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Rob Gilhooly

Rob Gilhooly is an award-winning British photographer and writer whose work has appeared in publications around the globe, including the Guardian and New Scientist. He was formerly a staff writer at the Japan Times and has contributed as a freelance since 2002. In 2004, he obtained an MA in journalism. His website can be found at www.japanphotojournalist.com

For Rob Gilhooly's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

JAPAN

Mar 7, 2000

Ruble's demise dents used-car trade

TAKAOKA, Toyama Pref. -- The significance of this month's presidential elections in Russia and their effect on the ruble's value are not lost on Kaneo Sato.

JAPAN

Mar 3, 2000

German ambassador focuses on promoting G8's success

Building seems to be very much on Uwe Kurt Kaestner's mind.

JAPAN

Feb 21, 2000

Wired new world challenges Japan's old model: U.S. exec

Staff writer The American Management Association leads by example. By adapting its raison d'etre -- to provide business education and management development programs to thousands of companies worldwide -- to the Internet-wired world, the organization is hinting at the direction it believes its members should be looking. "The Web is transforming global business and it has transformed our business," George B. Weathersby, AMA president and chief executive officer, said during a recent visit to The Japan Times. AMA has offered its 76 years of experience in management development through a variety of seminars, conferences, customized learning solutions and books -- six of which have been translated into Japanese -- to around 700,000 members and customers per year. Since April, however, it has shifted its attention to the Internet; not only is membership to the organization now Web-based, but much of the "knowledge-sharing" that the outfit has encouraged between its member companies now takes place in cyberspace. "We're trying to use (the Net) to address the needs of a particular individual by creating an environment for them to be able to express their individual needs ... what you'd call one-to-one marketing," he said, adding that chat rooms on AMA's Web site allow members to explore more personalized avenues of business in a relaxed environment. AMA's adapting to the Net would seem to be, in itself, a lesson in timely management development. The U.S.-based, nonprofit organization's global membership rocketed from 70,000 to 105,000 since the Web site opened in April. Weathersby hopes that member companies in Japan will take note. "There are issues that companies here really need to address to survive in the global economy," he said. "Part of those involve organizational and management issues" relating to embracing the Internet, he added. Weathersby singled out a particular need for greater recognition of the future reliance on the Web in the business-to-business market. "One issue we're trying to get people to come alive to is the organizational implications of the Web, not just the marketing implications," he said. "We anticipate that about 80 to 85 percent of (business-to-business) purchases will be made on the Web in the near future," he said. "This has huge implications as to the way you have to run a company." Weathersby cited as an example the current trends in the prerecorded music industry, where innovations such as the MP3 player mean "the artist can be the producer and sell (music) through the Web, and consumers can buy just the tracks" they want. "It's a whole change of thought" that challenges the traditional "concepts of how music is produced, how tracks are assembled into the the product and how the product is distributed," he said. "Companies must adapt." Weathersby is aware, however, that such "fundamental reinvention" will not come easily for Japanese companies. "The outside market has changed at an accelerating pace over the past three years ... something that most thoughtful leaders (here) understand. But it's not widely perceived, and certainly there are not actions based on those perceptions," he said. "When markets are changing faster, then you have to change not only the product and service but also the organization that invents that product and service more rapidly -- that's critical," he added. Japanese companies need to look forward to what Weathersby terms "the 'real' economy, which, he said, "is based on how things are connected, not on how things are made." "Japan is excellent at developing. ... Being the 'second' mover that got it right has been very profitable," he said, citing the TV as an example where the "first mover," or the creator, was at a disadvantage over the "second," who produced and commercialized the product. The network economies, however, are the exact opposite of product development, he said. "If you look at the network economies there's a huge first mover advantage," he said. "But if you're fundamentally steeped in the product development mentality, it's really very difficult to change."

