The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

November 2016, Volume 48 No. 11, ¥400

A
NO NALY
RTH ZIN
KO G
REA

How foreign correspondents reportfrom the peninsula — and from Japan
Profile:The new New York Times
Bureau Chief Motoko Rich

Sexy pages:
Yoshiwara hosts
unique book store

Waiting for Putin:
A history of deals on
the northern isles

Vol. 48, Number 11

November 2016

contact the editors

no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Publisher FCCJ
Editor Gregory Starr
Art Director Andrew Pothecarywww.forbiddencolour.com
Editorial Assistants Naomichi Iwamura,Tyler Rothmar
Photo Coordinator Akiko Miyake
Publications committee members
Gavin Blair, Freelance (Chair); Geoffrey Tudor,
Orient Aviation; Monzurul Huq, Prothom Alo;
Julian Ryall, Daily Telegraph; John R. Harris,
Automobile Magazine

The Kyoto
Prize . . .
and otherawardsIn this issue
The Front Page
From the President by Khaldon AzhariCollections: Childcare numbers
From the archives: “Le Bulldozer” visits the Club

p12
4
5
5

The troublesome task of covering Kim
by Andy Sharp

6

Behind the negotiations for the Kuril Islands
by Gregory Clark

8

ProfileMotoko Rich
by Tim Hornyak

10

Beyond the Nobels
by Jerry Matsumura

12

Red-light reading matterby Mark Schreiber

14

Turning down the heatby Julian Ryall

15

Club News
Exhibition: The people and the forest
by Yasuo Ota
Special Campaign offer/Join the Film Committee. . ./Study tour to JAXA/New Members/New in the Library
FCCJ

NOV 2016

16
17

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

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
Yurakucho Denki Building, North Tower 20F,
1-7-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0006.
Tel: (03) 3211-3161 Fax: (03) 3211-3168 fccj.or.jp
Published by the FCCJ All opinions contained within
Number 1 Shimbun are those of the authors. As such,these opinions do not constitute an official positionof Number 1 Shimbun, the editor or the Foreign
Correspondents’ Club of Japan.
Please pitch and send articles and photographs, oraddress comments to no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Read the Number 1 Shimbun online:
fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun//
Cover illustration: Andrew Pothecary3

FRONT PAGE

COLLECTIONSFROM THE ARCHIVESCHILDCARE NUMBERS“LE BULLDOZER” VISITSTHE CLUB

From thePresident
WITHIN THE FIRST FEW days of my being elected by the Boardof Directors as the new president of the FCCJ (after Peter
Langan resigned to take up a new post in Hong Kong), I was
faced with a major decision over what to do about the Club’s
proposed move to new premises in October 2018. I received
what I regard as expert opinion that showed there could be
problems with the move.
I decided that I must act with responsibility to all concerned,
not least to all of our Members who have a financial (and in thecase of Regular Members, professional) stake in the welfareof the Club. I also wanted to act with responsibility toward ourlandlord and toward our staff.
Around the time I assumed the presidency, our two Kanjis(Statutory Auditors) Iinuma-san and Honjo-san issued a reportto the Board that had the tone of an alert. They suggested
that, “the FCCJ would need to give notice to MEC (Mitsubishi
Estate), the company handling the FCCJ move project, totemporarily halt (not terminate or postpone indefinitely) any
work on FCCJ facilities at the new site” until the FCCJ could“sort out” its position on the move.
They came to this conclusion after recognizing the factthat the decision on this most important project in the recent
history of FCCJ was made (a) under an agreement with ourlandlord Mitsubishi Estate of March 2015, and we were underlegal obligation to move from the Denki Building to newly
constructed premises at Marunouchi 3-2 (aka the New Fuji
Building), and (b) we took this decision because the cost to
maintain and overhaul our current premises was beyond ourmeans. The Kanjis, however, felt that the financial projection
made to justify the size of the new premises was optimistic andshort on specifics.
As president, I felt I had to take heed of warnings from somein the Club that the move could involve financial risks – and thatthe new premises might not match the Club’s requirements interms of the standard of facilities we need to operate at leastat our current level. While not necessarily accepting thesearguments, I had an obligation at least to heed them.
(The agreement with MEC is confidential so I would notdescribe it too much in detail to the general membership,
although this runs counter to the spirit of transparency I
believe in.)But that was just the start. In an email to me on Oct. 18,
Bob Whiting, our Treasurer and the Finance Committee chair,basically agreed with all the Kanjis’ observations. Leaving aspace for optimism however, our Treasurer said, “a new Food
& Beverage contract starting Sept. 1, 2018 may help get us in
the black, and a special F&B Search Task Force has been busy
interviewing F&B candidates.”
Looking at the glass as “half full” was last month’s issue of
the Number 1 Shimbun, which presented images of how the
FCCJ could look if and when it moves to shiny new premises
in the New Fuji Building. There’s no denying that these images
contrasted favorably, at first glance at least, with the rather
down-at-the-heel appearance of our current premises at the
Yurakucho Denki Building.
So, if you have heard, and things “get around” very quickly in
our Club, that the “new” Board is taking a long, hard look at the
proposed move, you may think that we are “spoilers.”
4

The reality is rather different. The board that was in placein March 2015 signed a contract, with General Membership
Meeting approval, that committed the Club to larger premises
and an amount of rent which some suggest we cannot afford,
and also to a penalty in the event FCCJ wishes unilaterally towithdraw from the contract.
I personally am supportive of the Club moving from its
current premises, and in fact see real advantages to making ourhome in new premises that are better equipped to meet theneeds of a modern press club.
So, I have approached the issue of the move with an open
and, I hope, careful and positive, attitude. I have seen and heard
enough, however, during my first two months in office that gave
me some doubts about the ability of FCCJ to pay the rent of
the new premises, and issues regarding the capability of the newpremises to provide us with catering and other facilities equal tothose we enjoy at present.
With this in mind, I quickly launched an inquiry into the pros
and cons of the move, with input both from those who favorgoing ahead “as is” and those who have different views. By
doing this, I wanted to be sure that we act with responsibility
to all parties but with the interest of you our members as our
first priority.
I decided to call for a pause in contract negotiations so thatall sides of the case could be rapidly reassessed and presented
to the Board. We are busily examining every possible option to
make sure that the FCCJ gets the best possible deal regarding
the terms of the move and – more importantly – that it does
not land itself in difficulty (or worse) by embarking upon amove that is not viable, financially or logistically. As president,
I feel this responsibility keenly. I also feel a duty to keep
members fully informed of what is happening, and why. This is
your Club.
I have little desire to apportion blame to previous Boards, but
it is only fair to say that if the question of what kind and size ofClub we wished to become had been asked of the membership
before the move was agreed, we might not have foundourselves in the difficulty we face now. The financial aspects andthe “affordability” of the move were not properly examined, andneither was the “cost” we might have to pay by drafting newmembers simply to boost revenues when some of those newmembers might have little interest in the role of a press club.
So, please bear with us as we seek to reexamine, as quickly
as possible, the options that are open to the Club as weapproach the move. We will keep you fully informed at every
step of the way.
In the meantime, the House & Properties committee isfollowing up with Mitsubishi Estate on the overall building
project’s construction schedule needs, but advised the Board
that a swift decision should be made. Also, the Board’s
F&B Search Task Force has completed an English language
version of a request for proposals from prospective F&B
outsourcing partners.
Myself and the Board are working hard to find solutions
to these and other related issues, and we welcome anysuggestions.
– Khaldon Azhari
NOV 2016

