Raw Japan

from Ben Gruber:

My experience covering Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.

People have been asking me about my recent coverage of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, wondering what sticks out in my memory. After some reflection, one part of my experience keeps rising to the top - the mountain tunnels.

The Reuters multimedia team was based in the north-east town of Tono, a small mountain town situated above the coastline. Tono had an eerie feeling to it, almost all of the shops and restaurants were closed. But you wouldn't know the town had been rocked by a massive earthquake. There were no physical signs.

Every morning we would wake up early and pile into cars for the drive down to the coast.

To get from Tono to the coastal areas you need to drive through several massive tunnels, some stretching as long as 5kms. These tunnels would normally be well lit and ventilated but that wasn't the case any longer. They were pitch black inside and even with the windows shut tight; you couldn't help but get extremely nauseous from petrol fumes.

In my mind the tunnels were like gateways. When you enter, you leave behind Japan's picturesque mountain country and drive through a void that seems to never end. When you finally see the light on the other side you are greeted by a scene that can only be described as an apocalyptic nightmare. No matter how many times I made this trip, the scene that awaited me on the other end of the tunnels never ceased to amaze me in the worst way possible.

You have all seen the images. Whole towns washed away and massive ships amid debris where those towns should have been. Thousands of survivors piled into shelters still very much in shock. You ask these kind people how they are coping. What will they do? Nine times out of ten, the answer was "I don't really know".

from Photographers Blog:

This job stinks

As a photographer, I have the privilege to encounter rare glimpses of the strange and unusual. Most of the time I am thankful to get such an assignment but this particular one turned out to be a mixture of delight and displeasure.

The subject was a Titan arum, or Amorphophallus titanium, one of the world’s largest and rarest plants, which was blooming for the first time in nearly 20 years at a botanical garden in Tokyo. The first visitors lined up from 6:30 am and by the time the gate opened at 10 am, 1600 people had formed a long queue despite the sweltering Tokyo summer heat. The excited crowd was attracted by extensive TV coverage and in the newspaper about this unusual flower that only blooms for two days after taking 16 years to grow from a seedling.

Press were allowed special access to skip the long line and duck under the ropes surrounding the flower to get a close-up shot. At first glimpse, I was surprised to see the 1.5 meter (4.9 feet) tall flower, as it was nothing like any flower I had ever seen before. However, the next moment I stood atop the ladder to get a close up shot, the surprise turned into dismay as a foul odor emanating from the blossom stung my nose. The flower's rotten garbage-like smell was enhanced by the high humidity and the hot temperature. I quickly snapped a few shots as I held my breath and then put some distance between myself and the flower to catch my breath. I repeated this dance a few times: Hold breath, approach flower, take shots, and retreat. Meanwhile, the gate opened and visitors who’d been waiting for hours flocked towards the gigantic flower. They pushed and shoved to take pictures of the plant and sometimes shouts were heard as people squashed each other.

After looking at the enthusiasm of the visitors and thinking that it would be another 20 years before I could photograph this flower blooming again, I forgot about the bad smell and muggy heat and came to think I was very lucky to have encountered this odd plant.

from Global News Journal:

Japan’s not-so-hot election

Candidates on the campaign trail in Japan are sweating through the summer heat but voters have been cool towards this Sunday's upper house election.

Sure, the government won't change because the ruling Democratic Party will still control the more powerful lower house.

But the election matters because failure for the Democrats to win a majority would split parliament and stall policymaking, blocking Prime Minister Naoto Kan's pledge to cut Tokyo's huge public debt, create jobs and fix the creaking social security system.

So why aren't voters fired up? For one, the campaign has been pretty dull.

Rules require media to give equal coverage to all the political parties -- not great for viewership when there are more than 10 of them. TV debates have had no fewer than seven party leaders arguing over issues ranging from the economy to diplomacy.