JAPAN

Jan 31, 2000

Galleon to virtually re-enact first contact with Europe

Staff writer Visit the Osaka Maritime Museum when it opens this summer, and you might want to take along a waterproof poncho, motion sickness pills and a sword. This has nothing to do with the location of the all-glass, globe-shaped museum, which floats like a giant mirror ball on the waters of Osaka Bay. Rather, they might assist your adventure aboard Portuguese Capt. Domingos Monteiro's 16th-century trading ship. Guided by Japanese seaman Yajiro, the galleon is scheduled to make several trips daily between Macau and Osaka via the museum, promising a ferocious sea battle and encounters with a raging storm and Azuchi Momoyama Period warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. All this in a trip scheduled to last 15 minutes and titled "Well Met in Osaka," a virtual reality adventure produced for the museum by Canadian simulation show developer SimEx Inc., creator of some 30 such special venue attrac tions in Japan, including Ultimate Roller Coaster in Tokyo and Deep Sea Adventure at Fujikyu Highland amusement park in Fujiyoshida, Shizuoka Prefecture. According to Well Met creator and SimEx Chairman Michael Needham, the show presents a view of one of the first meetings between Japanese and European traders that took place more than 400 years ago; the project took four years and $4.5 million to complete. Visitors take this trip back through history aboard a 45-seat motion simulator, which is equipped with some additional "tricks and gags," such as seawater sprayers, that allow visitors "to live the adventure," Needham said. The rest of the action is left up to computer animation, which Needham said is of a similar quality to James Cameron's epic "Titanic." "All this is an attempt to allow people to suspend their imaginations and feel as though for 15 minutes they're actually there," Needham said during a recent visit to Japan, where he was shooting the live action footage for the show. "This is the digital age, and kids today have access to more interactive and compelling ways to amuse themselves. They want more than a passive experience." The story line itself is compelling enough, doing away with the traditional view that the first contact by Western traders was, in Needham's words, made "by a couple of Portuguese sailors who stum bled off a boat and discovered Japan in all its glory." Needham refers to this as a "highly myopic, Eurocentric view," that Akira Sakata, former president of the show's codeveloper, the Osaka Port and Harbor Bureau, was keen to dispel when the original script was put forward. The resulting story is controversial in as much as it was researched using what Needham calls "realistic speculation." "We take a more global, 21st century viewpoint that it's very likely Japanese and European merchants were meeting either in Chinese or Indian ports well before any Jesuits arrived," Needham said, adding that a number of Japanese scholars and maritime experts support this approach. Speculation was also required for the design of the trading ships that appear in the animation. Needham said that two "rather sketchy" references to 16th-century Japanese ships, one appearing on a "byobu" screen from the period and another on the back of a plate, had caused a problem for SimEx animators, who insisted they needed something with three dimensions to give them a more accurate guide of how a ship of the period actually looked. Needham was given a break when he was introduced to an elderly model maker in Kobe who specialized in making ships and had constructed a replica of the required ship. Needham immediately arranged for a photo shoot. They took shots from "every possible angle," and at the end of the shoot, the craftsman presented Needham with the model. "We try to speculate on our history in a very scientific way. But we don't breach any scientific rules or real history. We may be speculating about what could have happened, but it could have happened," he said. "Well Met in Osaka" will open in July alongside the Osaka Maritime Museum, which also features a full-scale replica of an Edo Period "higaki-kaisen" trading ship.

