as it becomes a matter of tailoringate degrees and help pay for expenses for families.
the personal and professional essays and study proposals to
Former FCCJ president Martyn Williams, who received aeach fellowship and university. Remember that recommenKnight Fellowship during 2011 and 2012, says there weren’t
dations, up to three in some cases, from editors or others“many downsides” to having the opportunity to get paid tofamiliar with a person’s work, are required.
spend a year studying whatever he wanted at an institution
like Calfornia’s Stanford University. “It’s difficult not to want
OF THE SEVERAL FELLOWSHIPS that I applied for, I was acceptto do,” says Williams, who currently is a senior correspondent
ed for the Scripps Fellowship and was a finalist for the Unifor IDG News Service in San Francisco.
versity of Michigan’s Knight-Wallace Fellowship. The applicaTom Yulsman, who directs the Center for Environmentaltion package serves as the basis for the initial screening. If
Journalism at the University of Colorado, Boulder, that overthat passes muster, it is usually followed by a phone interview,
sees the Ted Scripps Fellowship in Environmental Journalespecially for overseas applicants. Within the U.S., some instiism, says journalists should think of a fellowship as a kindtutions will cover the travel costs for face-to-face interviews.
of sabbatical. “It should also be an opportunity to recon14

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FCCJ

Williams offers one piece of advice for those applying for
fellowships in the U.S. who are not from there. People frommany countries, such as his native U.K., aren’t used to playing
up their accomplishments, so they need advice on getting to
the appropriate level of boastfulness. “It really helps to havea friend who is American,” he says. “You really have to sell
yourself and show that you are the best person for this.”
Williams believes that in his case, what set him apart wasn’t
his daily writing about tech issues, but rather his early adoption of video and his personal blog on North Korean tech issues.
In my research several years ago on U.S. fellowships, there
appeared to be more South Korean and Chinese journalists
than Japanese. Williams attributes the dearth of applications
from Japan to a probable lack of awareness of the programs
and, for many Japanese applicants, the language barrier.
From what I’ve seen more recently, it seems that situation
hasn’t changed.
But if you do apply and are accepted, one thing to remember is to let your intellectual curiosity take you where it may
and not to stick doggedly to the study proposal.
In my case, I planned to study seismic engineering, earthquakes and renewable energy as part of my research on the
Fukushima nuclear disaster and the future of Japan’s energy
policies. While following that direction, I learned from anengineering professor about a course on disaster management and planning. I took the opportunity to enroll, and theknowledge gained from that class is something that I now
consider crucial to understanding and analyzing the 2011
triple disaster in Tohoku.
Knowing subjects like real and perceived risk and trust,and how they affect policies have given me a new lens towrite about why, for example, the Japanese public doesn’t
trust regulators and utilities with power from the atom. (Ithas nothing to do, for the most part, with political leanings
or knowledge of the subject; rather it’s a fundamental lackof trust in those institutions to do their job properly – something that in academic jargon is termed “recreancy.”)
THERE ARE ALSO SHORT-TERM fellowships that run for anything from one day to two weeks, covering issues such as
investigative, computer-assisted, health or environmental
reporting. There are also grants and awards for specificreporting projects. The application process is a miniaturFCCJ