The debates are squeezed into shows lasting an hour or less, and include brief intervals showing pre-recorded comments from other party heads. Even Yasuo Tanaka, leader of New Party Nippon with just one seat in parliament, gets air time.

from Photographers Blog:

Samurais in South Africa

I arrived in South Africa with the Japan team filled with excitement and an acute feeling of anxiety. Never mind that I would be on the scene to cover the world's biggest sporting event, and never mind that I would be competing against the top sports photographers from around the globe to get the best pictures. For a Reuters photographer like myself dedicated to a single team, when your team drops out of the competition, you're finished. Like the defeated team, you go back to the hotel, pack your bags and spend the long flight home wondering what went wrong. Based on Japan's lackluster showing in the East Asia Soccer Championship my expectation for Japan was three defeats in a row and no victories. Mine would be a short stay in South Africa.

But during Japan's first match against Cameroon the Samurai Blue seemed to transform themselves in front of my eyes with Keisuke Honda’s goal being the catalyst. Japan was defeated by the Netherlands in their second match but the Samurais demonstrated the unity of the team in their performance and they were victorious against Denmark in their third match. In doing so they completely wiped out the image that I held of the Japan team before going into the competition. I was covering the world's biggest sporting event, and I was going up against the top sports photographers, but in this World Cup Japan's victory meant that the formidable teams of France and Italy and the even more formidable photographers accompanying them were going home. Not me.

On June 29, 2010, Japan faced Paraguay in World Cup match 55. Even after extra time the game remained scoreless and a penalty shoot-out would determine the outcome. I moved into position according to the instructions of Chief Photographer UK and Ireland Dylan Martinez, the leader of the Reuters photographers for this match.

A penalty shoot-out is all about luck. The psychologically intense method of deciding a match seems especially hard on the players, but it's just as tough on the photographers with a split second making the difference between front pages around the world or a postage stamp-sized picture on page S15. Both the players and the photographers tuned out the screaming of the crowd and focused with tense stillness on the battle between the penalty kicker and the goalkeeper. My position was on the opposite side of the pitch allowing me to see the face of the goalkeeper. Japan’s goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, who had saved many shots up to then, clearly showed the strain. Following the two successful shots by both teams it was Yuichi Komano, Japan’s third kicker’s turn.

from Photographers Blog:

Cheering on an aging Japan

When I first heard there was a 78-year old cheerleader in Japan who wears metallic silver wigs and waves gold pom-poms as she jumps and dances in her shiny red sequined costume, it instantly made me curious to find out what kind of person she is.

Everyone knows by now that people in Japan live a long time. According to the World Health Organization's latest life expectancy figures Japanese women remain at number one (life expectancy: 86 years), but I had never heard of an 80-year-old cheerleader.

Fumie Takino’s way of life seemed to be the key.

My first encounter with her was at her gymnasium, which takes her an hour to get to by bus and train. Upon meeting her I was immediately struck by her big smile and how open she was to let me photograph her practice session with her teammates.

Takino started her cheerleading group, “Japan Pom Pom,” 15 years ago and now the members’ average age is 66. The group all looked like typical Japanese seniors until they changed into their practice outfits and danced to a pulsating musical beat, jumping and kicking their legs.

from Global News Journal:

Remembering Hiro’s gentle smile

As Hiro Muramoto headed out the door of the Tokyo newsroom last week, weighed down with TV equipment on his way to Bangkok to cover demonstrations, he flashed a smile at a Reuters colleague.

It was, she remembers, a "Hiro" smile. It was gentle, rather than a broad grin, and it showed the 43-year-old was pleased once again to take his expertise on the road to do his job telling the world what was going on.

It was doing that job that cost him his life as he was killed, along with 20 others, during a sudden burst of violence during the protests in central Bangkok on Saturday night.

Hiro was not the gung-ho war correspondent of the movies. He was a careful, loving married Dad of two and a gentle mentor for young colleagues and an expert story teller.

He took his concern for those around him beyond the newsroom to complete two 100-km charity walks (with a third planned this month), raising thousands of dollars for Oxfam along with teammates from Thomson Reuters.

At Reuters for more than a decade and a half, Hiro was witness to many of Asia's biggest stories. His work brought to viewers around the world the sounds and images of events ranging from Asian financial crises to political protests and the 2002 World Cup.

He was trained and experienced in operating in hostile environments, including the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Philippine military operations against insurgents on Jolo island.

from Photographers Blog:

Dark side of Japan’s pet boom

Approximately one and a half million unwanted dogs have been put to death in public animal management centers across Japan in the last ten years.