JAPAN

Jan 28, 2000

Foot scooters not just preschooler crazek

Staff writer With the aid of a Razor, Ali Harada claims to have shaved at least 10 minutes off her daily 80-minute commute and around 2 kg from her midriff. While she attributes the latter to the effort needed to power the contraption, it's the Razor's easy handling and compactness that allow her precious extra minutes in bed, she says. "I can cut through crowded streets and don't need to waste time searching for a parking space," the 19-year-old said as she folded up her foot scooter and tucked it under her arm before boarding a train at Shinjuku Station. "It might be thought uncool, but it's really very handy." That her mode of transport is one more readily associated with preschoolers might account for Harada's reservation. Yet, the increasingly common sight of children and adults alike weaving skillfully along Tokyo sidewalks on foot scooters such as the Razor indicates Harada is, in fact, on the cutting edge. Often referred to here as "kick boards" or "skaters," designer scooters with shiny chrome frames and colorful in-line skate tires hit the domestic market last spring. By the end of the year, distributors were struggling to keep up with demand. An official at the Harajuku branch of board sports specialist Murasaki Sports said its last order of 75 Razor scooters was sold within a matter of hours. A store assistant at Mario Sports in Setagaya Ward said its previous stocks had sold out so fast that it was now asking shoppers to join an order list. Only a few places were left on Mario's next order of 200 units, he said. Meanwhile, Akiyoshi Suzuki of Minami Sports' merchandising division said the company had sold 5,000 Razor scooters since putting them on the shelves in early December. Sales of Kick Board, a scooter developed by German company K2 and the first to enter the Japanese market, had topped 300 per month since its introduction here in April, Suzuki added. The main attraction of the boards is their portability. Folded down, the Razor, made by American firm Viza Motors, measures a mere 57 cm long by 17 cm wide and weighs just 2.6 kg. And then there's the relative inexpensiveness. Although Kick Board rolls in at a cool 38,000 yen, the Razor is offered at Mario Sports for 15,800 yen. The major physical differences between the two is that while the Razor has two wheels and handle bars, the Kick Board is steered by a handle resembling a joystick and has three wheels. Kick Board owner Koichi Matsumoto, a 19-year-old hair stylist, said this three-wheel feature adds stability, making it more suitable for performing jumps and spins. But according to Murasaki Sports official Jin Murakami, the price difference, along with Kick Board manufacturers' inability to keep up with demand, has sent the Razor into the fast lane. Murakami added that scooter stocks at Murasaki, which has 45 outlets nationwide, are completely sold out. "They can't make them fast enough, so we're having to stick to a first-come first-serve policy," Murakami said, adding that the launch of a new, cheaper Razor in March will likely lead to another surge in orders. Although one Tokyo sports store owner said the majority of his customers are males in their late teens, scooter riders on the streets of the metropolis appear to represent a much wider age bracket. Yasunori Watanabe, 30, said it was three middle-age coworkers who influenced his recent investment. "My office is quite a hike from the nearest station, and many senior colleagues have invested in a kick board to cover the distance faster," Watanabe said as he skated along Omotesando, his wife and small child in tow. "But I also thought it would make up for my recent lack of exercise," he added. Meanwhile, 15-year-old Daiki Somiya's skater assists in a quick getaway from school to catch a train, meet his girlfriend and race home before dad returns from work. "It's usually a close shave, but I don't think he knows," Somiya said.

JAPAN

Dec 31, 1999

Hotels, stores cashing in on Y2K scare

Staff writers Y2K wise men say, only fools rush out on New Year's Eve. Yet, as many stayed home for the definitive moment, tens of thousands of private company officials left their homes Friday to stand guard at their offices for possible Y2K problems, unwittingly providing a millennium windfall to the hotel industry. In response to the Y2K threat, a number of companies increased their regular number of on-duty employees. While Tokyo Gas Co. upped its count from 270 to 1,000, Tokyo Electric Power Co. added 3,500 to its crew, and NTT Corp. and its affiliates increased staff 10-fold. Officials at utilities worried that public reactions triggered by Y2K, rather than the millennium computer bug itself, would hamper their regular service, including the jamming of lines caused by those checking that their phones were operating normally after midnight. Tokyo-based Nomura Research Institute Co. Ltd. mobilized a significantly larger-than-normal 2,000 employees nationwide during the holiday period. In Tokyo alone, the institute put several hundred officials on duty. While Nomura's Tokyo operation has its own accommodation facilities for employees, it also had to reserve 20 to 30 hotel rooms in the capital for them, an institute official said. Indeed, many companies sought shelter for employees mobilized for the occasion. Many medium-priced "business hotels" in Shinjuku Ward, a major business center in Tokyo, were at full capacity New Year's Eve, traditionally a time when bookings are sometimes halved. Hotel officials said the increase was mostly attributable to companies' corresponding increase in staffers, especially in computer- and banking-related industries. Reservations for Dec. 31 at Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Minato Ward started to flood in from around April, and the 3,008-room hotel had to limit Y2K-related lodgers to its 500 single rooms in order to make way for yearend revelers, a hotel official said. "In a regular year, we get no reservations for New Year's Eve in April and May," the official said. Meanwhile, hotels had been preparing their own Y2K strategies by increasing the number of employees Friday and preparing larger-than-normal stockpiles of food and mineral water. Shinagawa Prince Hotel set up a special headquarters and placed employees at "strategic points" of the building. The hotel's usual two-day stock of food and water for 4,853 people, the hotel's capacity, was increased to five days' worth this year. "We are fully prepared. To maintain a feeling of security is what a hotel's business is all about," the official said. Yet an official of a hotel in Shinjuku said the increased profits brought about by the occasion gave him mixed feelings due to the unexpected side effects of Y2K. Also looking pretty on New Year's Eve were the metropolis's convenience store chains, many of which had sent notices around affiliated stores advising them to up stocks for the occasion.Forever mindful of a business opportunity, some convenience store chains were providing special "bento" boxed lunch services for the glut of employees who had been mobilized Jan. 31. Family Mart official Kiyoshi Baba said affiliated stores in hotel districts had been advised to increase their regular stocks. Additionally, special orders for boxed lunches, which average about 200 per weekday nationwide, jumped to 8,000 for Friday, according to the chain. Yukihiro Hishiyama, manager of a Lawson branch in Tokyo's Minato Ward, where a number of computer-related companies are located, said he had received some 20 orders for bento from nearby businesses -- a total of some 150 lunch boxes. Hishiyama also said that supplies of regular lunch boxes and "onigiri" rice balls for Dec. 31 would be 150 percent higher than a regular New Year's Eve. "We're expecting quite a number of people to be reporting for work in the area, so we have advised stores to increase stocks for their benefit," said Hiroyasu Satoh, an official at Lawson's head office. The managers of over 20 stores in Shinjuku run by the likes of am/pm, Lawson, Just Spot and Seven-Eleven were somewhat blase about advice from above. One am/pm store located in a major Shinjuku business area said his own store had no intention of increasing stocks. "We're never busy on weekends because there's nobody around," he said, adding that the normal 50 percent weekend reduction of stocks would apply. Although he insisted that other am/pm branches would be increasing stocks, one manager of an am/pm outlet nearby said he had no intention of doing so. Another declared that his store was closed Friday. A nearby Ministop branch manager, however, was much more upbeat. "Without a doubt, weekend sales are much lower than weekdays, but I expect many people will report to work this year, so compared with a regular weekend, I intend to increase stocks slightly," said Shuichi Morita, manager of a Shinjuku outlet.

