SEPTEMBER 2004 ¥500 Foreign Correspondents’ Club of

TROUBLE AT THE TOP The Media and IHA

PROBING “PRIVACY” Wither Freedom of the Press? Japan Sherpa Neighboring Yokohama CONTENTS

LEFT: Yokohama Bay Bridge spans 860m across the mouth of Yokohama Harbor. Built in 1989, this suspension bridge consists of 176 cables, and carries a six-lane expressway and pedestrian road.

COVER: Are in Japan doing their job when it comes to reporting the Imperial Family, or are they still pulling their punches? The recent flap over Princess Masako’s health shows the Imperial Family is an institution out of touch with the rest of Japan.

VOLUME 36 ISSUE 9 SEPTEMBER 2004 RFTC Departments Features Front TROUBLE AT THE TOP 8 President’s Column 5 When Japan’s Crown Prince held his Editor’s Note 6 press conference in May, just before a trip to Europe, most thought it would What’s Ahead 6 be a routine affair. But the Crown Late Breaking News 7 Prince’s criticism of the Imperial Household Agency for their treatment Back of his wife, Crown Princess Masako, Japan Sherpa 14 has ignited a debate over the future of Osaka Diary 15 Japan’s Imperial Family that continues to smolder. David McNeill reports. Technically Speaking 17 Write Up Your Alley 19 PROBING “PRIVACY” 12 Around the Club 19 Any reporter in Japan knows that the Library 20 English-Japanese word “privacy” is Club Events 21 one of the media’s most used and abused words. Justin McCurry expands New Members 22 the focus of the FCCJ seminar held last Gallery Notes 23 spring on the concept of privacy and Reminders & Remembrances 24 the media issue.

The Number 1 Shimbun welcomes articles, commentary and other contributors from members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan and interested readers. Opinions expressed in articles are those of the contributor, and are not necessarily those of the editor, the Publications Committee, the FCCJ or members of the FCCJ Board. We reserve the right to select or reject and to edit all submissions. We encourage article proposals in advance. Please address your articles or proposals to the editor at [email protected]. Comments, questions and other correspondence about the content of the Number 1 Shimbun should be addressed to the Publications Committee chair at [email protected]. Published by: Paradigm, Kamiyama Ambassador 209, 18-6, Kamiyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, 150-0047, Japan tel: (03) 5478-7941 fax: (03) 5478-7942 e-mail: [email protected] COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY Publisher: Vickie Paradise Green Editor: David Umeda Art Director: Yuki Kawaguchi Advertising Sales: Euan Ford, Brendan Jennings, Andrew Joyce, Rosalind Youngjohns

SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 1 CONTRIBUTORS

NUMBER 1 SHIMBUN PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

Chairperson Nobuko Hara Editor Eric Johnston Associate Editor Justin McCurry Board Liaison Anthony Rowley Photo Coordinator Akiko Miyake

FCCJ BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President Anthony Rowley, Business Times 1st Vice President Khaldon Azhari, PETRA/MBC 2nd Vice President LE MERIDIEN Pio d’Emilia, Il Manifesto Secretary Monzurul Huq, Daily Prothom Alo Treasurer Georges Baumgartner, Swiss Radio and Television 1st Director Suvendrini Kakuchi, InterPress Service 2nd Director Martin Koelling, Financial Times Deutschland 3rd Director Miki Tanikawa, Freelance 4th Director Dennis Normile, Science

FCCJ COMMITTEE CHAIRS 2004-2005

Associate Members’ Liaison Grady E. Loy Entertainment Bob Neff Music Kei’ichiro Tominaga Exhibitions TBA Finance Georges Baumgartner Food & Beverage Bob Kirschenbaum David McNeill’s doctoral program eventually involved a Monbusho-funded research trip, Freedom of the Press Bruce Dunning House & Property Khaldon Azhari where he spent two years at the University of Tokyo (1993-1995). Four years later, he spent Human Resources Pio d’Emilia six months at the University of Technology in Guandong before returning to Japan with his ITPC Khaldon Azhari Japanese wife in early 2000. McNeill has been freelancing since for the Irish Times, South Library, Archives & Workroom Jack Russell China Morning Post and, more recently, the London Independent, and has also worked as Movie Joy Waitkus the editor of a policy journal called NIRA Review and as a copyeditor at the Nikkei Shimbun. Membership Toshio Aritake Professional Activities Committee Roger Schreffler Justin McCurry is Tokyo correspondent for the Guardian and Observer newspapers in Lon- Publications Nobuko Hara Scholarship TBA don. He also writes for the Lancet medical journal and the independent football magazine Sports Dennis Normile When Saturday Comes. He has written about Japan for two anthologies of football writing Women’s Activities TBA and makes regular appearances on RTE Radio in Dublin. Foreign Press in Japan Hans van der Lugt

MANAGEMENT John Lawrence is a freelance writer, and actually pays his bills with a day job as an IT man- ager for a foreign-based firm in Yokohama. A resident of Japan for 14 years, he has written GENERAL MANAGER S. Yoda KUROFONE ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER A. Nakamura about computer security, copyright issues and the effect of technical changes on public policy in both Japan and the U.S. CHIEF ACCOUNTANT H. Ono HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER A. Miyake MEMBERSHIP MANAGER N. Iwamura Mack Chrysler joined the FCCJ on March 14, 1969 and was an active member for 27 years MEDIA LIAISON MANAGER W. Hunter while in Japan. He was Tokyo bureau chief of U.S. News & World Report back then. In 1973, FRONT DESK MANAGER J. Mimura Chrysler became correspondent for the San Francisco Examiner. Subsequently, he worked SALES MANAGER M. Hattori for a number of different media, including the San Diego Union and Word’s Communica- LIBRARY MANAGER K. Nakayama tions Inc. Chrysler now resides in Utah. KITCHEN ADVISOR T. Ichikawa CHEF Y. Saito DINING & BANQUET MANAGER A. Yokota BAR MANAGER M. Kuryu SUSHI CHEF I. Kurimoto GENERAL AFFAIRS MANAGER K. Ogawa

PHOTOGRAPH OF MCCURRY BY AKIKO MIYAKE PURCHASING CONTROLLER M. Tsuchiya

SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 3 PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

forward quite smoothly. I have not continued the practice initiated by former president Myron Belkind of issuing a standing invitation to the ALC chairperson to act as “observer” at Board meetings as I feel this goes against the letter and the spirit of the FCCJ’s Articles and By-Laws. But the chair will attend meetings by invitation, and I have made myself Board Liaison to the ALC in recognition of its importance. The revised notices on the Correspondents tables in the Main Bar caused some unhappiness, I know. There has been no change of rules however – just a clarification, which the General Manager felt was desirable to enable staff to explain what the Correspon- dents signs mean. It has been Club policy for at least 25 years to have a few tables reserved chiefly for Regular members, and just three out of more than 30 tables are designated in this way. This convention was being honored more in the breach than the observance on some recent occasions. Regular members who labor in the Work Room or elsewhere at all kinds of hours need to know that they can find at least a few seats in the Bar where they can relax. Committees & The return of Marilyn (Monroe) to the Main Bar raised a few eyebrows – admiring and otherwise. The poor lady has been Other News much abused in recent years after being “kidnapped,” in contra- Anthony Rowley vention of a previous Board resolution that she should return to the Main Bar! I am not sure where her final resting place will be, but by the time you read this she will have moved from her pre- uly has been a long and hot month here in Tokyo, but it has also sent spot. We have other plans for that corner of the Bar – about been an active one at the FCCJ. Club committees have begun which, more later. Jto get moving under their new (or in some cases reinstated) Talking of plans, the House and Property Committee under GLOBAL chairpersons. No major changes, but all committees – in particular Khaldon Azhari has some exciting and imaginative schemes the PAC under Roger Schreffler and Dan Sloan, the Entertain- up its sleeve to make better use of Club space in a number of ment Committee under Bob Neff and the F&B Committee under areas and to improve services for members. Sorry to keep you in GREGG Bob Kirschenbaum – have agreed to bend their efforts especially suspense, but more of this at the September General Membership toward attracting more younger people to the Club. Meeting. Other committees are working hard to keep you profes- DINING We have more younger people serving on committees this year, sionally informed and socially entertained. Please identify yourself to widen our “menu” of attractions (and groom future chairper- to Committee chairs or Board members if you feel you would like sons or Club presidents). A remaining gap is sports. Kyosuke Mori to contribute something to committee activities. All offers grate- has agreed to stay on as chair of the Golfing subcommittee, but we fully accepted. are trying to get others to organize activities such as tennis, skiing, We said farewell in July to Pat Killen, who has been a member swimming, sailing, softball, soccer, etc. Dennis Normile is Board of the FCCJ since 1987 (and is now a Life Member). Pat is return- liaison and acting chairman for Sports, and he will be helping to ing with his wife Miyoko and daughter Kimberley to enjoy retire- find organizers and to coordinate their activities. Step forward if ment in Dallas after a distinguished working career spanning more you can help, please. than three decades with UPI and other media organizations. We The big push now is on membership. The Board will be pre- shall miss him, but his legacy will live on in a revived “Alley Cats” senting membership targets to the next General Membership column in the Number 1 Shimbun. Meeting in September. These will focus especially on Regular and There are other changes in store for our Club magazine under Professional Associate categories in order to “re-balance” the the new Publications Committee headed by Nobuko Hara. I membership composition of the FCCJ in terms of categories and would like to make a personal appeal to all Regular members to age groups. This is as mandated by past resolutions of the General offer contributions to the Number 1 Shimbun. We are basically a Membership, as promised in my election manifesto and is also in journalists’ club, and if anyone should be able to produce a first- line with the expressed desire of many Associates to see “more class paper it is the FCCJ! Please offer stories or features about what journalists” in the Club. you have been up to, or what great thoughts you have been think- I have meanwhile made a personal approach to some 50 bureau ing. Maybe the kind of thing that you always wanted to write but chiefs and chief correspondents from leading media in Tokyo to your paper couldn’t find room for. We can’t pay well – just some attend exploratory meetings at the FCCJ where we will discuss bar credits – but the professional satisfaction of seeing your name in ways of getting their organizations to make more frequent use of what we hope is destined to become a first-class publication of its the Club. If all goes well, we can look forward to a series of events kind should be some reward. Many thanks. involving bureau chiefs, visiting editors and other journalists in the future, to complement our existing and excellent PAC program. P.S. Please give generously for this year’s staff outing. Staff have Relations with the Associate Liaison Committee, under the labored through the long, hot summer, and they richly deserve co-chairmanship of Grady Loy and Michiko Miterai are moving their autumn break.

SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 5 EDITOR’S NOTE LATE BREAKING NEWS

those foreign reporters intelligent enough performed was printing things about the to get to know them. Imperial Family that nobody else would Has the collaboration between Japanese touch. Yet that is not the same as a real journalists frustrated with taboos and for- national debate on either the Imperial Fam- FCCJ STAFF eign journalists interested in reporting ily’s past role in the 20th century, or, more General them resulted in real change, as opposed to importantly, its role for the 21st century. Membership a series of teapot tempests? Yes, in a couple Finally, there are taboos that have come OUTING of important areas, including the treatment into place more recently. Many of these Meeting of minority groups in Japan. are health-related. The true number of October 9-10 The situation of Koreans in Japan has AIDS cases and other sexual diseases Monday received widespread, sustained attention among ordinary Japanese, the number of September 13 his year’s annual FCCJ Staff Outing will be on among international journalists for many outbreaks of cancer due to cigarettes, con- 6:30 p.m. years. Their reports, in turn, have paved taminated rice, or living close to a nuclear October 9-10, to Sadogashima Island in Niigata the way for more serious international power plant or incinerator that releases T Prefecture. The two-day outing gives our scholarly study of, and government atten- dioxins, harmful food additives, as well as hardworking staff a chance to take a well-deserved tion on, the issue that has, in turn, led to a the competency of the medical profession break after a long, hot summer in Tokyo, and to refresh Regular Members greater recognition, worldwide, of the in general and its political connections, are themselves for the winter season. It also gives us – are urged to attend various issues. Nobody would say that the all issues of utmost importance. But they the membership – a chance to show our appreciation situation for Koreans in Japan is ideal. But usually receive either a cursory treatment the next GMM, most people, inside Japan or out, who fol- in the mainstream media, turgid reporting for their efforts and courtesy by making a donation held on September 13, low the issue admit that real progress, slow in specialist magazines that the layman toward the cost of the outing. A donation box has Monday, from 6:30 p.m. as it may be, has been made over the past cannot hope to follow, or sensationalistic been placed at the Reception Desk for contributions few decades. For helping move that reporting in the tabloids. – or members may sign a Club chit if they prefer. For further details, progress along, the international media in The recent flap over The Times’ report- Please give generously. Thank you. log on to your Club’s general, and many FCCJ members in par- ing on Princess Masako, detailed else- Web site at ticular, can take a bow. where in this issue, shows just how on assignment far from Other taboos, while still present, are not important it is for FCCJ members to — Anthony Rowley www.fccj.or.jp. home has to deal with not only nearly as strict as they were, though the challenge taboos. As the population ages President A the various language and logisti- foreign media’s contribution to loosening and the economy continues to stagnate or cal difficulties inherent in such a position, the taboos is questionable. Mainstream show lukewarm growth, Japanese people but also the more vague and difficult Japanese media organizations, for example, in general are less interested in challeng- subject of social, cultural or religious now talk about the political power of Soka ing taboos, and more and more interested taboos. Such taboos are often unstated, Gakkai in a way that only a few tabloids in going with the flow, leaving a leadership and the rules the local media follow gov- even hinted at a dozen years ago. vacuum that those who are interested in erning their coverage may be vague, The tabloids, and some mainstream having more, not fewer, taboos on report- First 2004-5 conditional and subject to wildly differ- reporters, have long attacked Soka Gakkai ing are rushing to fill. Thus, the responsi- Board of Directors Meeting Letters to ent interpretations. and its honorary chairman Daisuke Ikeda, ble foreign journalist in Japan will take In Japan, foreign journalists come up and these attacks have gained some for- time to learn the taboos – and break them (left to right): GM Seishi Yoda, former 3rd Director-at-Large against a variety of taboos, ranging from eign media attention. But over the past when necessary. the Editor Guidelines Yoshisuke Iinuma, 1st VP Khaldon Azhari, Ex-officio Daniel yakuza influence in the Japanese econ- few months in particular, Soka Gakkai Sloan, former 2nd VP Haruko Watanabe, President Anthony omy, to the treatment of Japan’s burakumin members have often had differences with WHAT’S AHEAD Rowley, former Secretary Nobuko Hara, 3rd Director-at- and ethnic Korean communities, to the the New Komeito, which has been called Large Miki Tanikawa, Membership Manager Naomich Notice: Deadline for submission of Letters Imperial Family. Foreign journalists are the quasi-official party of Soka Gakkai. Iwamura, 2nd Director-at-Large Martin Koelling and 4th ✉ to the Editor for the November 2004 often naturally attracted to taboos because These differences, especially over the e all know that China is get- Director-at-Large Dennis Normile. issue of the Number 1 Shimbun is September 6, they offer a chance to explore subjects that New Komeito’s support for the war in ting the lion’s share of foreign Monday, at 5 p.m. Letters are accepted via e-mail they feel, rightly, many Japanese do not , led to a loss of power for the New media attention these days. W Not pictured: 2nd VP Pio d’Emilia, Secretary Monzurul Huq, or fax only. In principle, all letters submitted will want them to pursue. Furthermore, the Komeito in the last election. As a veteran For October, Jon Watts, a name very Treasurer Georges Baumgartner and 1st Director-at-Large appear on the Number 1 Shimbun section of the pursuit of such subjects can, indeed, shed political reporter told me, in Japan, taboos familiar to FCCJ members, reports on Suvendrini Kakuchi. FCCJ Web site after being received by the Editor and intellectual light on the motivations and on reporting the power of one particular his adventures in the Middle Kingdom in their original style and length. However, any letter behavior of other areas of Japanese society group tend to rise or fall in proportion to and compares it to his time in Japan. may be revised, edited or rejected if the Editor judges that are not taboo. that group’s political clout. Not surpris- In addition, Lucille Craft reports on a the content to be libelous or personally offensive. Smart foreign journalists know very well ing, perhaps, but a useful indication of new legal service that many FCCJ free- that there are many Japanese journalists who’s up and who’s down. lancers who are tired of being cheated Please note that all letters to be inserted in the print frustrated and angry with the various Other taboos, such as the burakumin and by unethical media outlets will defi- edition are subject to editing for space and/or style taboos, and avoid lumping all Japanese their political connections through men nitely want to consider. As the Presi- reasons. As with the Web edition, the Editor reserves journalists into one stereotype of kisha like Hiromu Nonaka, are just now start- dent indicates in his column, there are the right to reject letters deemed inappropriate. club drones who toe the party line. And ing to loosen up. Obviously, some old changes afoot for the Number 1 Shim- — Eric Johnston, editor, [email protected] even the kisha club drones by day can turn taboos do remain, not the least of which is bun, some of which we hope to offer Fax: (03) 3211-3168 into excellent sources of information for the Imperial Family. One of the greatest you in the October issue. PHOTOGRAPH BY AKIKO MIYAKE the foreign media at night – at least for services the late Uwasa no Shinso magazine PHOTOGRAPH BY AKIKO MIYAKE

6 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004 SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 7 ASIA BEAT by David McNeill