FCCJ

1.43

Total fertility rate
(average number ofchildren per woman)

Day care enrolees

Day care nurseriesin 2000

in 2000

in 2014in 2014

1,904,000 22,199
2,185,000 22,548
454,000

5,019

Full-time equivalent
workers

Full-time teachersin Tokyo, Saitama,
Chiba, Kanagawa

409,270
476,450
in 2000

in 2014in Tokyo, Saitama,
Chiba, Kanagawa

106,067
103,608
in 2000

in 201431,839in Tokyo, Saitama,
Chiba, Kanagawa

Number ofkindergartens

Kindergarten
enrollment

in 2000

in 2000

14,451
12,905in 20142,931

in Tokyo, Saitama,
Chiba, Kanagawa
Children on official waiting
lists for nursery schools

1,774,000
1,557,000
in 2014513,000
in Tokyo, Saitama,
Chiba, Kanagawa

Children on “hidden”
waiting lists

23,00060,000Wage gap between childcare providers- ¥40,000

and female workers across all industries

Sources: Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications, Labor and Welfare Ministry
FCCJ

NOV 2016

Jacques Chirac, then mayor of Paris and former French prime
minister, expressed his views at the FCCJ on Sept. 20, 1984. Seatedto his left is FCCJ board member Naoaki Usui (McGraw-Hill), whobecame FCCJ president for the 1987-88 administrative term. The
elbow of FCCJ president Mary Ann Maskery (ABC News) is visible on
Chirac’s right. Chirac went on to become France’s president from1995 to 2007.
Jacques Chirac much admired Japan, a country he visited manytimes over his 40-year career to meet with political leaders andcelebrities, including sumo wrestlers Akebono and Asashoryu. It
was rumored, too, that he fathered a son with a Japanese consort
on one of his early visits. And he even developed a connection
with Japan’s Noh drama as a result of a likeness between his facial
expressions and certain Noh masks, three of which were shownin a Paris museum in June of this year. (www.theguardian.com/
world/2016/jun/20/japanese-kyogen-masks-jacques-chirac-museedu-quai-branly-paris)
Born in 1932, Jacques Chirac joined France’s civil service in the
1950s. He vaulted into a long political career with his election to
the National Assembly in 1967 following five years on the staffof Georges Pompidou, who had dubbed him “Le Bulldozer” forhis ability to get things done. That epithet remained throughout
Chirac’s long career in which he held many high positions,
including prime minister twice and mayor of Paris for 18 years
prior to his election as president in 1995. He retired from thepresidency in 2007 after a minor stroke.
In evaluating his presidency, pundits were quick to pointout many questionable decisions, but they also lauded him for
opposing the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Respect for him inJapan declined following his decision in 1995 to resume nuclear
tests in a French-controlled area of the Pacific, 50 years after theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Accused of corruption during his 18 years as the mayor of
Paris, Chirac’s presidential immunity prevented indictment until
after his retirement in 2007. He was convicted in 2011 of abusing
taxpayer funds, but the sentence of two years in prison was
suspended in view of his past service to the country and ill health.
Despite these hits to his reputation, polls in France show that heis still held in high esteem.
Interestingly, both Kakuei Tanaka and Jacques Chirac were
known as “bulldozers,” and the careers of both ended withconvictions for corruption.

— Charles Pomeroy

Correction: In the caption for this space in the October issue, the man
seated was incorrectly identified. He is Sam Jones.
5

FEATURE
THE KOREAS
Even so, Fifield says, North Korea is the biggest challenge
because it’s so difficult to get information and paint a real
picture of what’s happening. “This involves talking to a wide
range of people,” the New Zealander says. “North Koreans who
have escaped to South Korea; North Koreans living in China,both legally and illegally; aid workers and diplomats who live
in or travel to North Korea; and analysts who speak Korean.”Fifield says about three quarters of the stories on Korea she
writes are about the North. “The continuing survival of North
Korea is the biggest story for me,” she says. “How are they
doing it, even after a decade of sanctions and the transition
to a young, third-generation
leader? The South Korean
reaction is also increasingly
important to cover because
the Park administration istaking a really tough stanceagainst the North. The sunshine policy days are welland truly over.”In the South, Fifield says, after an “incredible” economictransformation, there are real concerns about inequality andthe loss of optimism among young people. “The story I wrote
about South Korea that resonated most locally was about“Hell Chosun” – the idea that ordinary young people can’t getahead in South Korea, that you must be born into a wealthy or
influential family.”

Even being in Pyongyang doesn’t help sometimes. A few
years ago, an official trip for a group of overseas reporters to
North Korea happened to coincide with a rocket launch. They
were unable to report from the scene because they had no
idea what was happening, while correspondents elsewhere
had access to South Korean media and other sources.

OUR MAN IN PYONGYANG

Eric Talmadge is possibly closer to the story than any journalist with an address in Tokyo – he’s the Pyongyang bureau
chief for the Associated Press and is based there, on average, for about 10 days amonth. (AFP also opened abureau there in September
to join a handful of international media outlets including Kyodo News.)
After more than a decadeof reporting on Japan – andAsian-Pacific security –Talmadge accepted his new role in Pyongyang in 2013 (thebureau opened in 2012) due to it being a “unique challenge
professionally.”
Talmadge has a staff of two local reporters and a driver,and usually travels to Pyongyang with Singapore-based photographer Maye-e Wong. He says the restrictions he faces –especially as an American – are primarily related to access.
Even so, he says, he’s managed to pull off exclusive interviews with the head of the Foreign Ministry’s U.S. division, a
THE BUREAU CHIEF
senior official at the nation’s space agency, and a two-hour
Even closer to the story is Alastair Gale, the Wall Street Jourinterview with the foreign minister – a meeting that took place
nal’s Seoul bureau chief who will be returning to Japan thisin New York as the result of “groundwork done in Pyongyang.”year after a five-year stint on the peninsula.
“Our stories about daily life in the capital and the provinces
Gale, who leads a handful of reporters in Seoul, says thatprovide a window into thecoverage of Korea from
North that I think is a veryoutside the country varimportant aspect of ouries by publication, but it isbeing there,” Talmadge
weaker – since reporters
says. “Every foreign cormiss out on interaction
respondent in Japan wouldwith news sources such as
agree that having actubusiness and government
ally been, or being, here
people. “It is by definition
informs their work in aharder since there’s a lot
similar way and makes
you absorb just by being
their work better.”here and being surroundThough
NKNews.org,
ed by events.”
a website focused on
Gale says that while
the country, published astories such as the Samroughly 4,000-word reportsung Galaxy Note 7 phone
Crossing borders With an accompanying interpreter, Anna Fifield interviews
in 2014 that alleged thedebacle gain internapeople on the street in Pyongyang for a Washington Post video, above.
U.S. news agency pulls its
tional traction, often theMain photo, an elite South Korean soldier on the demarcation line between
punches, Talmadge says
big local stories are about
the two Koreas.
there’s a reason for AP being
political or celebrity scanin Pyongyang, and it isn’tdals that don’t have muchthat they are just waiting for the country to someday open up.
of an audience outside the country. “The leader of the ruling“Every story that we write, every day that we go out andparty went on hunger strike recently but I don’t think it got
talk to people on the street, every time we sit down andmuch coverage in the foreign press.”
complain or debate with officials there about how we wrote
On covering the North, he proceeds with caution. “Oftena story or why we took a certain photo is part of that effort,”
there’s a herd mentality on North Korea coverage because
he says. “The most important thing is to produce the best
everyone is working from the same minimal source material
journalism that I can, right now, and tenaciously build on
and the sexiest story is the one that gets the most attention,”each success, big or small. It may sound corny, and I know
Gale says. “You can write several very different stories by speaknot all agree, but I honestly believe we are fighting the gooding to different analysts who speculate in different ways. That’s
fight – for everybody.” ❶a major frustration if you’re trying to deliver a reliable story.”
Such examples include the false reports about Kim’s uncle
Andy Sharp is Bloomberg’s Tokyo-based editor for Japan and Korea
being fed to a pack of dogs, or his ex appearing in porn films,
government news.
and other such rumors.

