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Seriously, Are Journalists in Asia Being Silenced?

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Seriously, Are Journalists in Asia Being Silenced? The magazine of The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan June 2016, Volume 48 No. 6, ¥400 SERIOUSLY, ARE JOURNALISTS IN ASIA BEING SILENCED? The UN verdict on Japan The global fight for press freedom South Korea’s internet crackdown Fearless Japanese publications + Said Karlsson profiled Foreign con men in Taisho Japan Vol. 48, Number 6 June 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; Said John R. Harris, Freelance p12 Karlsson FCCJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Suvendrini Kakuchi, University World News, UK ANDREW POTHECARY 1st Vice President Peter Langan, Freelance 2nd Vice President Imad Ajami, IRIS Media In this issue Secretary Mary Corbett, Cresner Media Treasurer Robert Whiting, Freelance The Front Page Directors at Large Masaaki Fukunaga, the Sanmarg From the President by Suvendrini Kakuchi 4 Milton Isa, Associate Member Yuichi Otsuka, Associate Member Collections: Climate change and Japan 4 James Simms, Forbes Contributor, Freelance From the archives by Charles Pomeroy 5 Ex-officio Lucy Birmingham Kanji William Sposato, Freelance FCCJ COMMITTEE CHAIRS Associate Members Liaison Milton Isa Fighting back 6 Compliance Kunio Hamada DeRoy Memorial Scholarship Masaaki Fukunaga by William Horsley Entertainment Sandra Mori, Suvendrini Kakuchi Exhibition Bruce Osborn Film Karen Severns South Korea’s internet crackdown 8 Finance Robert Whiting Food & Beverage Robert Whiting by Julian Ryall Freedom of Press Pio d’Emilia, Khaldon Azhari House & Property Peter Langan Human Resources Imad Ajami Standing tall 9 Information Technology Roger Williams Library, Archives & Workroom Koichi Ishiyama, by Gavin Blair Suvendrini Kakuchi Membership Peter O’Connor, Monzurul Huq Membership Marketing Bill Shin, Rie Sakamoto The state vs the Japanese press 10 Professional Activities David McNeill, by Justin McCurry Tetsuo Jimbo Publications Gavin Blair Special Projects Haruko Watanabe Web Committee Gavin Blair Profile Foreign Press in Japan Justin McCurry Said Karlsson 12 by Tyler Rothmar Flotsam, jetsam and Uncle Sam 14 The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan by Peter O'Connor 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 A tale of too many cities 16 Published by the FCCJ All opinions contained within by Dan Sloan Number 1 Shimbun are those of the authors. As such, these opinions do not constitute an official position of Number 1 Shimbun, the editor or the Foreign Club News Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Exhibition: 森 (Forest): photographs 17 Please pitch and send articles and photographs, or address comments to [email protected] by Hisashi Mochizuki Read the Number 1 Shimbun online: fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun// Join the Film Committee/In Memoriam New Members/New in the Library Cover photo by Ljupco | Dreamstime.com FCCJ JUNE 2016 3 FRONT PAGE COLLECTIONS FROM THE ARCHIVES CLIMATE CHANGE 2.1-4.0°C THE DIGITAL DUO From the AND JAPAN Projected temperature increase President over next 100 years in Japan (global projection 1.8-3.4) I PEN THIS LAST column as president with a few important lessons for the new Board. The bottom line is that the FCCJ is an exceptional organization, my honest opinion is that the challenges can be handled with the talent we have onboard. 403.28Parts per million of global CO2, 2-3°C The Club’s year has been full of exceptional achievements. Temperature rise in large Japanese Function facilities remain fully booked, usage is high in the highest in 650,000 years cities over the 20th century dining room and bar and big-name newsmakers continue to fill the Professional Activities calendar. We have successfully settled both the Union and ex-Presidents’ cases, which ended an enormous bleed on our resources and has helped make the Club feel more like one family again. warmest years on the planet Financially, however, we continue to face huge challenges 1.4°C 14 Increase in global temperature and the multiple hefty decisions the Club is tasked to make have occurred since 2000 will define its future. since 1880 The Club is in financial trouble, a picture that contradicts the last BOD financial report that declared a ¥30 million plus “profit” for 2014. This “profit” was actually due to a 16 Noted conductor Herbert von Karajan (left) and Sony Chairman one-time ¥20 million paper adjustment regarding long-term Akio Morita (right) appeared at the FCCJ on Nov. 9, 1981, to extol depreciation required by koeki rules combined with the the virtues of a new digital format for music, the compact