Imperial Family, which are very murky and not rational and which have a lot to do with Japan’s war and postwar history. TROUBLE This period has not been properly dis- pelled or digested. There is still unfin- ished business.” AT THE TOP Lloyd Parry has a point. For example, not one reporter ever asked Emperor The correspondents for Japan’s Big Media are on trial again Hirohito about his responsibility for the for their failure on covering Princess Masako’s illness. war in Asia, potentially one of the great sto- How do they defend themselves? ries of the last half-century. This is despite the enormous pool of journalists assigned to cover the Imperial Household Agency. According to a former Imperial corre- or a family that prefers to But, which media reported all of this? spondent for a major newspaper: “At any keep a low profile and adopt Not the big newsgathering organizations one time about 20 to 25 journalists from a kind of bland civil servant in Japan, which despite (or as many prefer different news organizations cover the image, these are trying times to argue, because of) their exclusive mem- IHA. But there are hundreds of journal- for the Imperial Household. bership to the IHA press club seldom ists registered with the IHA press club, in FSwathes of the world’s dwindling forests report major scoops, but the Japanese case of an accident or incident related to have been felled to fuel media speculation tabloids and the foreign media. Famously, the Emperor.” on the health of Princess Masako, her it was that first told the These journalists have exclusive access relationship with her husband Prince world about Princess Masako’s engage- to briefings by agency officials and Imper- Naruhito and their struggles to produce a ment to Naruhito in 1993, after the Japan- ial Family members, and usually prepare male heir to the world’s oldest hereditary ese press had sat on the story for months. their questions collectively before sub- institution. It was the London Independent that mitting them for vetting, shunning most Much of the blame for this unwanted suggested in 2001 that Princess Aiko was sensitive issues. Over the years they have attention lies with Naruhito himself, who the product of in-vitro fertilization, after earned a reputation for at best timidity, at sparked the latest media feeding frenzy a similiar story appeared in the muck- worst incompetence. with a press conference on May 10 that racking journal Uwasa no Shinso. And it “The IHA press club shows the worst obliquely criticized his wife’s handlers in was The Times that carried most of the aspects of the Japanese media,” says Sometimes the insiders do this for or even the organizations they work for. representative of more than one person the Imperial Household Agency. above detail about Masako’s current Kenichi Asano, professor of journalism at drinking money, sometimes out of Nevertheless, all three correspondents we interviewed.” As every decent foreign hack knows, condition in a May 21 piece called “The Doshisha University and an ex-Kyodo friendship with tabloid and other journal- gave considered, thoughtful and some- My three interviewees, like all Imperial since 1965, the emperor has watched Depression of a Princess.” News reporter. “The journalists there are ists, and sometimes out of civic duty in a times surprising replies to most questions. correspondents, meet the emperor face to his offspring bring nine female babies not doing their job of informing the taboo-ridden system that many also find From here on, the interviewees will be face at least once a year in the Tochigi into the world and not a single male, a Japanese public about what goes on.” frustrating. referred to as Correspondents A, B and C. Prefecture Imperial retreat for an informal lack of success that once would have The current Imperial correspondent for Two of the journalists had harsh things chat. Would they question him this year been solved by pressing into service an The correspondents speak a major Japanese newspaper said: “I prob- to say about The Times’ Masako piece. (in September) about the Masako affair? Imperial womb-for-hire (known as The irony of this situation is that the ably put in writing less than one-tenth of Correspondent A said it was a “tsukuri- All gave an unqualified no. Correspon- karibara). Today, the responsibility for foreign journalists rely for all their stories one-percent of what I see and hear. For a banashi,” (lit. “a made-up story”), another dent A said this was part personal (he continuing the supposedly 2,600-year on local sources, often reporters working writer, that’s a kind of torture. It’s a real that it was “laughable.” Correspondent didn’t believe that Masako disliked the patriarchal line has fallen on the frail in, or close to, the IHA press club. struggle to just learn to watch.” B said there was no way The Times could emperor); part cultural (it’s not “Japan- shoulders of the ex-Ms. Masako Owada. “I have great respect for Japanese jour- His colleague, who writes for a news have known the things in the article ese” to make the other person deliber- Unsurprisingly, she seems to have buck- nalists who I count as colleagues and agency, goes further: “Not everybody because nobody does, except Masako ately feel uncomfortable in such a setting); led under the pressure. friends,” says Lloyd Parry. “I couldn’t agrees, but, personally, I believe reporters and a handful of close friends. Corre- and part political (there was nothing to be Following her husband’s press confer- work without the work already done by should leak information when it is impor- spondent C was more conciliatory and “gained” by asking such questions, and ence, the media speculated that the these people.” tant and they cannot get it published, said The Times piece was useful because probably a lot to be lost, implying he princess was depressed and had had a These journalists, and a host of former although I don’t think they should do it it had shaken things up and got a discus- would be thrown out of the press club). nervous breakdown, possibly following a correspondents and Imperial watchers, fill for money or tell lies. It’s a public service sion going. Correspondents A and B said Princess lapse into the language of the stud farm the vacuum left by the sketchy reporting because there are many publications that For the record, Lloyd Parry stands by Masako’s illness, the state of her marriage last year by the IHA’s Grand Steward, at the May 27 Symposium of Japan’s first family by Big Media by don’t have access.” the “fairness and accuracy” of everything and the test-tube baby story are “personal Toshio Yuasa, who said he wanted the on “Privacy, Press Freedom & Media Criticism.” feeding “peripheral” outlets: the weekly So how do these correspondents feel in the May 21 article. “Nobody, officially issues.” Correspondent B cited the need couple to have another child. Masako, said and monthly magazines (excluded from about their jobs and the recent reporting or unofficially, has come to complain to be “120 percent accurate on Imperial the press, may be refusing to sleep with It’s all part of a long tradition of royal the IHA press club) and the foreign press, of the Masako issue? I interviewed two about the story. Obviously, the informa- stories.” When asked why, he said: “If I her husband and is terribly worried about reporting in Japan by Big Media. As endless tidbits of gossip and inside infor- current and one former IHA press-club tion about Masako does come from a per- make a mistake on a business or crime her daughter Aiko, who may have a devel- Richard Lloyd Parry, author of the May mation from their privileged Imperial member for this article. Two work for son close to her. As for the source of the story, I have to make a formal apology. If I opmental disorder. Relations between her 21 article says: “Japanese journalists knew ringside seats. One way or another, much major newspapers and one for a news information about Masako’s relations make a mistake on a story about the and the emperor and empress are report- about Masako’s illness. Why didn’t they of what goes on beyond the Imperial moat agency. Although they denied there was with the emperor, that was a quote from a emperor, the head of the newspaper has edly extremely poor, and “she is waiting run the story? Because of the strange finds its way into print, although often in a any taboo on reporting the Imperial Family, Japanese journalist who is in a position to to apologize.”

for them to die.” institutional taboos that still surround the hopelessly disported and unreliable way. PHOTOGRAPH OF LLOYD PARRY BY AKIKO MIYAKE all refused to allow me to use their names, know. We judged it to be a point of view (continued on page 10)

8 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004 SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 9 ASIA BEAT by David McNeill by Herbert P. Bix