ANDY SHARP“Often there’s a herd mentality
on North Korea coverage because
everyone is working from thesame minimal source material”

T

The troublesome taskof covering Kim

he groans in the newswould have gained someWhile some media are opening bureaus inroom are palpable.
thing from my being able to
Pyongyang, journalists are still faced with
Kim Jong Un has justwitness firsthand the mood
crucial challenges when it comes to reporting
rattled off yet another misof the country, the despair
on Japan’s reclusive neighbor.
sile or detonated anotherof the children’s parents
nuclear device. Often before
and friends and the politicalthe morning’s first cup ofrepercussions in Seoul.”
by ANDY SHARP
coffee, reporters must scrap
But sometimes being on
their plans for the day andsite is imperative. McCurtry to make sense of North Korea’s latest provocation.
ry says he jumped on a flight to Seoul in March 2013 whenThis scene doesn’t just take place in Seoul, but across Asia
Kim Jong Un was threatening to nuke the U.S. and declared– including Japan, where many correspondents are tasked
a “state of war” against the South to see how scared ordiwith covering events on the Korean Peninsula. It’s a task thatnary South Koreans were (turns out they weren’t). “It was acomes in addition to their main job of relaying to the world
great time to be in Seoul, despite the utter lack of preparathe latest shenanigans in Nagatacho, making sense of thetion and inability to secure reasonably priced fixers at shortlatest Bank of Japan policy shift or knocking out a yarn on a
notice,” he says. “The situation quickly deteriorated with theweird Japanese TV commercial.
withdrawal of South Korean workers from the Kaesong joint
This presents numerous challenges. Reporters based here
industrial complex, North Korean threats to strike frontline
are immersed in Japanese culture, speak the language (toislands and restart its main nuclear facility, not to mention
various degrees) and can quickly jump on a train to meet offispeculation of nuclear tests and missile launches. At times it
cials, conduct interviews, or simply discuss current affairs at
was a struggle to keep on top of everything.”
the local izakaya with Japanese friends or colleagues. When
McCurry adds that he ended up staying in South Korea fornews breaks across the Sea of Japan, however, it becomes a
two weeks, and filed articles ranging from how islanders nearquestion of scouring media reports, calling experts on thethe North Korean coast were preparing for artillery attacks topeninsula and haggling with editors to fork out for a trip toa color piece about Psy’s follow-up single to “Gangnam Style.”
Seoul. Even so, from the moment they hit the ground, they
are playing catch up.
WHEN EXPERIENCE MATTERS“I covered the 2014 Sewol ferry sinking from Tokyo,” says
Anna Fifield, the Washington Post’s Tokyo bureau chief since
the Guardian’s Justin McCurry, who has been covering the2014, is at a bit of an advantage, having previously spent four
Koreas for about a decade. “I had to rely on wires, the South
years in Seoul covering the Koreas for the Financial Times andKorean English-language media, social media, plus occasional
speaking “workable” Korean. She’s visited Pyongyang sevenphone calls to English-speaking South Koreans. Reportingtimes and travels to the South Korean capital about once afrom Japan didn’t necessarily prevent me from grasping themonth – taking the flight from Haneda to Gimpo more often,
details and significance of the story, but I think my reports
she jokes, than she rides the Yamanote Line.
6

NOV 2016

FCCJ

FCCJ

NOV 2016

7

FEATURE
DIPLOMACY
follow that since the word “Kurils” was used to describe theislands north of Etorofu, the term Southern Kurils (Minami Chishima) can only refer to islands included in the 1875
handover and north of Etorofu – i.e. to the north of Japan’s
self-proclaimed Northern Territories. Therefore they could
not have been renounced in that San Francisco Peace Treaty.

Behind thenegotiations for
the Kuril Islands
by GREGORY CLARK

Japan’s struggle to regain what it
calls its “Northern Territories” iscomplicated by conflicting politicalrealities in the days following WWII.

W

hen is a Kuril Island not a Kuril island? When Tokyo so insists.
And with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to arrive here in
December, and serious negotiations on territory promised, theissue of “what’s in a name” could become important.
Article 2(c) of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty includes the phrase:“Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Kuril Islands.” The Japanese
government insists that the definition of the “Kuril Islands” in that document did not include the southern Kuril islands of Etorofu and Kunashiri or
the smaller neighboring islands of Shikotan and the Habomais. Tokyo saysthese islands make up what it calls its “Northern Territories,” and that since
they have been illegally occupied by Moscow since 1945, the long-postponed
WWII peace treaty with Moscow can only be signed when their return is
promised.
But on Oct. 19, 1951, speaking before the Special Diet Committee on ratification of the San Francisco Treaty, Kumao Nishimura, the Director of theTreaties Bureau of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said: “[B]oth Northern andSouthern Kurils were included in the scope of the “Chishima Retto” [Kuril
Archipelago] named in the San Francisco Peace Treaty. . . .”So how did the Southern Kurils that Japan renounced in
1951 come to be replaced by something called the Northern
Territories that include Etorofu and Kunashiri, which Japan
claims never to have renounced?
Ask Foreign Ministry officials about that Nishimura statement and they will tell you it was a mistake. But could thehead of the elite ministry’s Treaty Bureau make such a mistake immediately after the signing of the San Francisco
peace treaty?
The ministry also insists the matter was all decided back inthe 19th century.
In the 1855 Shimoda Treaty between the Tokugawa regime and Czarist
Russia, Japan gained ownership of the southern Kuril Islands of Etorofu
and Kunashiri. All the other islands further north went to Russia. Then, in
the Treaty of St. Petersburg in 1875, Japan negotiated another deal withthe transfer of ownership of all “the Kurils” north of Etorofu to Japan in
exchange for all of Sakhalin going to Russia. From that it is supposed to

The U.S. has had an impressive
record of changing policies to
fit its Cold War strategies. It hashelped keep Tokyo and Moscow atloggerheads for over sixty years.