FEB 2016

Investigative Reporters and Editors: The granddaddy of all
investigative journalism organizations. Founded in 1975, IRE
is focused on deep dives and hosts numerous conferences
and seminars, large and small, to help reporters hone theircraft. That includes what should be in every journalist’s
toolkit today: Computer-assisted reporting (CAR). It holds
an annual CAR meeting and has an extensive online libraryof tip sheets on everything from developing sources to
how that Pulitzer-winning story was reported.
www.ire.org
Society of Environmental Journalists: I first attended its
annual convention in 2013, in Chattanooga, as a Scripps
Fellow, and have attended the subsequent two. The qualityof the panel discussions and topical dinners is impressive;the day-long reporting tours even more so. That year’s
tour included the Oak Ridge National Laboratory anda Westinghouse nuclear reactor training facility. Whileseemingly narrow, environmental issues can touch almost
any kind of beat, whether it is business, politics, science,
regulation, crime or social justice. I always leave with anotebook full of story ideas.
www.sej.org
Asian American Journalists Association: The Asia chapter
and Tokyo group are very active, including events like mini
conferences, seminars and mixers, and have a demographicthat is at least a couple decades younger than the Club. The
national organization offers executive leadership training,scholarships and mentoring for younger reporters andworks to dispel stereotypes of Asians in the media.
www.aaja.org
ized version of year-long programs, though most of them
don’t require as many recommendations and some don’t
need any at all.
In my case, one enabled me to travel to and attend theInvestigative Reporters and Editors’ computer-assisted
reporting boot camp during my Scripps Fellowship spring
break. The five-day seminar allowed me to dip my toe into
the world of data journalism: learning how to find data, clean
it up and assess it. Another one from the Society of Environmental Journalists helped defray the expense of attending its
annual conference last year in Norman, Oklahoma. The previous year, part of my participation costs were paid by the
SEJ because I set up and moderated a panel discussion at its
convention in New Orleans on the post-Fukushima outlook
for nuclear power.
Finally, while there are some journalists who have become
serial fellows – meaning that they secure fellowships andgrants year after year – the process can be somewhat of a gamble. Remember that even the best essays and proposals don’t
always get anointed, but the potential payoff is worth it. ❶James Simms is a former Ted Scripps Fellow in Environmental
Journalism and former columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
He is currently a Forbes contributor and member of the FCCJ boardof directors.
15

FCCJ EXHIBITION

CLUB NEWSJOIN THE FILM COMMITTEE . . .
. . . on Wed., Feb. 24 at 7pm for the mysterious, mesmerizing While the WomenAre Sleeping, by acclaimed director Wayne Wang (Chan Is Missing, The Joy Luck
Club, Smoke). Marking his first made-in-Japan production with an adaptation ofa short story by Spanish writer Javier Marías, Wang has attracted a top-notch
cast, including “Beat” Takeshi Kitano, essaying his first lead role in 12 years
in a film by another director. Hot actor Hidetoshi Nishijima plays a blocked
writer, vacationing at a plush Izu resort with his wife, who notices a beefy olderman (Takeshi) and a comely young lass, obviously intimate, but not father anddaughter, lounging by the pool. Kenji’s interest rapidly grows into obsession andfinally, something possibly worse. Wang’s frequent producer Yukie Kito and starShiori Kutsuna will be on hand for the Q&A, just days after returning from thefilm’s world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival.
(Japan, 2016; 103 minutes; Japanese with English subtitles.)

FCCJ HACKS & FLACKS

Into theHeart ofthe Arctic
byYoichi Yabe
LAST JULY I SAILED North to three Inuit lands: Nunavik and Nunavut in Canada
and Greenland. Where many people imagine an icy wasteland, my lens found aworld teeming with life at the short summer’s height: birds, seals, whales, polar
bears and humans all sharing the bounty of a rich marine ecosystem. With climatechange now threatening this fragile environment, its Inuit peoples are asserting
the right to determine their future and to conserve the unique world they haveadapted to over millennia. I hope these images will generate both awe for theArctic’s beauty and concern for its future. ❶16

The FCCJ's annual Hacks & Flacks party was attended
by hundreds on Friday, Jan. 29. This opportunity forPR, government and business representatives tomeet and mix with journalist Members opened witha speech from 1st Vice President Peter Langan (top).
The traditional celebratory smashing of the saké
barrel (provided by Born Saké) was handled by PAC
committee representative Justin McCurry, Langan,
Club President Suvendrini Kakuchi and Secretary
Mary Corbett (above). The saké helped supplement
the food and drink (above left) and smoothed theinteractions in this informal atmosphere. It wasso successful that one participant suggested to
President Kakuchi that the event should be held
more often.

As a sea-going photojournalist, forover 25 years Yoichi Yabe has covered
trans-ocean yacht races, expedition
cruises and almost anything thatfloats. Having recently joined the
FCCJ as a Journalist member, Yabesan comes into the Club from hishome near the Shonan beaches.