(continued from page 9) judged important enough. Asked for an job. All he can do is pray. That’s his job. This trend grew stronger after De- Prof. Asano feels these answers are eva- example, Correspondent A said if the IHA It’s really quite cruel. But that’s the real- On Recent Commotions over the cember 2002, when Princess Masako, sive. “The need for 120 percent accuracy announced that Masako had, indeed, had ity within which we operate and we have under great pressure to produce a male is a double standard because they don’t act a nervous breakdown but asked journal- to respect that.” Imperial Family heir to the throne, miscarried. When she this way for other stories. If they are unsure, ists not to write it, he would ignore them. finally gave birth to a baby girl, Aiko, in they should ask someone in authority for But he was not sure it would get past his Who cares? November 2002, nearly 69 percent of all their opinion and a quote. They should editors. “Newspapers in Japan are very Does any of this matter? Interest in the respondents favored a female emperor; provide the information and let ordinary conservative. The managers are usually Imperial Family in Japan is low and declin- n May 10, 2004, before leav- fragile nature. only 3.7 percent opposed the idea. Today readers decide for themselves.” in their fifties and sixties. They’re afraid ing. Most young people do not even ing on a short European tour, Writers who more than 80 percent of the Japanese As for the issue of privacy, Prof. Asano of the ultra-right. You have taboos in know the name of the man who is mar- O Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito understand the people are eager to move into an era of is even more blunt. “The Imperial Family Islamic societies and in Christian soci- ried to Princess Masako. Polls show that disclosed at a press conference that his historical roots of female emperors. The Crown Prince’s is the ultimate symbol of Japan and they eties. This is our taboo and you basically even the social attitudes of those who are wife, Princess Masako, who had earlier the monarchy’s defense of Masako can only need a male successor. So they shouldn’t cannot criticize it.” interested have left behind an institution withdrawn from official duties, had deepest problems strengthen this trend. have any secrets from the public, and this But why not ask about Masako? If a that is, in the words of Professor Herbert “completely exhausted herself” and was have emphasized the If the Imperial institution, not to includes their sexual activities.” journalist takes six months off work, he Bix, “totally out of sync with the times” unable to accompany him. For this, he consciously intended, mention the whole heritage of Lloyd Parry agrees that some issues, has to provide an explanation. Shouldn’t and one that “can no longer function as a blamed her surroundings. political nature of monarchy itself, has become more bur- including Masako’s depression, are “pri- she be held accountable? Correspondent model, let alone a symbol of national “There were moves to reject Masako’s Naruhito’s statement. densome for the royals than for the vate,” but adds: “We heard the story B agreed but explained the problem as unity.” The taboo on reporting Imperial career [as a diplomat] and her character,” Seki Hirono, in his article in the Asahi Japanese people, does this not reflect the about Masako’s illness in January or Feb- follows: “It’s no good arguing that we issues, say the Imperial correspondents, he complained to stunned journalists Shimbun Eeiseiban of June 12, 2004, for deeper changes that have occurred in ruary but decided not to use it because it should treat the Imperial Family like ordi- has declined since the death of the contro- gathered at his Togu Detached Palace in example, claimed that an “isolated” Japanese society over the past 60 years? was a personal matter. But in May, when nary people. We have to accept that they versial wartime emperor, Hirohito. Better Tokyo. His heartfelt words immediately prince was attempting to highlight the Consider how marital patterns and her husband blamed the Imperial are special. This doesn’t mean we have then, some argue, to let the emperor and ignited debate. For Naruhito spoke as an overly close connection between the lifestyles have changed since General Household for her illness, the question to respect them just because they’re the his family fade gently from history. aggrieved husband, defending his part- postwar-reformed monarchy and the MacArthur, for his own short-term po- was in the public domain, and you Imperial Family, but we do have to accept Which leads to a final question. Per- ner’s right to freedom and dignity under Japanese state, and also the failure of the litical reasons, had the monarchy written couldn’t understand the story fully until the fact that they are different. They’re haps Big Media in Japan, rather than the postwar constitution. Never before in constitution of Japan to guarantee the into the constitution of Japan. you got the rest of the information. So at not like television talent. Legally they’re informing the Japanese public about the public had that been done. human rights of the Imperial Family Today, marriage occurs late, divorces that stage we decided to run it.” special. The constitution says they have Imperial Family and bringing it down to Immediately, some royal watchers members. In an indirect way, Seki was are frequent, women have fewer children The Japanese correspondents claimed no legal rights and no political power. earth as the British press has done to its deduced that either the Imperial Household also coming down on the side of constitu- and they work after marriage. Conversely, they would run with a story that they The emperor can’t walk away from his monarchy over the last two decades, Agency or Masako’s in-laws, Emperor tional reform. men increasingly take part in child rearing helps to suspend its aura of “mystery” Akihito and Empress Michiko, were to Recent Japanese public opinion polls and contribute to housework. In this 21st- and uniqueness. blame for her poor health. Richard Lloyd suggest the underlying social changes century society, with diverse male and As evidence, take the famous (at least Parry writing in The Times of London, behind the Crown Prince’s remarks of female lifestyles, the Imperial Family (thus outside Japan) incident on December 18, cited this allegation of a Japanese journalist, May 10. For the past several years, polls by extension, the politically powerless 2001, when Emperor Akihito, in the offered in the wake of Naruhito’s cryptic have shown a major change on the issue monarchy) can no longer function as a middle of a period of bitter controversy statement. To wit: “Masako has become an of a woman emperor. In the first survey model, let alone a symbol of national unity. about history textbooks, spoke in detail imperial dropout.” She is “hostile towards on this issue (Kyodo Tsushin, December This does not mean that neo-nationalist about his own Korean roots. The speech the Emperor [Akihito] and the Empress 1975), 54.7 percent of respondents said political entrepreneurs see no use-value was front-page news in Korea but barely [Michiko], and … waiting for them to die. the emperor had to be a male and 31.9 in the monarchy, or have given up on made the inside pages of two Japanese It sounds horrible and shocking. But this percent said that it was OK if a woman manipulating the Imperial house for newspapers: the Asahi and Sankei. is the truth of what’s happening inside the became emperor. Fourteen years later, political purposes. The discussion of Prof. Asano explains why: “The news- Crown Prince’s household and the public shortly after the death of the controversial female succession to the throne has papers here were too worried about the doesn’t know about.” Showa Emperor Hirohito, the majority of become part of Japan’s constitutional implications of that speech and the reac- Actually, the Japanese public senses Japanese still favored male succession. By revision debate. And some of the tion from nationalists so they ignored it. only too well that the current state of the the late 1990s, that trend had reversed, strongest friends of institutionalizing The only reason why the Asahi and Sankei Imperial Family is a picture of unhappi- with nearly 50 percent of respondents in a female emperors now look forward to published it is because they publish all ness. Equally well understood, especially Kyodo survey favoring a female emperor rewriting the constitution in its entirety. press conferences on their Web sites, and by Japanese officials who have a vested and less than a third wanting the throne How these issues play out in the future somebody spotted it there. Otherwise interest in preserving it, is the monarchy’s limited to a male. remains to be seen. ■ they would have ignored it, too.”

At least one Imperial correspondent (B) Click on to [email protected] today and get agrees that by keeping news like this from

that story idea realized, startling photo or the public and selectively reporting what provocative speaker review published in a the emperor and his family do, they help ✒ first-class monthly magazine. And upcoming prop up the institition. “If you want to Contributions committee events? Boost attendance by having argue that we protect the mystery [ shimpiteki your event promoted with a specially designed ] of the Imperial Family, I think na bubun in-house ad. we do. But no matter what we do, the family will have to reform. And the more You owe it to yourself – and to your fellow they reform, the more the mystery will Welcomed Club members. decline. That’s their dilemma.” ■

10 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004 SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 11 ASIA BEAT by Justin McCurry