8

NOV 2016

FCCJ

SOPHISTRY? UNDOUBTEDLY. IN ADDITION to the Nishimurastatement, there is also the well-known fact that when Prime
Minister Shigeru Yoshida signed the San Francisco treaty hecomplained bitterly about the fact that he was being forced tosign away Minami Chishima. Indeed, he was so unhappy thatTokyo to this day refuses to release the documents sent to
the U.S. in protest. If released they would undermine Tokyo’s
argument that it never renounced Etorofu and Kunashiri. (Aministry of foreign affairs map at the time showed the twoislands clearly included in territory lost under San Francisco.)
Tokyo has more arguments, some slightly more sophisticated. One of them is that the San Francisco treaty does not
stipulate to whom Japan is renouncing the Kurils, meaning
they do not necessarily belong to Russia. Another is that since
Moscow never signed the treaty (it walked out of negotiations), it has no right to claim any of the Kurils anyway.
More logical-minded Japanese, both on the communist left
and conservative right, realize the contradictions and insist
that Japan should blame the U.S. and claim all the Kurils.
Japan has a better position when it quotes the Allied wartime Cairo and Potsdam Declarations on which Japan based
its 1945 surrender. Both stated that Japan should only be
stripped of territories its had gained from greed and aggression. So supporters of this argument say that since Tokyo
gained the Kurils through peaceful negotiations in 1855 and1875 it should not have been forced to give them up. But Tokyo
would then have to explain why it took southern Sakhalin as
the prize for its aggressive 1904 war against Russia.
There is another way for Japan to argue its case, but it means
having to criticize the U.S. by asking the following questions:
Why did Washington take such a hard line in forcing Yoshidato sign away the Southern Kurils? And why did U.S. Secretaryof State John Foster Dulles include all the territory Tokyo now
describes as its Northern Territories in the definition of theKurils to be renounced? The only territory he agreed to exclude
was the Habomais, proximate to Hokkaido.
TODAY THE U.S. GOES out of its way to insist on the exact
reverse of Dulles’ stance; it supports Tokyo’s assertion thatTokyo never renounced the southern Kurils and insists that
the Northern Territories claim is totally valid. While the U.S.
has had an impressive record of changing policies to fit its
Cold War strategies, this one has to be the daddy of them all.
It has helped keep Tokyo and Moscow at loggerheads for oversixty years.
It gets even more Machiavellian. Tokyo began talks with
Moscow in 1955 with the simple aim of gaining the return of
Shikotan and the Habomais – islands usually excluded fromthe definition of the Kurils. But when Moscow finally agreed,Tokyo, under U.S. pressure, immediately upped its demand toinclude Etorofu and Kunashiri, a move that Moscow quickly shut down. Of the San Francisco principals, only the U.S.
endorsed Japan’s action; both France and the UK said it wasagainst the rules (“curious and naïve” was the comment of
the UK embassy in Tokyo).
But Tokyo was not deterred. When full-scale talks for apeace treaty began in August 1956, Tokyo’s representative,
Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu at first insisted on the
return of all disputed territory. When at one stage it seemed
FCCJ

NOV 2016

ready to drop its claim on Etorofu and Kunashiri, Dulles isreported to have intervened to warn that if Tokyo did not
maintain its claim to all the Southern Kurils the U.S. might beentitled to hold Okinawa forever. Shigemitsu quickly reversed
course. Now, of course, France and the UK are roped in regularly to support that course change.
And so the stalemate continues, with Moscow continuing toinsist that at best it will only agree to the return of Shikotan
and Habomais, and Tokyo insisting it has to be all the disputed
islands or nothing. Under the much under-estimated Prime
Minister Yoshiro Mori, there was a 2001 attempt at compromise when MOFA officials Kazuhiko Togo and Masaru Sato,
together with Diet parliamentarian Muneo Suzuki, tried towork out with then Russian Ambassador Alexander Panov,what they called the “two islands plus alpha solution”: Japan
would accept Shikotan and the Habomais, sign a peace treaty,
and then aim for an ambiguous alpha – economic aid, perhaps, or more territory. But with the change of governmentthat year, hardline foreign ministry conservatives were able tostep in. Rightwing media accused the negotiators of traitorous behavior. Suzuki and Sato were prosecuted on unrelated
flimsy charges (with Suzuki spending a year in jail) and Togo
was forced into what he calls exile. Panov gave up in despair.
PRIME MINISTER SHINZO ABE clings to the hope that large
promises of economic aid and investment will soften Moscow’s stance. After all, did not Putin once say he sought a judo
hikiwake (draw) solution? Maybe that means a 50-50 carve
up of the territory, or residual sovereignty over the two mainislands of Etorofu and Kunashiri. But as anyone who knows
Moscow can tell you, Shikotan and the Habomais are the mostany Russian leader, even Putin, could possibly concede. Etorofu and Kunashiri have strategic value, Moscow is spending
much on their development and their return would create adangerous precedent for other territory Moscow gained in
1945. For reasons of saving face, Abe has to insist he will get
all the islands in the dispute. But Muneo Suzuki, who is close
both to Abe and the Russians on this issue, appeared at the
FCCJ on Oct. 3 to repeat in effect the failed 2001 proposal. So
if Abe agrees will he also be called a traitor?
Ironically, if the U.S. were to admit that it compelled Yoshida to accept Article 2(c) in the San Francisco Treaty, Japan’s
position would be much stronger, particularly if Tokyo lifted
its ban on releasing documents of that era. It could claim that
it was forced to renounce the Kurils and is now entitled to arenegotiation of what in effect was an unequal treaty.
The question is why the U.S. was so determined to pressure
Yoshida. One researcher has discovered that a Japan-fearful
Australia was insistent that Japan be stripped of all disputed
territories, clearly defined, to prevent a revived militarism in
the future. Others see a U.S. plot: force total renunciation but
leave a loophole so Tokyo and Moscow would argue for infinity. In her book Cold War Frontiers in the Asia-Pacific, a diligent
researcher, Kimie Hara, has given yet another possible reason.
It seems that in 1947 Washington secretly promised Moscow it
would follow up on its Yalta promise to have Japan hand over the
Kurils provided Moscow accepted U.S. trusteeship over Micronesia in the UN Security Council. But rather than disclose
these important facts, Tokyo battles on with its weak, contradictory arguments, clutching at every vague hint of a possible
shift in Moscow’s position, and – so far – getting nowhere. ❶Gregory Clark is a former Moscow-based Australian diplomat who firstcame to Japan as bureau chief for the Australian, and writes a regularopinion column in the Japan Times. More information can be found at
www.gregoryclark.net.