JAPAN

Dec 30, 1999

Complaints of shoddy new homes on rise

Staff writers Despite the colorful sofa and classy light fixtures, it's the long crack running along the ceiling and down the west wall of the living room that catches the eye. Sodden floorboards in the hallway further dampen the fresh feel that usually accompanies a newly built home. That's what one couple, who declined to be named, has endured for several months. Within a year of moving in, their dream home had become something they would sooner close the door on. Had an aging structure or the nation's notorious seismic activity been at the root of their problem, the couple would have less reason to feel bitter. But the faults in their home result from human error: Like many others in Japan in recent years, the two are victims of defective housing. A wide variety of defects have been reported in recent times, ranging from leaking roofs and subsiding foundations to builders' footprints in the veranda concrete. The cause of such defects is the alleged corner-cutting and shoddy practices of builders. In one Kanagawa Prefecture condominium, the volume of concrete used was far below the industry standard, meaning parts of the iron framework encased in the concrete were exposed like the bones of a dead fish. One of the condominium's residents, a businessman in his 30s, explained that having to return every day to a substandard property for which he had forked out over 40 million yen had caused a family rift. "The problem put a strain on relations within the family, and my wife became highly critical of my ill-fated decision," he said, adding that the defects had devalued his apartment by over 50 percent. The recent increase of help-lines for victims and businesses to identify the cause of these household horrors are testimony to the seriousness of the current situation, as is the escalating number of callers. In 1998 alone, consumer protection centers nationwide received 4,100 complaints about defective housing -- five times the number reported a decade ago. Japan's first hotline was set up in 1996 by the Japan Federation of Bar Associations in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which dealt a heavy blow to the safety myth of Japan's modern architecture. An employee at a major contractor who visited Kobe right after the disaster as a volunteer said he witnessed many examples of shoddy workmanship in damaged buildings, including undersized concrete buttresses. "I saw newly built houses reduced to debris while some older ones nearby stood almost intact," he said. Since then, the number of calls during JFBA's annual four-day service has increased dramatically. The 702 calls fielded in 1996 grew to 1,153 in 1998. The figure declined for the first time this year, a fact that JFBA officials attribute to the recent emergence of other similar help-lines and consultancy engines. According to JFBA statistics, owners of single-family houses have drawn the short straw -- more than 75 percent of the 902 complaints recorded this year were from owners of houses, while apartment and condominium owners accounted for about 15 percent. However, the latter figure may be misleading because one caller from a 15-floor con dominium may be voicing the troubles of several hundred people living in the same building, JFBA said. As was the case in the previous year's statistics, leaky roofs and walls were the most-reported defects, followed by cracks in walls and tilting structures. According to Ryuichi Inagaki, a Tokyo lawyer involved in the JFBA project, the issue of defective housing has been a concern in Japan since the mid-1960s, when a serious shortage of quality builders caused by rapid urban growth and mass production of houses opened the way for "amateurs" and, subsequently, substandard practices. Prior to the burst of the bubble economy in the late 1980s, this was not a major concern for owners who considered their homes to be disposable products, said Kazuyuki Goseki, a house planner in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward. "(The prevailing feeling of homeowners then was,) 'What the hell -- we're going to get a new one in 10 to 15 years any way,'" Goseki said. With the end of the bubble economy, however, land prices tumbled and the importance of the house as an asset suddenly increased. Consequently, homeowners have become less tolerant of defects, Goseki added. Industry insiders agree that mounting pressure on the building industry to cut costs amid the recession has tempted builders to cut corners. Faced with a meager profit margin per house built, subcontractors are forced to increase their output, even if it means constructing several houses at the same time, said Jun Takahashi, a Tokyo construction designer and inspector who also provides free advice to victims of defective housing. As a result, builders are pressured into meeting tight schedules that don't allow them to put the necessary care into the process, much less to rectify any errors that may occur. "There are cases when materials do not arrive in time and workers make do with any other materials that are close at hand," Takahashi said. In other cases, he said, builders "start putting down the base of