reporting and, yes, salaciousness, for or political consequence before learning their very survival. the truth? Simply put, for “protection of privacy,” Few journalists, even those on the PROBING the weeklies read “media regulation.” celebrity scandal beat, interpret “public Koichi Sasamoto, a director in the first interest” as meaning “of interest to the editorial bureau at Bungei Shunju, says public.” On the contrary, most accept “PRIVACY” the weeklies’ more fearless reporting that in a democracy, the media are duty- (whether the Tanaka story comes under bound to reconcile its freedoms with the Wither freedom of the press? this category will be debated later) has individual’s right to privacy. made them prime targets for the censors. The constitution protects both, but then “I think that he wanted to teach us a the constitution makes lots of empty lesson,” Sasamoto says of the district promises. Defending freedom of the press court judge who halted publication of the solely on constitutional grounds cannot be offending issue of Shukan Bunshun. “We the quickest, or best, way forward. Neither must be careful when we write a story Also on the May 27 panel were (Uozumi); Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia editor and Tokyo bureau chief, The Times; can we allow ourselves to be fobbed off Robert Neff, contributing editor, Business Week; and Yoshisuke Iinuma, then-FCCJ 3rd director-at-large. that it does not exceed the boundaries of with the creation of a “watchdog” attached what is appropriate for society to be inter- to the Justice Ministry and brimming ested in. But which sections of society? Japan, particularly those familiar with the would have had to prepare for attacks by with amakudari appointments to look into We still don’t have the perfect answer.” honorable muckraking traditions of the right-wing groups. alleged violations of the privacy laws. In many ways, though, the Tanaka vs. American and British press. “Yes, we are kowtowing to power. Some have suggested the creation of a Shukan Bunshun debacle is the wrong Bob Neff, a contributing editor at Busi- That’s the reality of the majority of the self-regulating body modeled on the Press test case. ness Week, said Japanese broadsheets had Japanese media, except that the newspa- Complaints Commission in Britain, Egotism and disingenuousness reigned deliberately overlooked three of the pers bow even lower and deeper than the which investigates and acts on complaints on both sides. The plaintiff described the biggest stories in Japan in the past 25 years magazines.” against the media. coverage of her divorce – a matter of pub- – Tanaka Kakuei’s financial impropri- If fear – of retribution by neo-fascist Sasamoto and Iida are among the idea’s lic record – as a “vicious” infringement of eties, the sex scandal that brought down thugs, of being shut out by the coterie supporters, but doubt it will see the light her privacy. Hardly. Bungei Shunju exec- former Prime Minister Sosuke Uno, and of bureaucrats surrounding the Imperial of day. utives, meanwhile, claimed that the the engagement of Masako and Crown Family and of admonishment by a popu- “There should be such an organiza- daughter’s pedigree made her a natural Prince Naruhito – all of which had been lation generally reverential towards the tion,” Sasamoto says, “but there is a very May 27 Symposium on “Privacy, Press Freedom & Media Criticism.” Panelists included (left to right) Koichi successor to the Tanaka throne and was, broken by the Western press. wealthy and powerful – has persuaded big gap between the positions of the Sasamoto, director, First Editorial Bureau, Bungei Shunju; Hiroshi Iida, editorial advisor, the Sankei therefore, as much of a public figure as pri- “To be that incompetent, that craven, reporters and journalists to gag them- newspapers and the magazines. To criti- Shimbun; and nonfiction writer Akira Uozumi. vate citizen. The Tanakas may be a clan, just astounds me,” Neff said. selves, what are the prospects for inves- cize each other is necessary, but it’s caus- but they are not royalty – at least not yet. Few Tokyo correspondents have as tigative reporting now that the censors ing unnecessary tension.” orrespondents passing The court-ordered gagging of Shukan But the case is instructive in that it much firsthand experience of that broad- have added a legal weapon to their arsenal? Uozumi’s prescription for reducing though the FCCJ recep- Bunshun was the kind of arbitrary attack demonstrates how the Liberal Democra- sheet-weekly disparity in editorial judg- The auguries are not good. The media tension between the newspapers and tion in mid-March stood on the freedom of the press sections that tic Party and its allies may be able to keep ment than Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia editor was on the defensive long before the weeklies is equally hard to envisage. a good chance of being the media had warned of last year when the media at arm’s length by combining and Tokyo correspondent for The Times. privacy laws were passed. In the year up “The kisha clubs should be eliminated accosted by Japanese the LDP and its coalition allies passed two divide and rule with phony appeals to pri- Earlier this year, Lloyd Parry reported to August 2003, they were forced to pay altogether. You have these articles by Ccolleagues eager to solicit their views on controversial laws protecting private vacy and human rights. that Crown Princess Masako was not compensation – more than ¥5 million newspapers and reporting on TV that is the latest installment in the saga of the information and individual privacy. Take the broadsheets. The Yomiuri simply “tired,” but had suffered a nervous in seven of the cases – in 40 libel suits, in accordance with the wishes of the Tanaka political clan. Most copies of the offending issue had Shimbun wrote favorable editorials about breakdown for which she was being according to the National Council to ministries.” On March 16, the Tokyo District court already made it to the newsstands before the privacy laws, and the Japan Newspaper treated with low-dosage medication. Promote the Ethics of Mass Media. Attractive though the prospect is of a ordered Bungei Shunju, the publishers of the imposition of the ban, which was later Publishers and Editors Association, while In researching the story, he discov- And it’s going to get easier for wealthy, vibrant, united print media free of the weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun, to overturned by the high court. But for the expressing concern early in the debate, ered most Japanese royal journalists self-important celebrities and politicians cartelism, it will be a long time coming. halt publication of an issue carrying an magazine and others like it, the damage fudged its response in the face of disagree- were familiar with the true nature of the to invoke the human rights argument, And judging by the self-satisfaction and article about the eldest daughter of the had already been done. ment among its member publications. health of the princess – who is supported thereby doing a disservice to the real vic- bitterness that divides the newspapers and former Japanese foreign minister and Unedifying though it may have been, Hiroshi Iida, an editorial adviser at the by the taxpayer – but chose not to share tims of human rights abuses, who suffer the weeklies, the privacy debate promises noted self-publicist, Makiko Tanaka. the Tanaka debacle has serious implica- Sankei Shimbun, recognized the tempta- it with their readership. far more than ephemeral embarrassment to become even messier. The weekly, the court said, had vio- tions for an industry already suffering tion to lump Ms. Tanaka in with her “Japanese journalists have many free- on the pages of a magazine. Taking a stand against media-gagging lated the younger Tanaka’s privacy by from dwindling readership and advertis- better-known relatives, but agreed her doms which they choose not to use,” he How far, for example, will we be per- posing as a crusade for human rights, will relating, over three pages, how she had ing sales. So far, the media’s response privacy had been breached. said. “What is freedom of the press? What mitted to go in delving into the extraordi- require hard choices. married against her mother’s wishes, has been fractured and incoherent – just But he went on: “Newspaper reporters is the value in arguing for freedom of the nary life of the alleged U.S. army deserter, As Lloyd Parry says: “If there is a choice divorced and fled home to Japan. when the situation calls for unity and do not have as much freedom as their press if we do not use the freedoms which Charles Jenkins, before the privacy-as-a- between compromising an individual’s So far, so humdrum. Like many of my cohesion. counterparts at magazines. If a newspaper are there for us to use and exploit?” human-right clause is invoked? How right to privacy and compromising the colleagues, I took no more than a passing The reason for that lies partly in the had tried to report about One answer is the tendency, driven by deep will we be able to delve into the right to freedom of information, we must interest in the Tanakas’ domestic foibles. wording of the law, which exempts the and his scandals, I don’t think it would fear, towards self-censorship. peccadilloes of Japan’s most public fig- always compromise the right to privacy.” None of the British papers, to my newspapers and wire services, yet retains have been possible. So, in a sense, I pay my “We are faced with a wall and we just ure, Prime Minister , It is a potentially perilous course of knowledge, covered the episode. But enough ambiguity to enable courts to act respects to the reporting of the weeklies.” cannot look beyond it,” says Akira before the court injunctions are served? action, but to be silenced by politicians looking back, perhaps my insouciance against publications that depend on a It is admissions of impotency like that Uozumi, a nonfiction writer. “If I had Or – and this is more likely – will we hungry only for the right kind of public-

was misplaced. mixture of hard-hitting investigative which so exasperates foreign reporters in PHOTOGRAPHS BY AKIKO MIYAKE written about Masako’s depression, I have to wait until neither are of diplomatic ity would be far worse. ■

12 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004 SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 13 Yokohama’s waterfront district of Minato Mirai 21.