It was a very surprising figure for me as I had only been covering Japan’s colorful and luxurious pet boom, so I decided to shed some light on the dark side of the industry.

(View the full text story here)

After more than a year of seeking permission, I was finally given the go-ahead to shoot an animal management center in Tokushima and I went on a 745 mile (1,200 km) long journey from Tokyo with my DSRL camera for shooting still and video.

After 8 hours of traveling by car and train, I arrived at the town where I would have two opportunities to witness the euthanasia treatment for unwanted dogs. It became one of the saddest assignments of my life.

There are seven cells in the center, one for each day of the week. When a dog enters the center, it is placed in the cell of the corresponding day, meaning that each dog has only seven days left to survive if it cannot find a new home.

from Left field:

Former Estonian bouncer adds Baltic spice to sumo

Baruto throws his weight around

After the nightclub fracas that toppled a Mongolian grand champion from grace who would have thought it would take a former bouncer from Estonia to help clean up the mess in the troubled world of sumo?

The soft-spoken giant Baruto gave the ancient Japanese sport a shot in the arm after sealing his promotion to the sport's second highest rank of "ozeki" with a 14-1 showing at the spring grand sumo tournament less than two months after "yokozuna" Asashoryu quit in disgrace amid a "booze rage" probe.

The 1.98-metre tall, 190-kilogram Baruto narrowly missed out on his first Emperor's Cup as yokozuna Hakuho went unbeaten to claim his 13th major title in Osaka. "I was happy about the 14 wins but the one defeat hurt more," said Baruto, who will formally become the second European after Kotooshu in 2005 to ascent to the ozeki rank.

Certainly sections of the Japanese media would report on the slightest breach of protocol, from his fist-pumping victory celebrations to his choice of flowery Hawaiian shirts, although picking a soapy punch-up with a rival while both soaked in a communal bathtub and forging a sick note to get out of a regional tournament did Asashoryu few favours either.

His flair, however, will be missed.

from MacroScope:

What can Kan do?

Mixed reaction from major European banks to appointment of Naoto Kan as new Japanese finance minister. ING is pretty scathing, saying the appointment sidesteps a process of change Japan must undertake to avoid further stagnation or a fate far worse.

"PM Hatoyama has appointed someone with no experience in economic management... Mr. Kan takes on the finance minister role without a well documented, deeply considered policy agenda. Here we rely on reports of positions he has taken in the Cabinet, and from public statements on economic management. These suggest his instincts are to pursue a stimulus strategy involving higher government spending; a weaker yen and ultra-loose monetary policy. Mr. Kan appears tone deaf to microeconomic reform or to the threats to financial stability posed by high public debt."

The implication, ING says, confirms its worries about Japanese government bonds.

Kan's first big foray onto the stage in his new role, meanwhile, was to talk down the yen. He said many Japanese firms were in favour of dollar/yen around 95 yen, which is a weaker rate for the yen than recently. Barclays Capital found something positive in this.

"His comments may mark a shift of Japanese FX policy towards weakening the JPY, in our view. Such a stance seems to be appropriate for Japan, considering the weak growth prospects, particularly in the first half of 2010, which will see less economic stimulus measures and, therefore, a strong need for exports to push up the whole economy."

So, a Kan-do or a Kan't-do kinda guy?

Hey look, we shrank the budget

Japan’s ruling Democratic Party has long vowed to wrest power from the country’s bureaucrats. Now it’s taking its battles with them over spending onto live internet TV.

Three government backed budget-cutting panels operating from temporary premises in a Tokyo gym, have called in a series of bureaucrats to answer for projects deemed unnecessary or too expensive. The live internet broadcast of the resulting stand-offs can make for compelling viewing.

It’s also pleased voters concerned about Japan’s national debt, which is set to approach 200 percent of GDP next year. The website almost crashed on the first day of the hearings, when thousands of people tried to watch the broadcast at once, the Yomiuri newspaper said. 

For those who don’t follow it live, edited highlights appear nightly on news programmes, often focusing on Democratic lawmaker Renho, a stylish former TV presenter, as she grills squirming bureaucrats.

In a media poll this week, 76 percent of respondents said they thought Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama was doing a good job with cost-cutting.

“What a wonderful broadcast,” said one poster on a news website. “The bureaucrats’ excuses are disgraceful.”