9

SERIESPROFILE

Motoko Rich
by TIM HORNYAKI

ANDREW POTHECARY

n midsummer this year, Motoko
Rich arrived in Japan to reconnoiter before officially taking up
her post as the New York Times’ Tokyo
bureau chief. Two days before she
was going to return to the Big Apple,
she found herself rushing out toSagamihara to cover Japan’s worst
mass killing since World War II.
The slayings of 19 handicappedpeople at the Tsukui Yamayuriencare facility, allegedly carriedout by former employee Satoshi
Uematsu, led Rich to write about
one of those wounded, Kazuya Ono,a 43-year-old autistic man withsevere mental disabilities who survived grievous knife wounds to histhroat and abdomen. In her Sept. 8
article, Rich wrote about his parents’ desire that the world learn
not only what happened to him,
but his name as well. That flew inthe face of a policy by Kanagawa
Prefecture police, Japanese media
and other victims’ families to keepthem anonymous because they were handicapped.
“The Onos are the only family that has come forward to
speak out,” says Rich. “Clearly Kazuya was a very challenging
child to raise, and yet their love for him is so strong.”
Covering the massacre was her first time dealing withJapan’s media cartels – the kisha clubs. She was denied accessto a press conference after the massacre, and describes thepolice attitude as “astoundingly non-transparent.” It was alearning experience about Japan for the veteran reporter, whobegan her new job in August and now oversees a group consisting of correspondent Jonathan Soble and two researchers.
“I’m so excited. I feel really, really lucky,” Rich says. “Everycorrespondent comes and does it in their own style. They
have a new way of looking at the country and the story andthey have their own interests and that informs their coverage. The editors knew that one of the frames I would bring
was my background.”10

NOV 2016

FCCJ

United States people regard me as
more Asian. So I’m kind of betwixt
and between, and that will inevitably inform my coverage.”Rich says her love of journalism
stems from a passion for hearing
people’s stories and noticing little
details – like how children in Japan
bow to a soccer field after a successful and safe practice, a phenomenon
she noted in a recent piece about
how her family is adjusting to Tokyo.
But like many journalists, she’s
deeply concerned about the state of
the industry. As smaller newspapers
continue to fold across the U.S., theTimes has been offering staff buyouts for the past three years.
“The role of the press as awatchdog is being lost as a resultof the decimation of the regional
newspaper industry and it’s very
sad, but there are a lot of newthings that are happening thatare incredibly effective,” she says,
pointing to articles by her AsianAmerican colleague Michael Luo on Medium and the Times
about how a woman in Manhattan told him to “Go back to
China!” After going viral on social media, the story turned
into a series of video vignettes about the issue, as well as aTimes live chat.
“This became a front-page story. And there were so manyother ways in which it could reach around the world digitally– that’s so new and exciting,” says Rich. “While feeling this profound sadness about what we’re losing, we must also look ahead
to what we’re gaining and how we can take advantage of it.”

SOME OF THE THEMES and topics that Rich is paying particular attention to in Tokyo include gender and its relationshipto culture and the economy (more and more Times bureau
chiefs are women and mothers, she says), climate change,
the regional military buildup and the 2020 Olympics, as wellas first-person and quirky features. She notes how Martin
Fackler, chief until last year, did a story on Japan’s love of fax
machines that made the front page.
BORN IN LOS ANGELES to a mother from Hokkaido and a“Japan is a wonderful, marvelous place,” says Rich. “Therefather from New Jersey, Rich lived in Japan twice: once fromare things that are odd and weird and the great thing about
second to fourth grades at the American School in Japan, andbeing a foreign correspondent is to be able to write about
then during a summer internship with the Daily Yomiuri. Her
things that locals may dismiss as ‘Oh, everyone knows that.’résumé also includes education at Yale and Cambridge, and
But we don’t want people in Asia to think we’re writing about
reporting at the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal.
them as exoticized beings.
She joined the New York Times in 2003, covering the economy,“Our mission here given that our office is so small is not toreal estate, publishing and education. Tokyo is her first forbe part of pack journalism, but to try to do something differeign assignment.
ent. Our audience now is truly global.
“It was true 40 years ago and it’s
Tim Hornyak is a freelance writer who has worked
So we’re trying to think about how
still true today that Japanese viewfor IDG News, CNET News, Lonely Planet and other
do you write a story that appeals tome as gaijin,” she says. “They look at
media. He is the author of Loving the Machine: The Art
people in Asia and other parts of the
my face and are surprised to see theand Science of Japanese Robots.
world, and not just Americans.” ❶name on my meishi, whereas in the
FCCJ

NOV 2016

11

FEATURE
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Beyondthe Nobels
Japan has a number of covetedinternational prizes in science andtechnology, some of them created bywell-known business figures.
by JERRY MATSUMURA
12

THE KYOTO PRIZE WAS started in 1985 by the Inamori Foundation in
Kyoto, founded in the previous year by Kazuo Inamori, the founderand Chairman Emeritus of Kyocera Corporation, with his personal
funds. Three annual prizes of ¥50 million are awarded to outstanding individuals or groups in the categories of Advanced Technology,
Basic Sciences, and Arts and Philosophy. Particularly characteristicof The Kyoto Prize is the Arts and Philosophy category, indicating theimportance Inamori attaches to the enrichment and elevation of thehuman spirit that is lagging very much behind the progress in science and technology.
Nine of the past Kyoto Prize recipients have gone on to receive theNobel Prize, including South Africa’s Dr. Sydney Brenner, who madesignificant contributions to work on the genetic code and Dr. Jack
Kilby of the U.S., the co-inventor of the integrated circuit.
The Japan Prize has been awarded annually since 1985 by the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan (renamed as the Japan Prize
Foundation in 2010). The foundation was created in response to thegovernment’s wish for a prestigious international prize of the Nobel
Prize class to be issued locally. It was largely funded from a personal
donation from the late Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (now the Panasonic Corporation)“to honor scientists who have made original and outstanding accomplishments in science and technology with significant contributions
made to peace and prosperity of mankind.” A cash prize of ¥50 million is awarded to individuals in two fields each year. Since its launch,
the Emperor and Empress have associated themselves with the award
through their presence at the Prize Presentation Ceremony.
Six of the Japan Prize awardees have subsequently been awarded the Nobel Prize, including Dr. Gerhard Ertl of Germany, whose
research laid the foundation of modern surface chemistry, paving the way for the development of cleaner energy sources. He wasawarded the Japan Prize in 1992 and the Nobel Prize in 2007.
The Blue Planet Prize is an annual prize established in 1992, theyear of the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, by the Asahi Glass FounNOV 2016

FCCJ

dation. Each of the two recipients (individuals or organizations) who have made outstanding scientific contributions
to promoting solutions to global environmental problems
receives a monetary award of ¥50 million.
The International Cosmos Prize is an annual prize with amonetary value of ¥40 million. It was created in 1993 by the
Expo ’90 Foundation to commemorate the 1990 Osaka International Garden and Greenery Exposition, whose theme was“The Harmonious Coexistence between Nature and Mankind.” It rewards an individual or an entity making an outstanding contribution to environmental science and research
as well as to other fields promoting this goal.
THE FIRST TWO PRIZES – the Kyoto Prize and Japan Prize –share a number of features in common. Each was foundedwith the personal funds of the industrialists concerned. And,in both cases, the founder had built up his business frommodest beginnings, suggesting they both shared a desire to
repay society.
Inamori, who founded the Kyoto Prize, is a dynamic, charismatic entrepreneur who founded a small ceramics company
and built it into the Kyocera Corporation, the world’s leading high-tech ceramic and electronic products company. He
is also the founder of DDI, the first long-distance telephonecompany to challenge Japan’s telecommunications monopoly, and in 2010 was appointed chairman of the then bankrupt Japan Airlines at thepleading of the Japanese
government.
Born in 1932, Inamori
battled disease and various
family problems as a youth.
In 1955, immediately after
graduating from Kagoshima University, where hemajored in applied chemistry, he joined a small
insulator company in Kyoto after being rejected byother larger companies. In
1959, he left this company
to start up a tiny operation of his own, enduring
all manner of hardships
before eventually building up a large personal fortune.
He reportedly regards his hard-won wealth as something
entrusted to him to administer for the benefit of humanity.
Of the Kyoto Prize he wrote: “I first conceived the idea of the
Kyoto Prize in 1984, when Kyocera celebrated the twentyfifth anniversary of its foundation. At the time I was fifty-two
years old. I wanted to bring to life the concept that a humanbeing has no higher calling than to strive for the greater goodof humanity and the world. . . .”Inamori, who has shown genuine interest in the spiritual
dimension from his youth has now moved beyond the business world to become, as it were, a public philosopher ofmodern Japan, teaching his people-centered philosophy ofmanagement to groups of young business managers andentrepreneurs in various regions of the country, and writingbooks on management and on the meaning of life. In one ofhis books, A Compass to Fulfillment: Passion and Spirituality
in Life and Business, he stresses that man’s soul is immortal
and that the enrichment and elevation of the human spirit,or “the care and improvement of our soul” in Socratic terms,
is the most important task in one’s life. His company’s motto
is: “Respect the Divine and Love People.”