JAPAN SHERPA JAPAN SHERPA

translators does vary greatly. If you are CONTACT INFO covering a highly specialized or technical topic, ask the association beforehand if BASIC INFORMATION: Yokohama Community Lounge Information Kinko’s Kannai Branch they have an interpreter with background Japan Guide (Yokohama) Corner Tel: 045-640-5381 in that subject. You can expect to pay at Web site: www.japan-guide.com/e/ Tel: 045-664-4665 least transportation charges. e3200.html Web site: www.yoke.city.yokohama.jp/ INTERNET CAFÉS: Now, we all have had editors con- Tsuzuki Ward International Exchange info_corner/index-e.html GeraGera Yokohama stantly harassing us about posting our Committee Aoba International Lounge Yokohama Station: story. Breathe easy because Yokohama 1-3-20 Nakanoshima, Kita-ku Web site: www2.ocn.ne.jp/%7Eaoba/ Tel: 045-321-5799 (24 hr. open/Japanese- has two branches of Kinko’s where you E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 045-971-2040 language only) can set up office. One is located at the Tsuzuki Ward Office Hodogaya International Exchange Center Kaito Bldg. 2F-5F, Minami Sawai 2-14-2 west exit of Yokohama Station and the 32-1 Chigasaki-chuo, Tsuzuki-ku Web site: www3.tky.3web.ne.jp/%7Ehiec/ Nishi-ku, Yokohama other is near JR Kannai Station. Addi- Yokohama 224-0032 Tel: 045-337-0012 MangaLand tionally, the city is rife with Internet cafés, Konan International Lounge Shin Yokohama Station: especially in the Kannai-Sakuragicho INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Web site: www.yk.rim.or.jp/%7Emk01- Tel: 045-475-5220 (24 hr. open/Japanese- area, most of which charge between Yokohama Association for International kil/ehome/index.htm language only) Yokohama ¥200-600/hr. Specifically, I recommend Communications and Exchanges (YOKE) Tel: 045-848-0990 Shin-Yoko Rupo Bldg. 3F, 3-7-7 Shin-Yoko- City by the bay GeraGera near Yokohama Station, which Yokohama International Organizations Center Kohoku International Lounge hama, Kouhoku-ku, Yokohama charges ¥380 per hour and has a three- 5F, Pacifico Yokohama, 1-1-1 Minato Mirai Web site: homepage2.nifty.com/ hour pack special for ¥880; and Manga- Nishi-ku, Yokohama 220-0012 kohokulounge/ Hotels: okohama’s biggest problem is It’s when you run into the exceptions to Land in Shin-Yokohama, which rents out Tel: 045-222-1171, Fax: 045-221-2210 Tel: 045-430-5670 Shin-Yokohama International Hotel that it is so close to Tokyo. Often this rule, which throw off the transfers, Internet booths for ¥400/hr. E-mail: [email protected] Tel: 045-473-1311 Y dismissed by those within the that you find out just how brutal JR’s There is no shortage of hotels in Web site: www.yoke.city.yokohama.jp/in- SUBWAY GUIDE: Shin-Yokohama Fuji View Hotel suffocating confines of the Yamanote belt- timetables can be in wasting your time. In Yokohama. However, Yokohama is not dexe.html Web site: www.city.yokohama.jp/me/koutuu/ Tel: 045-473-0021 way as a mere suburb of the capital, Japan’s my personal experience, it has taken up to especially kind to those on a tight budget sub/rosen_time_kounaizu.html Star Hotel Yokohama city by the bay was, in fact, the center of 25 minutes to go from Shin-Yokohama to in terms of accommodations. There are INTERPRETING SERVICES: Tel: 045-651-3111 commerce immediately after the opening Yokohama simply because I was off by 10 few respectable places under ¥8,000 in YOKE PRINTING SERVICES: Yokohama Royal Hotel of Japan, when Edo was just beginning to seconds on the Higashi Kanagawa transfer. the Shin-Yokohama area. The Shin- Web site: www.yoke.city.yokohama.jp/eng- Kinko’s Yokohamaeki-Nishiguchi Branch Tel: 045-622-8917 stir from its long sleep as a string of back- If you’re on a tight schedule, use the Yokohama International Hotel, just a lish/services/interpretingE.html Tel: 045-322-3377 water hamlets. subway. Use JR only if you are arriving at five-minute walk from Shin-Yokohama Want proof of Yokohama’s different Yokohama Station and need to go to Station, has rooms starting at ¥8,610. style? Look no further than City Hall, points south on the Keihin-Tohoku, Isogo Regular rate for a single room in Shin- OSAKA DIARY where Yokohama voters instilled 40-year- or Yokohama line, such as Sakuragicho, Yokohama Fuji View Hotel starts at old Hiroshi Nakata, a former House of Kannai, Ishikawacho, etc. By the way, JR’s ¥8,085, but the hotel occasionally has Kobe will build one, too. Osaka gets a new Representatives member from 1st District last Tokaido line train back to Tokyo campaigns on singles as cheap as ¥5,775, Tales from the Wild, Wild West international center? Kobe will build one, Kanagawa, as mayor in 2002. Yokohama leaves Yokohama Station at 17 minutes with ADSL-equipped rooms starting at too. Osaka will promote IT investment? sent a message to the nation that politics as after midnight and costs ¥450 for the full ¥6,930. You can find a slightly better deal Well, so will Kobe. usual was not welcome. Shintaro Ishihara’s run up to the Tokyo Station terminal. The in the Yokohama-Minato Mirai area. She blew it on a piece of theater to support her. The But it now appears that Osaka may be coarse rhetoric may grab votes in Tokyo, last Shinkansen to Tokyo, meanwhile, is The Star Hotel Yokohama, located near It was hardly a secret that many journalists announcer was filmed with his back to a mimicking Kobe in a way that the United but the kinder, gentler (and hipper) the Nozomi 34, which leaves at 23:25. Yamashita Koen, lists its cheapest single in Osaka were pulling hard for former group of supporters in Tsujimoto’s cam- States will not appreciate. Thirty years approach appeals to the electorate of the The Yokohama Metropolitan Subway room rates starting at ¥7,200, and the SDP gadfly Kiyomi Tsujimoto to win a paign office to watch the returns. ago, Kobe passed a resolution forcing more urbane Yokohama. operates a single line with 32 stations, with Yokohama Royal Hotel in Chinatown seat in the July Upper House elections. If you were watching TV, it looked like ships entering the harbor to declare if they Arrive in Yokohama from Tokyo or another line due to go live in 2006. Each starts its prices at ¥5,775 for a single. But it was not meant to be. Tsujimoto a large number of Tsujimoto supporters were carrying nuclear weapons. The reso- elsewhere and chances are you will disem- station was given a number in 2002 for the Finally, I would be remiss in my duty ran a lackluster campaign, and her support were anxiously awaiting the results. But, as lution was designed to keep U.S. warships bark at one of two city centers: Yokohama World Cup Final to make things easier for as a sherpa if I did not mention the Ital- base never expanded beyond the left-wing soon as the director said, “cut,” nearly out of Kobe harbor, as the Station if you are coming in by the regular non-Japanese speakers. Riding the five- ian Gelato (いたりあん ・じぇらとー in hiragana) NPOs and NGOS who traditionally sup- three-fourths of the “supporters” suddenly then, as now, refused to make any such JR lines or Shin-Yokohama if you are stop direct trip between Shin-Yokohama bar at the far end of the Diamond under- ported her. She spent most of her cam- stood up and walked out. It turns out declaration. traveling by Shinkansen. Getting between (#25) and Yokohama (#20) Stations runs ground shopping mall off the west exit paign apologizing for past misdeeds, and many were not Tsujimoto supporters, but In late July, Osaka city hall was consid- the two stations, though, can be a trying ¥230 and takes a mere 11 minutes. of Yokohama Station, close to the Sher- said little of substance on policy matters. In rather TV crews or others asked to pretend ering something similar to the Kobe reso- experience. While the JR Yokohama line Need a translator or interpreter? aton Hotel. If you want to experience a short, she sounded like the typical politi- like they were supporters. I’m not a TV lution. U.S. warships have visited Osaka connects Yokohama Station with Shin- There are several services available. The frozen taste explosion, take 10 minutes cian that we are all-too-familiar with, not producer, so maybe this kind of thing is on a number of occasions of late, prompt- Yokohama, things aren’t as easy as they Yokohama Association for International and go. This little hole-in-the-wall sim- the fiery populist of old. common. But the whole action was funda- ing the measure from politicians who seem, and it can take a considerable leap of Communications and Exchanges, which ply has the best gelato I have had any- On election night, I did get a close-up mentally dishonest and yet another reason oppose the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. logistics to pull this transfer off in a timely goes by the rather desperate acronym where on the planet. A rainbow of view of the lengths to which some media why we should watch Japanese TV news The mayor of Osaka has expressed his manner. The Yokohama line often, but YOKE, serves as a clearinghouse of sorts gourmet flavors and prices ranging between were going to support her. A large televi- with a very skeptical eye, indeed. opposition, but the fact that city hall is not always, terminates at Higashi Kana- and is the perfect place to arrange for an ¥220-420 a cup make this a very sweet sion network connected to a conservative, debating such a measure shows that oppo- gawa Station, and you must transfer to the interpreter and other English-related deal, indeed. Banana, cinnamon, kahlua even right-wing, media conglomerate No thanks, sailor sition to the U.S. military in this part of JR Keihin Tohoku line – which often, but services. The Aoba International Lounge milk and dark cherry are among my mocked by foreigners as the “Garbage Over the past decade or so, Osakans have Japan is hardly limited to a few antiwar not always, shares the same platform – to has volunteer interpreters on call, although favorites. Selling” newspaper (you figure out the often shaken their heads at Kobe’s mimick- activists. reach Yokohama Station. not as many as YOKE. Ability of individual — John Lawrence Japanese translation) nevertheless decided ing of Osaka. Osaka gets a new airport? — Eric Johnston, editor

14 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004 SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 15 TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

Gadget Guru other two are your CPU’s generation (Pentium III) and clock speed (800 Mhz). Adding more RAM is like taking a Bang for speed-reading course – a one-time event that pays back with speed. In comparison, Your Buck upgrading the main CPU chip is similar to doing a brain transplant; we’re not going to go there today. Increasing your computer’s RAM allows you to run more programs simul- taneously and makes everything a bit perkier. If your word processor can’t keep up with your typing, then you need more memory. If you have to wait while large purchases and will give you a better price image files open in Photoshop, more if you use cash. memory will help you. If your computer In some stores, they’ll also offer a just seems sluggish, more RAM will longer guarantee than the maker’s in probably speed it up. exchange for giving you fewer points. The good news is it’s really easy to add For the peace of mind this sometimes more memory. The only tricky thing is brings, it could be worth considering. figuring out which memory to buy. Every Kakaku.com is at www.kakaku.com; computer has a maximum amount of erhaps it’s the mass of gadgets on Bestgate.net is at www.bestgate.net and RAM it can accept and a specific format it display or the frenzied atmosphere, Coneco.net is at www.coneco.com. BIC requires. To find out what kind of RAM P but I always feel like I’m looking at Camera is online at www.biccamera.com. to buy, you need to know your computer’s great prices in Japanese electronics stores. — Martyn Williams make and model number. In Windows, But there’s a difference between a great Tokyo correspondent for IDG News Service get this information from the System RESTAULANT price and the best price, and the Internet is Information tool. On a Mac, look for the helping sort that out. System Profiler. Comparison shopping sites scan prices Armed with those details, you can go at multiple Web sites and report back all Kristen’s Corner to an online memory shop. There’s no the prices. It’s a quick way to shop and need for research to find out whether you worth trying next time you want to buy Enhancing Your need SDRAM or DRAM or any other 8 ADS something. arcane acronym. Just point your browser To test these services out, I shopped to www.memoryx.net, www.4allmemory.com for three products: the Sanyo voice Computer’s and www.memorycity.com, and see what’s recorder introduced in last month’s col- available by drilling down through the umn, a 26-inch Sharp LCD TV and a Performance menus: manufacturer, model and model Toshiba notebook computer. Prices number. from three sites, Kakaku.com, Best- Once you have memory in hand, what gate.net and Coneco.net, were com- do you do with it? If you have confidence, pared with those from BIC Camera, you can install it yourself. Open your com- across the street from the FCCJ. puter’s case. Inside, you’ll see your hard The Sanyo product was priced as drive, the motherboard full of chips and low as ¥21,800 online versus BIC capacitors (the big square chip is the Camera’s ¥24,800. The Sharp TV could CPU), and smaller memory cards, arrayed be found as cheap as ¥238,450, versus in slots. Put your new memory into the BIC Camera’s ¥289,800. The cheapest next slots. Close the case and turn on your online price for the Toshiba notebook computer. The machine should automati- was ¥188,000, versus BIC Camera’s cally start using the new memory. ¥212,800. A small caution: depending on your So there’s money to be saved with a machine and what RAM you purchased, little searching, even after the shipping just wanna say one word to you: you might have to take out the old chips charges. But don’t write off conven- RAM. But one word doesn’t fill this and replace them with the new ones. The tional stores just yet. Many are open to I column, so let me tell you why you online vendors where you figured out haggling, especially if you’ve done your want more RAM, aka computer memory, which memory to buy have more detailed research and can point to a better price how to figure out what you need and how instructions on what to do, as does your somewhere else in the area. Some larger to install it. computer manufacturer’s Web site. stores award points for purchases, RAM is one component that makes up — Kristen McQuillin which can be used to make subsequent the brainpower of your computer. The FCCJ Webmaster

SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 17 WRITE UP YOUR ALLEY

he train ride south to Phnom Phnom Penh to purchase a baguette of recent fighting and perennial smug- Penh after the night in Kompong breakfast from roadside peddlers. The gling, stopping en route at a Cambodian T Chnang was pure anti-climax. French had not been in charge of their army base in Sisophon. The Cambodian It was mid-June 1970 and foreign jour- colony in any force since the Dien Bien military, like ARVN, did not let a war nalists had been permitted into Cambodia Phu debacle in 1954, but their influence interfere with their normal routine and after General Lon Nol orchestrated a coup lingered. The countryside looked peaceful the gate was unmanned. It was siesta d’etat in March while Prince Norodom as we drove northwest around Tonle Sap time, and officers and men were sound Sihanouk was visiting friends in Beijing. (the Great Lake) in the middle of Cambo- asleep. The War was in full swing and dia, except for occasional highway check- At base headquarters, a sleepy aide Cambodia, Vietnam’s near neighbor to the points manned by carefree soldiers who reluctantly roused his even sleepier west, was no longer neutral. waved us on with wide smiles. Commanding Officer who joined us on To curry favor with the Nixon Admin- The drive through Battambang, Cam- the porch clad in a sarong-like longi to istration in Washington, the General had bodia’s second-largest city, was slowed by offer languid answers to our questions. invited the Army of the Republic of South traffic but equally peaceful. By noon we All was well. His troops were alert and Vietnam (ARVN) to spend a month in were in Siem Reap, the town that sup- able. The VC would soon be driven out Cambodia on a search-and-destroy ported visitors to Angor Wat until earlier of the country. We pressed on westward mission. Objective: to root out COSVN, that month when Viet Cong guerrillas to Poipet on the border across from the southern headquarters of the Viet Cong occupied the ancient ruins. Tourism Aranyaprathet in Thailand. Vendors sell- that U.S. intelligence had pinpointed quickly evaporated after visitors encoun- ing everything from fruit to kitchenware (erroneously) in eastern Cambodia. tered grim young men bearing AK-47s lined the road there; and local entrepre- ARVN forces swept in-country and among the crumbling stone friezes, and at neurs, many in motorized cyclos and began beating the Cambodian bushes with lunch we had the dining room in the Siem motorcycles with sidecars, moved freely the enthusiastic backing and full logistical Reap Hotel almost to ourselves. past checkpoints into and back from support of United States commanders I had flown into Phnom Penh from Thailand. in Saigon and Washington. Since the Hong Kong on June 1, to relieve Jim However, despite entreaties to the bored search was dull and unproductive, Sydney Wallace, the U.S. News & World Report border officer in charge of immigration, Schanberg of the Times, Don bureau chief in Saigon, and was eager to customs and smuggling, we did not pass LIFE STYLE Shannon of the Los Angeles Times and I see Angor. “Would a quick in and out be muster or checkpoints. The trip had been headed north one morning in search of possible,” I asked our waiter. unproductive; it was only mid-afternoon, something newsworthy. “In? Mais oui,” he said, “only eight and we decided we had plenty of time to We got more than we bargained for. kilometers down that road.” He smiled. reach Phnom Penh before dark. The day began quietly and our Cambodian “But you may have trouble getting out.” We were wrong. driver-interpreter stopped our rented We decided to pass on Angor and (to be continued in October 2004 issue) 8 ADS Peugot station wagon in a village outside headed instead for the Thai border, scene — Mack Chrysler AROUND THE CLUB

Tsuneaki Ishizaka Kazuyoshi Tominaga Kitchen Kitchen An interest in chem- While Tsuneaki Ishizaka istry as a youth has had dreams of being a turned into a career chemist as a youth, of sorts for Tsuneaki Kazuyoshi Tominaga Ishizaka, who has wanted to sail away, as worked in the kitchen the captain of his own for over 17 years. It ship. After nearly three was not the chance to decades in the galley of experiment with the the FCCJ Maru, though, stomachs of FCCJ he doesn’t regret his members that drew career choice. him to work at FCCJ, “I had also wanted to but rather the diverse learn how to cook foods from around the world, so FCCJ was group of humanity a great place to do so,” he says. that makes working at When not serving plates of food, Tominaga-san can usually the Club very interesting, he says. When not working, be found on the tennis court, serving balls. He insists there is no Ishizaka-san is likely to be found on the road traveling, or truth to the reports that Kimiko Date once urged him to turn reading history professional. — Akiko Miyake PHOTOGRAPH OF ISHIZAKA BY KAZUYOSHI TOMINAGA, TOMINAGA KATSUYOSHI AOKI

SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 19 LIBRARY CLUB EVENTS

NEW BOOK LIST FOR SEPTEMBER 2004

Japanese Foreign Policy at Hanzai naki Hanei o Karate the Crossroads Mezashite Love as a Second Kanazawa, Hirokazu Kawashima, Yutaka Shikita, Minoru Language Kodansha International Brookings Institution Press Mainichi Shimbunsha Garner, Roy Gift from Gift from Minoru iUniverse, Inc. Kodansha Measuring Judicial Shikita Gift from Roy Garner International Independence Rasmusen, Eric B. Iraq Senso, Nihon no Tell Me Lies The Art of The University of Unmei, Koizumi no Miller, David ed. Aikido Chicago Press Unmei Pluto Press Ueshiba, Kisshomaru Tachibana, Takashi Kodansha International 1 2 Eats, Shoots & Leaves Kodansha Tsukiji Gift from Kodansha 1, 2. The FCCJ 2004 Spring Golf Tournament took place on Sat., May 29, at the Asagiri Country Club, in Fujinomiya City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The Truss, Lynne Gift from Takashi Tachibana Bestor, Theodore C. International Integrated Winner of the tournament was Hideya Yonesato; also in attendance was (left to right) Koreo Hirayama (Foreign Minister Cup Winner), Takayoshi Profile Books Univ. of California Miyauchi and Isao Saotome. Bergdorf Blondes Press The Canon of Judo Sake with Sykes, Plum Gift from Theodore C. Mifune, Kyuzo Desserts Miramax Books Bestor Kodansha Tejima, Makiko International Gap Japan Co., Ltd. Founding Mothers Pompeii Gift from Gift from Megumi Roberts, Cokie Harris, Robert Kodansha Kaneko HarperCollins Hutchinson International Gift from Eugen Mall Nenkin no Higeki The Narrows Iwase, Tatsuya Connelly, Michael Classic Bonsai of Kodansha Little, Brown Japan The Way Gift from Tatsuya Iwase Nippon Bonsai Association ed. of Ninja 3 Food of Japan Kodansha International Hatsumi, Masaaki 4 5 The Future Revealed the Booth, Shirley Gift from Kodansha Kodansha International 3, 4. During a Sayonara Party on July 26, long-time member Pat Killen was presented with a Lifetime Membership by President Anthony Rowley. Pat’s wife Japanese Way Interlink Books International Gift from Kodansha Miyoko and daughter Kimberley joined in the celebration. Tanaka, Yoshimi ed. International 5. Chef Mario Frittoli of the premier Italian restaurant Luxor in Shirokanedai was the star attraction at the June 23 “Guest Chefs from the World Series.” Kodansha International Adobe New Tastes in Green Tea Gift from Junichiro Yamaguchi Photoshop CS Tokunaga, Mutsuko McClelland, Deke Kodansha International The New Koun Seimei Handan Deke Press/O’Relly Gift from Kodansha Zen Garden Yamaguchi, Junichiro Media, Inc. International Cali, Joseph Dynamic Sellers Kodansha International Gift from Junichiro Yamaguchi The Autobiography of The Connoisseur’s Book Gift from Kodansha Benvenuto Cellini of Japanese Swords International The Savage Nation Cellini, Benvenuto Nagayama, Kokan Savage, Michael Black’s Readers Service Kodansha International 11 Plume Book Company Gift from Kodansha 11. Violinist Madoka Suzuki (second Gift from Steven L Herman Gift from Swadesh DeRoy International 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Australia Night, Traditional Fun and Food prize at the Japan Chamber Music from Down Under, took place on July 28, attended by Competition), cellist Saeko Andy Bevar, who played the didjeridoo, an Aboriginal Tominaga (graduate of the Julliard 6 instrument; Phil Ingram, minister-counsellor School of Music and winner of the (marketing), Embassy of Australia; Robert Neff, 24th Artist International Young Artist moderator of the event; and Shin Nagatomo, president, Audition in New York) and pianist Book Break Vacel Inc. (kangaroo meat). Kyoko Sasaki (awarded the “The left: Theodore C. Bestor (left), professor of anthropology and Japanese Finest Accompanist of the 10th studies at , spoke about his Tsukiji book at the July Tchaikovsky International 20 Book Break. Competition”) performed at the 2004 Classic Concert Series V on Right: Robert Whiting, an FCCJ member since 1982, spoke about his June 25. The Meaning of Ichiro: The New Wave from Japan and the Transformation of Our National Pastime book at the July 6 Book Break. Whiting’s first bestseller was The Chrysanthemum and the Bat, and he is also author of such influential books as You Gotta Have Wa and Tokyo Underworld. 7 8 9 10 PHOTOGRAPHS BY AKIKO MIYAKE AND MICHIYO KOBAYASHI

