The Photographer's Legacy: Our Members Speak out About Their Work
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The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan May 2016, Volume 48 No. 5, ¥400 The photographer’s legacy: Our members speak out about their work Vol. 48, Number 5 May 2016 contact the editors [email protected] Publisher FCCJ Editor Gregory Starr Art Director Andrew Pothecary www.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 FCCJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS Bob President Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, UK Kirschenbaum 1st Vice President Peter Langan, Freelance 2nd Vice President Imad Ajami, IRIS Media Secretary Mary Corbett, Cresner Media Treasurer Robert Whiting, Freelance HLADIK MARTIN p14 Directors at Large In this issue Masaaki Fukunaga, the Sanmarg Milton Isa, Associate Member Yuichi Otsuka, Associate Member James Simms, Forbes Contributor, Freelance The Front Page Ex-officio Lucy Birmingham From the President by Suvendrini Kakuchi 4 Kanji William Sposato, Freelance Collections: Kyushu earthquakes by the numbers 4 FCCJ COMMITTEE CHAIRS Associate Members Liaison Milton Isa From the archives by Charles Pomeroy 5 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 Azhari Cover photo of Minamiaso, Kumamoto by Everett Kennedy Brown House & Property Peter Langan Human Resources Imad Ajami Information Technology Roger Williams Library, Archives & Workroom Koichi Ishiyama, Suvendrini Kakuchi Wreckage – and recovery 6 Membership Peter O’Connor, Monzurul Huq Photographs by Richard Atrero de Guzman and Michael Penn Membership Marketing Bill Shin, Rie Sakamoto Professional Activities David McNeill, Tetsuo Jimbo Publications Gavin Blair State of the art 8 Special Projects Haruko Watanabe by Tim Hornyak Web Committee Gavin Blair Foreign Press in Japan Justin McCurry Taken 11 Club-member photographers’ portfolio Profile The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan Bob Kirschenbaum 14 Yurakucho Denki Building, North Tower 20F, by Bob Neff 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 Exhibition Number 1 Shimbun are those of the authors. As such, Ise Jingu and the origins of Japan 17 these opinions do not constitute an official position of Number 1 Shimbun, the editor or the Foreign by Miori Inata Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Please pitch and send articles and photographs, or address comments to [email protected] Read the Number 1 Shimbun online: Club News 17 fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun/ Asa-kai/Meet the Press/ New Members/New in the Library FCCJ MAY 2016 3 FRONT PAGE COLLECTIONS FROM THE ARCHIVES KYUSHU EARTHQUAKES Nikkei fall on the KIICHI MIYAZAWA’S From the BY THE NUMBERS Monday after TRAVAILS President the earthquakes MAY MARKS THE END of this Board’s tenure and my Kiichi Miyazawa, stint as your FCCJ president. candidate for Secretary We’ll wrap up our year in early June with a final 3.2%➔ General of the Liberal meeting, followed by elections and the handover to the Democratic Party (LDP), new officers. It’s a cycle that has governed our Club presents his views at the for years. Some people believe it is too short; after all, Club on Oct. 6, 1987. what can a board of directors achieve in just a year. He was the first of three Others, like me, who are still active in developing their contenders for the LDP’s journalism careers, find the call to serve the Club for 50km top spot to speak at the Length of one strip of more than a year a difficult decision, since the time and FCCJ that month, followed commitment required is a demanding sacrifice. land that shifted 2 meters by Noboru Takeshita and While that debate continues, however, I want to Shintaro Abe. Naoaki remind Regular Members that there is still time for 97+ Usui (McGraw-Hill), then nominations. I urge everyone to take the opportunity Number of people president of the FCCJ, to support and guide the FCCJ as it faces several who suffered sits next to Miyazawa. crucial decisions – the upcoming Club move to a new economy-class Miyazawa ended up losing location and building a stable financial platform. This syndrome after to Takeshita, who was year, we’ve made enormous progress towards these 500+Number of earthquakes between sleeping in car supported by outgoing PM goals. For a start, we’ve begun to share a number of Yasuhiro Nakasone, but expert opinions with members in efforts to facilitate later won the post in 1991. Thursday,➔ April 14 and Monday, April 18 open debate. A lot of progress has been made on this In early January of 1992, front, which I believe is a very good thing for the Club. he gained