JAPAN’S TOP PRIZES
Kyoto Prize: www.inamori-f.or.jp
Japan Prize: www.japanprize.jp
Blue Planet Prize: www.af-info.or.jp
International Cosmos Prize: www.expo-cosmos.or.jp
THE LATE KONOSUKE MATSUSHITA (1894-1989), who founded
The Japan Prize, was Japan’s most successful postwar businessman and one of the most inspirational role models of alltime, particularly during Japan’s high-growth period. Born
into a poor farming family, Matsushita worked at various
manual jobs from the age of nine before opening a small oneroom electrical-parts factory in Osaka in 1918.
Always in search of innovation, he developed a series ofhome electrical appliances and pushed his company to theforefront of the industry. His accomplishments as leader,author, educator, philanthropist and management innovator are astonishing, and his philanthropy accelerated as heaged. In 1979 he established the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management (MIGM), designed to develop andpromote leadership for the 21st century. Yoshihiko Noda, theformer prime minister, was among the first of its graduates.
The Japan Prize, which was established four years before
Matsushita’s death at 94, was “intended to honor scientists,of whatever nationality, whose research has made a substan-

AP PHOTO/SHIZUO KAMBAYASHIOn Monday, Oct. 3, news headlines datelined Stockholm reported that Japanese biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi, 71, a professor at
the Tokyo Institute of Technology, had won the Nobel Prize in
medicine for discoveries on how cells break down and recycle content, a garbage disposal system that scientists hope to harness in thefight against cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases.
He was the 25th Japanese Nobel Prize winner since 1949, when
Dr. Hideki Yukawa, a physicist, received the first Nobel Prize to beawarded to a Japanese citizen, “for his prediction of the existenceof mesons (a subatomic particle) on the basis of theoretical work on
nuclear forces.”
The greater part of the Japanese public was not even aware of the
prize at the time – though citizens were not prohibited to receive it,unlike in Hitler’s Germany. But coming so soon after their disastrous
defeat in World War II, Yukawa’s international recognition gave theJapanese particular pride and encouragement.
Now Japan is not only in the top league of Nobel Prize recipients (inthe field of natural science, the number of winners has been second
behind the U.S.), but it also issues a number of international prizes
which offer major incentives for the world’s most talented scholars
and researchers. In fact, where Japanese awards and Nobel Prizes
cover the same categories, it is often the case that outstanding meritis recognized first in the awarding of a Japanese prize. (In 2012, forexample, Professor Ohsumi won the Kyoto Prize, one of Japan’s top
private awards for global achievement.)
Out of a total of some 600 science and technology prizes, there
are four at the top based on financial value. This does not necessarily mean that they have the greatest significance, let alone that theamount of prize money or the order represents the degree of importance or recognition. As with Nobel Prizes, nominations are soughtfrom around the world.

FCCJ

NOV 2016

Highly prized

Opposite, the Kyoto Prize medal; left, Yoshinori Ohsumi at a press
conference after winning the Nobel Prize in medicine this year (and who
won a Kyoto Prize in 2012); above, the 2016 ceremony for the Japan Prizewinners attended by the imperial couple

tial contribution to the attainment of a greater degree ofprosperity for mankind.” His philosophy, however, was not ascience-centered one, but envisioned peace, happiness andprosperity coming from open-minded people with humanistic values who had the courage to tackle society’s mostintractable problems. The Showa period came to a definitiveend in 1989, as it marked the deaths of both Emperor Hirohito and Matsushita.
While the Nobel Prizes, of course, remain the most coveted of the world’s awards in the scientific and other fields,
Japan’s prizes are attracting growing interest from researchers all over the world. And these prizes not only benefit thewinners, but also draw attention to Japan’s commitment togreat advances in science and technology. ❶Kosuke “Jerry” Matsumura is a freelance journalist based in Tokyo,
formerly affiliated with Hugo Publications in London.

13

COMMERCEGLOBAL WARMING

Red-light reading matterby MARK SCHREIBER

Left, a photo ofan old brothel by
Gou Watanabe,above
TWO YEARS FROM NOW, Tokyo’s
former licensed brothel quarters, theYoshiwara Yukaku, will observe its 400th
anniversary. Since its opening in 1618, it
has survived fires, earthquakes, air raids
and a change of location, as well as theAnti-Prostitution Law, which took effectfrom April 1, 1958.
Despite its studied history,
Yoshiwara hasn’t had much to offer interms of sightseeing or commercial
attractions, and even less in termsof culture. With the opening of the
Kasutori Shobo bookstore on Sept. 3,
however, that may change.
The bespectacled proprietor, Gou
Watanabe, age 39, has previously
spent over a decade as a salaryman in
the IT field. In his free time he began
assembling an extensive library ofold and rare books on the nation’s
sex industry, from which he learned,
among other things, that over 500
yukaku existed throughout Japan, or an
average of about 10 per prefecture.
As he became aware that such books
are no longer in print and difficult tofind, Watanabe decided obtain the rights
to issue facsimile reproductions and set
up his own specialty publishing firm,
Kasutori Shuppan. (“Kasutori means lowclass pulp magazines,” says Watanabe.)After a year of such endeavors, he felt
ready to try his hand at retailing, anddecided to locate a bookshop in the heartof the Yoshiwara (kastoripub.blogspot.jp).
Mark Schreiber currently writes the“Big in Japan” and “Bilingual” columns for
the Japan Times.
14