the house before the concrete of the foundations has even dried." Tan Hirose, a housing planner and head of the legislative division of a Tokyo builders' association, attributes these problems to poor site management, which can lead to miscommunication between the 30-plus contractors involved in the construction of a regular single-family home. It is not uncommon for subcontractors to begin a stage of construction before the previous stage has been completed, Hirose said. Other instances of defective housing start at an even lower level. When a number of relatively new dwellings started to subside in Saitama Prefecture earlier this year, it was discovered that the structures had been built on land that used to be rice paddies. Hirose said there are instances where basic land tests prior to construction and building tests during construction are skipped to cut costs. "(Contractors) are trying to increase profits by cutting corners that customers cannot see," he said. In this respect, consumers are not entirely blameless, Takahashi said. Prospective homeowners have become increasingly picky about the appearance of their homes, insisting on expensive materials that ultimately push up costs and lead builders to cut back on such "invisible areas." "There is a feeling emerging that it's OK (to do this) if (the owners) won't notice," Takahashi said. Responding to mounting public pressure, the Diet enacted the Law to Promote the Securing of Quality Standards for Housing earlier this The law, which is slated to go into effect next June, is intended to tackle such areas as the lack of a clear definition as to what constitutes a "defect," and demands builders provide a 10-year guarantee for houses they build. Experts, however, are doubtful of the law's effectiveness, saying the closed-shop mentality of the housing industry here is likely to prevent any immediate change. Still others believe that customer-builder trust, badly damaged by the increasing frequency of defective housing, will need more than a new law to rebuild. "Professionals should do professional jobs. Consumers place absolute trust in (builders) when they contract the work," said one owner of a defective house, adding that even if you can fix a building, you can never repair a shattered dream.

JAPAN

Dec 22, 1999

Walking Queen contestants take pride in stride

Staff writer Chest out, stomach in! Forget that chic Private Label suit, the 20-cm platform boots, cowgirl hat or bleached hair. If you want to truly express yourself, take pride in how you regulate your gait. That was the message sent out at the '99 International Walking Contest held last Sunday at the Hakubi Culture Center in Tokyo's Otsuka district, where participants pilloried problematic postures and plodding pins. "No matter how cool your brand name clothes are or how much makeup you slap on your face, if your posture and walking style are bad, that's totally uncool," said Toru Endo of Hakubi Walking Academy, organizer of the contest and one of several Tokyo institutions offering specialist walking courses. Since its inauguration three years ago, around 800 women have participated in the Education Ministry-backed contest, each vying for the title of international "Walking Queen" and a 200,000 yen cash prize. Not bad for taking a stroll across a stage, you might think, but the 110 participants in this year's contest were certainly no hams. One participant in her 20s admitted footing a bill of some 500,000 yen this year just to satisfy her preoccupation with posture perfection. "Maybe that will be thought excessive, but some people spend double that going to beauty salons," she said. "Correct walking not only has health benefits but is something I can take with me throughout my life." Research has long proved the health pluses of proper walking and posture, such as more effective functioning of internal organs and improved circulation, Endo said, adding awareness of this by Japanese is woefully low. "Young Japanese are terrible. They have no idea if they're walking correctly or not," he said. "They're lazy and simply choose the most comfortable posture when they walk." Participant Kayoko Kawakami, formerly a flight attendant, questioned young Japanese women's obsession with "high boots," which, Endo said, can cause a deformation of the legs due to wearers' constant fight to maintain equilibrium at high altitude. "They wear these boots at a time when their bodies are at the most important stages of development," she said. "I hate to think of the consequences when they reach their 30s and 40s." Participant Gao Xiuhua said that whereas such fashions are also evident in her home country, China, people are more aware of the importance of correct walking. "We're taught from an early age, and pay attention to the way we walk until adulthood," said Gao, a member of a traditional dance troupe. This year's Walking Queen was 24-year-old Yukimi Yoshino, who works for a Ginza-based boutique and admits her awareness came only recently. "I have always had to worry about clothing for work, but since I started walking classes, I have realized not only the health benefits but also the image enhancement that comes with walking with style."