worldwide fame I have learned several important lessons during my Saturday,➔ April 16 as the receptacle for the term. I strongly believe there are capable people out 1.8 million “Bush Barf,” when U.S. Number of emergency meals gov’t shipped there who can provide valuable support in making President George H. W. important reforms. By this I mean that journalists 6.5 Bush vomited into his lap Magnitude of and Associates should respect each other’s talents. during a state dinner. The crucial fact is that some Associates represent first major quake 7.3 management expertise that journalists need when Magnitude of Miyazawa had an exceptional career as a bureaucrat and called to govern the Club. second major quake 300 politician, but one plagued by scandals. He was born into At the same time, the FCCJ is a journalist club teams of medical professionals who carried a political family – both his grandfather and his father had representing the core principles of free speech, out relief activities across Kumamoto Pref. been Diet members – but he began his career in 1942 as a transparent debate and respect for diverse opinions. earthquakes higher bureaucrat with the Ministry of Finance, which allowed him All efforts in Club management must go towards to avoid military service during World War II. After switching protecting this reputation and extreme care must be than 4 on Japan’s to politics, he was elected to the Upper House of the Diet in taken to maintain it. With mutual respect between intensity scale of 7 1953, then to the Lower House in 1967. Prominent posts held associate and regulars, we can work together to make 20,000 by Miyazawa included Minister of International Trade and a strong FCCJ, and I would hope that this remains an 70+ Number of SDF personnel deployed to help Industry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Director General of important platform for future boards. the Economic Planning Agency, Chief Cabinet Secretary and This can only work if there is open debate. We have Minister of Finance. our differences and they should be clearly addressed. When the Recruit scandal wracked the LDP in 1988, But the bottom line is what is best for the FCCJ – not Miyazawa, as Minister of Finance, resigned along with other proving a personal point. members of Takeshita’s cabinet. He became prime minister A difficult proposition? I don’t think so. One of my 450 26 in 1991, just in time to oversee the bursting of Japan’s asset elementary, junior high in Oita “Several most memorable moments as president was making bubble, which some partly blame on his earlier low-interest the toast at our 70th anniversary celebration last and high schools in Prefecture policies. Foreshadowing current events, a law passed by his October. Digging into the FCCJ past to find inspiration administration allowed Japan’s Self-Defense Forces to be sent to write my speech was quite an experience. Indeed, Kumamoto Prefecture hundred overseas for “peacekeeping missions.” Miyazawa’s financial the origins of the FCCJ’s birth, when journalists from closed after the quake reforms, introduced to cope with post-bubble economic all over the world gathered to report on democracy in stagnation, had little effect and another scandal involving a East Asia, must not be forgotten. member of his faction brought a no-confidence motion in the As we dash through another busy day of reporting billion yen” Diet and his resignation in 1993. the news, I urge Regular Members to consider being Miyazawa, however, returned to government in 1998, a candidate for the elections and to keep the FCCJ Amount PM Abe has requested for serving as Finance Minister until 2001. He retired from flag flying. emergency spending politics in 2003 after Prime Minister Jun’ichiro Koizumi set an Have a wonderful month of May. 110,000 age limit for LDP political candidates. Miyazawa died in Tokyo The number of people in shelters at Sources: AP, Reuters, Kyodo, the Japan Times, at the age of 87 on June 28, 2007. – Suvendrini Kakuchi the peak, Sunday, April 17 the Asahi Shimbun — Charles Pomeroy 4 MAY 2016 FCCJ FCCJ MAY 2016 5 FEATURE KYUSHU EARTHQUAKE Helping hands Top to bottom: Trucks deliver water after supplies were cut; A priest makes his rounds past a collapsed home in Kumamoto City; young men with salvaged materials from the ruins in Mashiki. Frame grabs from videos by Michael Penn (Shingetsu News Agency) A clean break Boys take a welcome bath Wreckage – and recovery provided by the Self-Defense Forces after the quakes Proving that news photography still has the ability to destroyed houses and cut move us emotionally, some Club Member photographers off the water supply.