Nestled on a back street adjacentto the area’s ubiquitous soaplands,
Kasutori Shobo is a “hybrid” bookstore
in that it is a retail outlet mostly for its
own publications. The store area is only
about six tatami mats, or 10 square
meters, half of which is taken up by thebooks. While more will be forthcoming– Watanabe is also undertaking theprinting of original manuscripts – hisshop currently only offers about 20
titles for sale. They are not arranged on
shelves, but displayed in stacks in thestyle of Edo-era bookstores.
Those in pursuit of “pink” materials
appealing to prurient interests will
be disappointed: none of the works
carry nudity or could be describedas even remotely titillating. One
work titled Zenkoku Yukaku Annai(Nationwide Guide to Yukaku, price¥2,500), published anonymously in
1930, included a complete listing of
hundreds of brothels in Japan andsuch prewar overseas possessions as
Karafuto (Sakhalin), Korea, Manchuria
and Taiwan. (It is also offered by
Amazon Japan in a Kindle-compatible
ebook version.) Watanabe, in what was
clearly a labor of love, manually typed
in all 543 pages of rather fine print.
ANOTHER ITEM OF INTEREST is a setof four reports, bearing a “Secret”
stamp on their covers, compiled by
the Interior Ministry in 1933-34 andthe Health Ministry in 1938-39. They
contain surveys of the prevalence ofsexually transmitted diseases among
unlicensed prostitutes. In 1937, thegovernment arranged for 607,772 such
women to undergo health inspections– of them, 28,942 were found to be
infected with “flower and willow
disease.” Watanabe supplemented
the ¥2,916 four-volume set with his
own one-page explanatory summary
describing the government’s efforts toeradicate the problem.
He’s already hadcustomers dropping infrom as far away as Osaka.
“About half the customers
have been women, mostly
in their 20s and 30s,” hesaid. “Several told methat their grandmother or
grandfather had ties to ayukaku. One woman told me
she was formerly a geisha.”
Photography is anotherof Watanabe’s labors oflove. Whenever time permitted hetravelled about the country, using oldreference materials to track down
and photograph whatever remainedof former yukaku buildings. In a sense
he was following in the footsteps ofauthors of earlier travelogues, such as
Hiroshi Watanabe and Satoshi Kimura,whose works he also sells.
He brandishes a copy of his magnum
opus, a hefty work titled Yukaku:
Koto no gaiku (Yukaku: Red-light
districts) containing 386 pages of color
photographs of ornate old former
brothels all over Japan. The coffee
table-sized edition is available for a cool
¥100,000, but a smaller postcard sizededition is only ¥25,000. His favorite
photograph, which adorns the book’s
cover, is that of a former house in Aichi
Prefecture. “After the Anti-Prostitution
Law went into effect it was first used asa ryokan (Japanese inn), but now it's aprivate home,” he says.
In addition to books, Kasutori Shobo
offers a few boutique items, such as
cakes of “Yoshiwara soap” (short forsoapland) and a set of reproductionsof the metal “in bounds” tags that
registered sex businesses were once
obliged to display above their entrances.
He claims not to be concernedthat the police will embark on a
massive cleanup campaign anddrive Yoshiwara’s soaplands out ofbusiness in the run-up to the 2020
Tokyo Olympics. “That’s not going tohappen,” he asserts, confident that thedespite its proximity to Tokyo Sky Treeand other tourist traps, as far as theworld’s oldest profession is concerned,
Japan still clings tenaciously to certain
traditions. And Yoshiwara has proved
to be anything if not resilient. ❶NOV 2016

FCCJ

There are some bright spots in a bleak reporton the effects of climate change.

Turning down the heatby JULIAN RYALL

GOU WATANABE; MARK SCHREIBERThis city’s brothel quarters now hosts a bookstore
dedicated to its long history.

GLOBAL TEMPERATURES ARE WRITING
new highs, the polar ice caps are
melting, sea levels are rising anddeforestation continues, albeit ata reduced rate. The outlook for ourplanet and mankind would appear
pretty bleak. Yet in the face of evenmore alarming predictions, suchas a surge in global sea levels of asmuch as eight meters, Sir David King,the UK Foreign Secretary’s Special
Representative for Climate Change,
remains remarkably upbeat.
The nations of the world are facedwith a crisis, he said at a press
conference at the FCCJ on Oct. 5, butthey have recognized it as such andhave made plans and commitments tohalting emissions that are harmful tothe planet. If those promises are kept,
he said, then we should avoid a global
climate catastrophe.
But there is not, he emphasized, alot of room for error nor a moment tolose. “The last 14 months have eachbeen the hottest month for that timeof the year for the whole planet, while
the hottest years on record have all
been in the last 20 years,” King said.
“What this demonstrates, of course, isthat the trend is upwards and will go
on inexorably upwards unless global
actions are taken.”
The Paris Agreement, signed by
195 countries at the 21st Conferenceof the Parties of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate
Change in December 2015, is designed
to ensure that measures are taken
on a global scale, with a commitment
to limit global temperature rise to 2
degrees centigrade above the preindustrial age. An increase of 1.5
degrees would obviously be preferable,
King added.
In addition, the nations gathered in
Paris provided nationally determinedvoluntary contributions to reversing
climate change. Unfortunately, when
all the promises were added up
and extrapolated out to 2030 andincorporating the loss of forested land, ourworld is on a pathway of a temperature
Julian Ryall is Japan correspondent for the
Daily Telegraph.
FCCJ

NOV 2016

David King
speaking at
the Clubincrease of as much as 4 degrees.
“Four degrees is potentiallycalamitous,” King said. “If we have atemperature exceeding 41 or 42 withhigh humidity over three days, evenpeople who are in the shade will die.
They cannot get rid of their body heatfast enough. People will survive in air
conditioning, but of course the risk
is that air conditioning will fail underthose conditions as well.
“So in parts of the world where there
is not much air conditioning available,
fatality rates would be extremely highonce temperatures gets to that level,”
he said. “And the challenge of climatechange is not just temperature rise
but it’s also sea level rise, changes inrainfall patterns, monsoon patterns
and so on.”King pointed to flooding as anothergreat challenge. “Britain, like Japan, is
an island nation and as sea levels rise,storms at sea mean the water incursion
is further and further inland and more
and more people are at risk fromflooding,” he said. “When, for example,
we looked at China, we learned thateven under a medium-level future
emissions scenario, we were looking
at half a billion people in South-East
China being at risk from flooding in agiven year.”
Then there is the problem thatwas identified by King as “thebiggest challenge” – that of ocean
warming, which happens more

slowly than atmospheric warming
and consequently will continue formany years after emissions have beenbrought under control.
If action is not taken urgently, thenan increase in sea levels by one meterby the end of the century is likely,
meaning that cities such as Calcutta,
Shanghai, New York, London andTokyo are at risk of inundation. The
worst-case scenario is if it becomes
impossible to reverse the melting of
the Greenland ice sheet and sea levels
rise fully eight meters.
The Paris Agreement included areviewability clause, King pointed out.
It is now clear that the measures thathave been promised by the signatory
nations still fall short of what isrequired, and that governments needto deliver more.
King believes that is possible. “Not
only is it doable,” he said. “But we haveto do it because the alternatives are sodire for mankind.”
The UK, for example, passed the
Climate Change Act in 2008, underwhich the government vowed toreduce emissions by 80 percent by
2050. It also created an international
climate fund to the tune of $13.5 billion– larger than the UN’s commitmentof $10.3 billion – to fight the problem,
primarily by helping developing
countries transition to a low-carbon
future and by developing theirresistance against the effects ofclimate change.
UK emissions – which only account for
2 percent of the global total – are alreadydown by 30 percent from 1990 figures
and Britain is on course to cut emissions
by 57 percent by 2030. And King was
keen to emphasize that Britain’s voteto leave the European Union will haveno impact on those commitments.
King also suggested that theclimate crisis could also be seen as
an opportunity. “The falling costs ofenergy installation are dramatic, but
we also need new technologies, in theareas of energy storage, smart grids
and so on,” he said.
Japan and the UK are among 22
countries that have signed up to theMission Innovation scheme unveiled in
Paris, providing $30 billion each year
to companies to carry out researchand development of the clean energy
sector. “The mission is to allow every
country to have 100 percent clean
energy, on the grid or off-grid, for all
purposes by between 2025 and 2030,”
he said. “This investment will allow
these technologies to emerge fromwhat is a collaborative program.” ❶15

CLUB NEWSCLUB NEWSSPECIAL CAMPAIGN OFFER FOR NEW ASSOCIATE MEMBERSFCCJ EXHIBITION
The FCCJ is offering a special deal for new
Associate Members. From the beginning of September
to the end of the year, those joining are eligible fora ¥100,000 DISCOUNT off of the regular fee of¥300,000.
If successfully approved, the applicants will beable to enjoy all the member benefits: attendance at
all the major press conferences and professional andsocial events; dining services at the Main Bar, Pen & Quill
Executive Dining area and the Masukomi Sushi Bar; special
discounts on sports, arts and cultural events; free wi-fi, half-price parking, theClub’s monthly magazine; and access to reciprocal press clubs around the world.
Present members can also benefit. A ¥20,000 restaurant voucher will begiven to those who introduce successfully approved new Associates. For more
information, or to pick up an application form, go to the front desk.