disc inclusion of a ¥10 million capital gain on employee retirement 1°C (CD). Seated between them, and no doubt raising a question, is Temperature rise in Japan over fund investments as Club income. In practical terms, however, the 20th century Club Treasurer Karel van Wolferen (NRC Handelsblad), standing we were up to ¥7 million in the red, according to an analysis by in as moderator for FCCJ President Edwin Reingold (Time) who the finance committee. was on a trip to China. Karel was selected to wield the gavel due Our budget for FY2016 projects a loss of ¥8 million. This to his knowledge of classical music. year’s finance committee reports that with the Special Levy of 287.0Gigatonnes of land ice lost per year ¥23 million reserved for our move to the Club’s new location Herbert von Karajan made a huge number of recordings, in October 2018, we are already over ¥30 million in the hole. estimated at some 200,000. An Austrian, he led the Berlin Certain steps have been taken to cope: Currently we are in Philharmonic for 35 years from the mid-1950s and became the process of negotiating a new contract with IRS and are 5.5 the pre-eminent figure in European classical music until his considering other ideas that will help to put the Club back in Number of days earlier that cherry death in 1989. He was recruited by Philips as an “ambassador” the black for the next two-and-a-half years. 10 blossoms bloom over last 25 years for CD records in 1979 and the first test pressing of the new This year’s Board has reserved the Special Levy solely for Number of meters glaciers have format was made from his music. paying the costs of moving to the new building, which may be thinned since 1980 Akio Morita, who co-founded Sony with Masaru Ibuka, a as high as ¥100 million. We calculate there will be ¥83 million former Imperial Navy colleague, had overseen the development in this fund by the end of FY2018. This board has also spent of tape recorders, transistor radios, transistor TVs and the a considerable amount of time debating the huge increase Walkman as well as collaborating in the development of the in rent the FCCJ will be required to pay for the new larger 12-13% compact disc. His follow-up to that was the Discman. Akio premises. Another major target for this year has been to 861 Projected decrease in Japan’s total Morita gave up his position in Sony in 1994 following a cerebral increase membership, which is now at 1,920. New members Square kilometers of Japan’s coastal production of paddy rice by 2050 hemorrhage while playing tennis. He died in 1999. are important to cope with the increase in spending when we Coincidentally, Karel’s fellow Dutchmen at Philips in move into the new Club. lowlands below the mean high-water level Amsterdam had supplied the basic technology, developed The possibility of raising tax-free donations – one of from their earlier LaserDisc, as part of a collaborative team the benefits of FCCJ becoming a koeki – has also become formed in 1979 to develop this new digital audio technology. a reality. This is a formidable task that is currently been The other members of the team came from Sony, known discussed by some of our dedicated members – and a -17.6% for its innovative audio products, who contributed error Deviation from the national average in foremost concern is protecting the journalistic character of 4.1 million correction and stability technology. Both had independently the FCCJ. Donations are tax deductible in part. Number of people at risk if sea levels top quality rice in 2010’s record heat year worked on CD technology in the last half of the 1970s, but Summing up, these problems I’ve outlined require extreme rise by 1 meter wisely decided to combine their efforts. vigilance now and over the coming years to restore and Sales of audio compact discs overtook those of vinyl records bolster our financial stability. Any Member who has helpful in 1988 and cassettes in 1991. CD sales dominated until 2015, suggestions or wishes to help, should not hesitate to contact Cost of climate when they lost out to an even more compact digital music Club management. We welcome all as proactive stakeholders format in the form of the MP3 that had begun to spread on the in our future. change to 70% internet in the late 1990s. File-sharing, followed by the launch ¥17,000, Projected decline in catches of I end now with a big thank you extended to all the Members Japan in yen of the portable iPod in 2001, began the slow death CDs. By and officers who have worked so hard this year. And I wish the coastal fish off Japan by 2100 2012, CDs and DVDs comprised only one-third of music sales in per year by new Board the best of luck in their endeavors to move forward.
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