20 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004 SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 21 NEW MEMBERS GALLERY NOTES

Mario Schmidt September Shows The schedule of shows at the Club for September was not available at the time of going to press, so please refer to the FCCJ Notices at the beginning of the month for details. — Exhibitions Committee

Mario Schmidt was born in 1969 in Guess Who Came to Dinner (Lunch)? Bielfeld, Germany, and studied in Jerusalem in the 1990s, before going to work for ZDF in Magdeburg, Saxony- Anhalt in 1997. In 1998 and 1999, he did an apprenticeship at Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). Between 2002 and 2004, he worked at NDR’s foreign Donald J. Johnston Dr. William F. Vendley Dr. Fuad Muhsin Hamash Prof. Eisuke Sakakibara Katsuhiko Machida Jonny Wilkinson affairs department. Schmidt was in charge ewly elected FCCJ President Anthony Rowley paid a courtesy call on Senior Police of the magazine Weltspiegel at NDR, Superintendent Yasuo Ueyama at the Marunouchi Police Station on July 12. The and did news reports from several Marunouchi Station is responsible for security in our area, and as the Club frequently N Donald J. Johnston, secretary-general, Organisation for Economic Co- Takao Toshikawa, editor, Tokyo Insideline – “Predicting the Polls” – July 6. countries in Europe, Asia and the Mid- hosts visits by VIPs, it is important that we maintain close links with officers there. We are operation and Development (OECD) – July 21. dle East. Since May 1999, he has been very grateful to them for their help and cooperation in this very important task. (from left): Prof. Yoshihiro Tsurumi, City University of New York – “The U.S. ARD’s East-Asia correspondent and Seishi Yoda, general manager; Anthony Rowley, president; Yasuo Ueyama, senior police Inter-Religious Council of Iraq, “Iraqi Religious Leaders Harmonize the Presidential Election and the Japanese Economy” – July 2. Tokyo bureau chief. superintendent; Kinji Yamada, acting security chief; and Koji Ogawa, general affairs manager. Aspects of Their Country’s Future” – Dr. Hayder Abdul Karim Abdul Amir, WORP local coordinator in Iraq; Dr. William F. Vendley, secretary Ira Shapiro, Clinton Administration insider on the upcoming U.S. Regular Members general, World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP). The other Presidential Election – June 30. Marco Kauffmann delegation members are Dr. Humam Mohammad Baqir Hamoudi, Teruaki Masumoto, candidate for the House of Councilors election and Tages-Anzeiger senior representative of the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in he Greg Davis Memorial Iraq; Dr. Fuad Muhsin Hamash, senior representative of the Iraqi kin of alleged abductee () – June 29. Photojournalism Panel Islamic Party; Sheikh Hayder Abdulzahraa Ereebi, special Takashi Tachibana, journalist – “Destiny of Japan, Destiny of Koizumi” – Discussion, on the representative of Ayatollah Seyed Hussein Al-Sader in Alkhdimiya T Hawza; Majid Ismail Mohammad, representative of Kurdish Ulama June 28. topic of “The State of Committee; Dr. Abdul Salam Al-Kubeisy, representative of the Ulama Photography and Mario Schmidt Committee in Iraq; Archbishop Gabriel Hana Kassab, representative of Yo Tsumoto, historical novelist – “The Father of Japanese Industry” ARD German Television Journalism,” was held July 1, Patriarch Emanuel Dely; Seyed Hassan Bahralulom, representative of (Shibusawa Eiichi) – June 16. with (from top left, Ayatollah Seyed Mohammad Saeed Al-Hakim of El-Hawza of Najaf City; Stephen J. Gomersall, Her Britannic Majesty’s ambassador to Japan – Professional/Journalist clockwise) Masako Sakata, and Abdulkarim Abdul Amir Habib, advisor to WCRP in Iraq – July 23. “Japan/UK Relations” – June 18. Associate Member wife of Greg Davis, in Katsuya Okada, president, Democratic Party of Japan – July 22. Takane Kawashima attendance. The panel Saisuree Chutikul, former Cabinet minister (1991-92) and UN delegate Meiji University consisted of Marcus for the National Commission on Women’s Affairs, Thailand; Mitsuko Bensmann, journalist; Philip Prof. Eisuke Sakakibara, director, Global Security Research Center, – “A Post-Election Paradigm Shift?” – July 15. Horiuchi, special regional advisor on Gender Issues and director of the Associate Members Jones Griffiths, photographer International Labour Organisation Office in Japan; Mu Sochua, minister Woo Chull Chung and author; and Ryuichi Katsuhiko Machida, president, Sharp Corp. – “One of a Kind for Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs, Cambodia; and Melanne Verveer, Asian Development Bank Hirokawa, photojournalist Management and “Made in Japan” Manufacturing” – July 14. chairman of the Board of the Vital Voices Global Partnership – Kenjiro Abe and editor-in-chief of Days “Strategies for Combating Human Trafficking in Asia” – June 25. Dentsu Young & Rubicam Inc. Japan. Photojournalist Greg Jonny Wilkinson, 2003 Rugby World Cup hero, July 9. Kosuke Ohhashi Davis worked for some of the Dentsu Young & Rubicam Inc. world’s most influential news Masaru Ishizumi magazines during his 30-year Kanagawa University career. People close to him Ken Ogata believe that exposure to Freelance Agent Orange (at the age of Tomoyuki Harada 18 in Vietnam) may have AALL and Company Limited contributed to his death on Takao Toshikawa Ira Shapiro Teruaki Masumoto Takashi Tachibana Yo Tsumoto Saisuree Chutikul Mitsuko Horiuchi Kazumichi Otsubo May 4, 2003, at the age of 54. PHOTOGRAPHS OF PANELISTS BY AKIKO MIYAKE Nihon Trim Co., Ltd. PHOTOGRAPHS BY AKIKO MIYAKE

22 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004 SEPTEMBER 2004 Number 1 Shimbun 23 REMINDERS & REMEMBRANCES

On-line Membership Abe Directory Obituary Tiziano Terzani Fellowship With a few clicks, you can share information about yourself with Club Program colleagues. This is a great opportunity to promote yourself to your fellow journalists or to offer your expertise. The on-line membership directory contains the names of all of the FCCJ www.ssrc.org/fellowships/abe. members with Web site accounts (currently Tel: 03-5562-3506 1,664 of about 2,100 total Club Fax: 03-5562-3504 members) and can only be seen by E-mail: [email protected] members who log in to the FCCJ Web site.

The Abe Fellowship Program has WANT AN ACCOUNT? been accepting applications for If you do not already have a Web site the 2004 competition up to account, please contact Naomichi Iwamura in the Club office. If you have an September 1 (each year). The pro- account, but need help getting logged in or gram supports individual research using the site, drop an e-mail to on: [email protected]. o All Members: It is with a) Global Issues profound regret and sadness b) Problems Common to Industrial T that we acknowledge the and Industrializing Societies death of Tiziano Terzani, one of the c) Issues that Pertain to U.S.- great figures of Asian journalism and a Japan Relations Regular member of this Club from 1985 to 1990. Terzani, who died from cancer at the age of 65 at his home near Proposals should have a contem- Florence on July 28, had become porary focus, be policy-relevant something of a legend in his own time AD and show a comparative or General after a long and distinguished career as a transnational perspective. The journalist and writer. His untimely Abe Fellowship Program is admin- Membership passing has been commemorated in the istered by the Social Science Meeting international press. Research Council, in cooperation A former Vietnam War correspon- dent and long-time Asia correspon- with the Japan Foundation Center Monday September 13 dent for the German news weekly, Der for Global Partnership, and with 6:30 p.m. Spiegel, as well as for Italian publica- funds provided by CGP. tions including Corriere della Sera and La Citizens of the United States and Republica, Terzani was greatly admired Japan, as well as other nationals and respected by “Asia hands” and who can demonstrate a serious other veteran correspondents around long-term affiliation in the the world. Journalism will certainly be Regular Members research communities of either the poorer for his passing. He was also a man who will be remembered for his country, may apply. Applications are urged to attend habitual courtesy and kindness – a from professions other than acad- the next GMM, held on September 13, gentleman among journalists. emia, such as journalism or the He left behind many literary lega- Monday, from 6:30 p.m. law, are welcome. Applicants cies, including one book that recounts must hold the Ph.D. or the termi- his own battle with cancer. The Club nal degree in their field, or have For further details, extends its sincere condolences to attained an equivalent level of log on to your Club’s Terzani’s wife Angela and to his two professional experience. Previous Web site at children, Fulco and Saskia. The Club will be commemorating language training is not a prereq- www.fccj.or.jp. Terzani’s life and work with a suitable uisite. tribute and details will be announced as Abe Fellows are eligible for up to soon as possible. 12 months of full-time support, — Anthony Rowley, President which need not be continuous. August 2, 2004

24 Number 1 Shimbun SEPTEMBER 2004