FEB 2016

FCCJ

FCCJ

FEB 2016

17

CLUB NEWS

New
Members

Discount LexisNexis
Subscriptions
for FCCJ Members

TOM REDMOND is Japan Stocks editor for Bloomberg in Tokyoand deputy head of the team covering Asian equities. He is also
an occasional reporter, writing mostly on Japan-related topics
including shareholder activism and corporate governance. A
native of Dublin, Ireland, he has been living in Tokyo since 1997
and is fluent in Japanese.

The FCCJ is pleased to offer
members a substantial discount on
subscriptions to LexisNexis’ news
database service, Nexis.com

PROFESSIONAL/JOURNALISTASSOCIATE MEMBER
Katsuhiko Waza, BBC World Japan
LimitedThe 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

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Nathan Floyd, Suntory Holdings Limited
Russell Saito, Impact Foundation Japan
Miaw Wen Shieh, Taipei Economic &Cultural Representative Office
Ayako Doi, Konica Minolta, Inc.
Yukari Fukushima, The Pokemon
Company,
Mami Iwamoto, Konica Minolta, Inc.

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 MEMBERSYUSUKE KUBO is senior producer of BS-TBS, producing“Through Foreign Journalists’ Eyes,” a news program featuring
foreign correspondents discussing current affairs, domestic
and international. He has worked in the news section of Tokyo
Broadcasting System (TBS) from 1993, covering news as acameraman, correspondent and producer. He was the resident
correspondent in Bangkok, and has covered the turmoil following
the Asia financial crisis, the India-Pakistan Kashmir conflict
and the Afghanistan War from 1998 to 2001. Kubo was born inFukushima City.

New in the
Library

Drawings of Mr. Fuji, aSymbol of Japan's Cultureand Art: Katsushika
Hokusai's Thirty-six Views
of Mt. Fuji
Kikumi Sasuga(Supervisor); Kazutada
Yoshida (Text by); Takeo
Yamasaki and Takahiko
Sakai (Translators)
Bijutsu Shuppan
Donated by Takeo
Yamasaki

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

Yukihiko Komatsuzaki, Familymart Co.,Ltd.
Yasuhiro Kawakami, Toyo Reizo Co., Ltd.
Kentaro Miura, Dentsu Public Relations
Inc.
Yukie Ohta, En-Japan, Inc.
Hasumi Ozawa, Suntory Holdings Limited
Koji Ohta, Dentsu Public Relations Inc.
Kimiaki Shimizu, System
Communications, Inc.
REINSTATEMENT (ASSOCIATE)
Kai Hielscher, Deloitte Tohmatsu Tax Co.
Tatsuya Fujisaku, Mitsubishi Corporation

Superpower: Three
Choices for America's
Role in the World
Ian Bremmer
Portfolio Penguin
Donated by Ian Bremmer
Jio ekonomikusu no seiki:jizerogo no nihon ga
ikinokoru michi (The Ageof Geo-Economics)
Takashi Mitachi; Ian
Bremmer
Nihon Keizai Shimbun
Shuppansha
Donated by Ian Bremmer

Love, Sex, and Democracy
in Japan during theAmerican Occupation
Mark McLelland
Palgrave Macmillan
Neurotic Beauty: An
Outsider Looks at Japan
Morris Berman
Water Street Press

SUPPORTJOURNALISM YOUR CLUBMAGAZINE
JOURNALISM
The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

February 2016, Volume 48 No. 2, ¥400

The livesof journalists incourt, on the page,
finding funds, on
stage and withgovernments

and freedom of the press in Korea

and the history of the Stars and Stripes

JOURNALISMJOURNALISMJOURNALISM
and funding stories

and performance poetry

vs diplomacy

18

Please send your story ideas tono.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 cover photo.
Photo essays: ¥15,000 for full-page photos and¥5,000 for smaller shots. All payments will bemade in chits to your member account.

FEB 2016

FCCJ