JOIN THE FILM COMMITTEE . . .
. . . at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 21 foran unusual look at the phenomenon of
professional wrestling — puroresu on theseshores — with this sneak peek of DDT: We
Are Japanese Wrestlers. The screening will be
preceded by a live PowerPoint presentation(you read that right) by DDT star Super
Sasadango Machine, custom-created for
his FCCJ appearance. From its beginnings
with the great Rikidozan and now generatingover $100 million a year, pro wrestling isvery serious business indeed. But thanks
to the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), it isalso sometimes very silly business, withmatches that strike a perfect balance ofthe hair-raising and the hilarious. The team’s
astounding athleticism, creative costuming and dazzling choreography havemade it one of the top names in indie wrestling, with ardent fans spanning theglobe. Co-directed by wrestler Muscle Sakai and acclaimed documentarian
Tetsuaki Matsue (Live Tape, Flashback Memories 3D), both of whom will be on
hand for the Q&A afterward, the film is a fittingly scruffy tribute to DDT’s
tough boys with soft underbellies, as they approach their 20th anniversary.
(Japan, 2016; 74 minutes; Japanese with English subtitles.)– Karen Severns

The People and the Forest: photographs by Yasuo Ota“WHERE DO WE COME from? What are we? Where are
we going?” This was not only the title of a painting
by Paul Gauguin, it is also the theme of Gauguin’s
whole life as an artist. For the greater part of ourhistory as a species, man has been a hunter-gatherer.
We recognized life in the forests, the trees, the rivers
and beyond, and held respect and gratitude for its
existence. However, since the industrial revolution,
we have fallen for the illusion that we can control
nature. Damaging and destroying nature for our own

greed, we have come to a moment when our planet
is no longer capable of resisting the strains of ourdevastating activity.
As we look for a path to guide us toward tomorrow,
we may find clues by looking at the way people of theforest have coexisted with nature. For this exhibition,
I selected photos from five different countries andregions: Canada, the Chilean Andes Mountains,the island of Borneo, Tasmania, and the Amazon
rainforest. ❶Discount LexisNexis
Subscriptions
for FCCJ Members
The FCCJ is pleased to offer
members a substantial discount on
subscriptions to LexisNexis’ news
database service, Nexis.com
The Members-only deal
allows for flat-rate access at¥7,900 per month – offering
big savings on a service that
normally costs ¥126,000 per month

The service will be billed by theClub. The FCCJ benefits from all
subscriptions sold under thisarrangement.
Nexis provides access to news andinformation from more than 34,000
sources, including Kyodo News, Jiji,
Yonhap, Xinhua, AP, Reuters, AFP,
all major world newspapers andspecialist news sources. Also
included is a database of U.S. andinternational company information,
biographical databases, country
profiles and a U.S. legal database.

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

Your ad in our pages
Advertize in
Number 1 Shimbun
Contact
no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp

Yasuo Ota previously worked for Kyodo News, Sports Nippon and the Mainichi
Shimbun. He has published a couple of books and had several exhibitions, including“Life of the Tropical Forest” (1995) and portraits of mentally disabled
gold-medal winners of the Special Olympics (2010, New York).

16

NOV 2016

FCCJ

FCCJ

NOV 2016

17

CLUB NEWSSTUDY TOUR TO JAXANew in the
Library

Nationalism in Asia: A History Since 1945
Jeff Kingston
Wiley-Blackwell
Gift from Jeff Kingston
Tales from Victoria Park: Short Stories
of Indonesian Women in Hong Kong
Todd CrowellBlacksmith Books
Gift from Todd Crowell
Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms:
The Militarization of Aesthetics in Japanese History
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
The University of Chicago Press
Gift from Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

FCCJ REGULAR MEMBERS MET with a life-size model of the 50 meter-longreal H-II Launch Vehicle on Oct. 20 at the Tsukuba Space Center of Japan
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA.)
After a short briefing, the participants toured the Space Dome, theexhibition hall, and learned about the earth observation satellites and theInternational Space Station activities. The tour also featured the Japanese“Kounotori” space station cargo transfer vehicle that is making a significant
contribution to international space research.
Koichi Wakata, the veteran astronaut and International Space Station
Manager, received the members at the space station mission control roomand talked about JAXA objectives and his own experiences in space.
JAXA receives 300,000 visitors annually.
– Haruko Watanabe

New
Members

REGULAR MEMBERTONG PEI is the Chief Reporter of the Tokyo branch of the Beijing
Daily. He graduated from Nanchang University with a major in Japanesein 2008, and joined the Beijing Daily in October that same year. He hasserved as a journalist in the economic department and the international
department. After MH370 disappeared in March, 2014, the focus ofTong’s reporting was on the search and rescue situation of the Chinese
government and living conditions of the victims’ families. Tong assumed
his present position in Japan in December 2014, where he reports onpolitics, technology, medicine, urban management and other issues.
REINSTATEMENT (P/JA)
Horace White,
USA Tech Weekly

18

PROFESSIONAL/
JOURNALIST ASSOCIATE
MEMBERS
Yukiko Kishimoto,Freelance
Mari Yamamoto, Daily
Beast, the / LA Times

ASSOCIATE MEMBER
Akinori Tamura, Nikken
Sekkei Civil Engineering Ltd.

Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections ofJapanese Student Soldiers
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
The University of Chicago Press
Gift from Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Daihyoteki nihonjin
Kanzo Uchimura; Hiroyuki Fujita (trans.)
I-BAS Shuppan
Gift from Hiroyuki Fujita
The First Modern Japanese: The Life of
Ishikawa Takuboku
Donald Keene
Columbia University Press
The Long Defeat: Cultural Trauma, Memory,and Identity in Japan
Akiko Hashimoto
Oxford University Press
For Dignity, Justice, and Revolution:
An Anthology of Japanese Proletarian Literature
Heather Bowen-Struyk (ed.); Norma Field (ed.)
The University of Chicago Press
True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope
Heads: True Stories From a Japanese Courtroom
Paul Murphy
Tuttle Publishing
Okinawa: The History of an Island People
George H. Kerr; Mitsugu Sakihara (afterword)
Tuttle Publishing
Japan Company Handbook (Autumn 2016)
Toyo Keizai Inc.

NOV 2016

FCCJ