The journalist I spoke with was really great to talk to even though he did not speak much English. He said he watches CNN and CBS, and he thinks American news can be sensationalist, but then he also said Japanese news could be a little sensationalist as well. It was interesting to see the difference in how American and Japanese journalists respond to news; for this journalist, one of the biggest stories he said he covered was the murder of a small Japanese girl who was abducted right outside her home. I felt this particular journalist connected more to the emotion of a story rather than the spectacle of it, which I feel American news does sometimes. Also, news in Japan is very different from American news; for instance, the biggest story of the day for these Japanese journalists was a 30-year old woman wearing a black hat who took out a knife in Osaka station and started stabbing people. In America, this would be your typical crime-story-of-the-day; but in Japan, a country with a very low crime rate, this was an outrageous act far beyond comprehension.
Then the journalists graciously took us on a tour of their newsroom, and Japanese newsrooms feel very different from American newsroom. I think the starkest contrast was the open and communal feel of the newsroom. In America, everyone seems to have their own office and it feels more segregated and hierarchal. In Japan, it seemed that everyone worked together in a shared environment. There were no walls or partitions set up; everyone seemed to work as a big group.
Their studio is also very different from American studios. The background of the studio was a gold-green forest-like background. It seemed very cheerful and very exuberant. I do not think it would be possible to find this type of set in America; our sets are more cold, dark colours with very harsh feelings to them. Could this, in a way, describe the differences in our cultures?
At the desk, the anchors have laptops beside them where they can change and edit the rundown. This is very different from other studios I’ve seen where the producer is the only one who can make such changes. They also seem to have control over the teleprompter. When I looked at their laptop, I saw they did not use iNews, but another program specific to their station, and the rundown ran left to right as opposed to top to bottom.
MBS has around 10 people in their control room, which is about the same number we have at ATVN. Their edit bays were similar to the ones I’ve seen at CNN and NBC, but the reporter rather than the producer sits with the editor. MBS also uses AVID editing equipment. We got to walk through their graphics department and we saw an artist creating a graphic using Maya, which I learned no American station uses because it is too difficult and cumbersome to use. I think this clearly shows how the Japanese are far more technologically advanced in the news than we are.
We then had to leave Osaka to head for Tokyo and I was excited to take the shinkansen, also known as the bullet train. The train apparently reaches speeds up to 180 miles an hour in the countryside, and when we were out there, I could almost feel the speed but I could also see the speed based on how we were whizzing by everything outside. The train is magnetic so I did not feel any tension or friction on it; it was a very comfortable and soothing ride.
It was really cool to zoom out of Osaka and move into the countryside. The high-rises and business buildings seemed to melt into curving landscape, grass, and mountains. Japan is such a dichotomy of fast-speed business and natural wonders.
Tokyo is an amazing, although also overwhelming, city. When we arrived, we got a map of the subway lines and it is just unbelievable how interconnected this city is. It puts even the best subway systems in America to shame.
I had a small ramen at this restaurant on Kitchen Street, and it tasted amazing.
As we were walking around at night, we saw a lot of businessmen who seemed to be just getting off work (though it was around 11 pm). These businessmen and businesswomen like to go out to eat or grab a beer after a long day at work, but I can’t help but think that by the time they actually get home, they probably have very little time with their family. I thought this was really interesting, particularly because I’ve heard so much about how Japanese culture very much values family. Apparently though, they value the concept of family, such as providing for the family, rather than spending time with the family.
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