JAPAN

Dec 9, 1999

U.K. envoy upbeat on ties

Staff writer What a difference a decade makes. In 1990, BBC television aired a documentary series that chronicled Japan's economic miracle. In January, it will air a followup series examining the nation's economic demise, titled "Bubble Trouble." A contrasting, yet perhaps an even more insightful British "before and after" view is provided by Stephen Gomersall, the recently appointed British ambassador whose association with Japan stretches back over 20 years. "There has been a perception, particularly in Britain, that Japan's economy has been in a trough, which has slightly discouraged people from looking at Japan," said Gomersall, whose second posting at the British Embassy in Tokyo was as economic counselor between 1986 and 1990. "But I think if you take the medium-term view, now is exactly the right time to be increasing your stake (in Japan)," said the ambassador, who took up his post in July. "It's a very exciting time. There are many more opportunities now than in the past." Now, Gomersall said, "traditional patterns of economic activity and behaviors are changing," as opposed to a time when barriers made even the trade of Scotch whisky a painstaking process. "One message we're trying to get back to Britain is in terms of official barriers to business. There are virtually none now -- in fact, there are many incentives for foreign companies investing in Japan's markets," he said. British telecommunications company Cable & Wireless and health and beauty flag-bearer Boots are two of the more visible examples of increased British presence in Japan, Gomersall said. Like the foundation of any good relationship, the process works both ways, he added, noting that in Britain, there are currently 270 Japanese manufacturing companies and about 100 research and development operations belonging to Japanese companies. "Japan has contributed tremendously to the rejuvenation of the British economy," he said, adding that about 40 percent of Japanese investments in Europe are in Britain. British companies in Japan not only represent improved bilateral trade relations, but also represent a feather in the U.K. culture-spreading cap, he said. "(Now) you have British high street cosmetic stores selling cosmetics in Tokyo. You have Virgin cinemas in the suburbs -- there are many opportunities for Japanese to experience Britain," Gomersall said. These opportunities are made more accessible by the embassy's Web site (http://www.uknow.or.jp/ ), which was official ly opened by British Foreign Minister Robin Cook during his visit to Japan in September. "We are trying to reach out, to make closer contact with people farther away from Tokyo and the traditional centers," Gomersall said. Part of the aim of the site, he said, is to promote the message sent out during Festival UK98 -- a series of events held last year throughout Japan to promote British culture. "I think what UK98 showed the Japanese public is that Britain is a very changed country. "It's partly a result of the new government, which has brought a new wind, and partly due to a much stronger economy and a confidence that's there," he said. Another subject at the top of the ambassador's agenda is the promotion of people-to-people exchanges. Beyond the visits to Japan by Cook and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, the ambassador wants to extend the trend to the young. "We want to encourage exchanges of young people. Some 40,000 Japanese go to study in the U.K. every year, and we have 1,200 JETs (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program participants) in Japan," he said. "Ten years ago, that didn't exist." These exchanges and an increase in "nongovernment activity" since his last posting here are making the embassy's task easier, he added. "In the past, we would be aware of 80 percent of everything that's going on, whereas today it's maybe 40 percent. ... There are all sorts of groups coming and going. I think that's a trend between Europe and Japan as a whole, not exclusively the U.K."

JAPAN

Dec 3, 1999

Neon no aurora for flyboy cabby

Staff writer Tokyo's nighttime neon casts a flickering rainbow through Masaharu Satoh's taxi -- a poor substitute for his former life, but it will do for now. Putting on his sunglasses and cap, with a tug of the steering wheel, Satoh takes off into the clouds, the hustle and bustle and high-rises reduced to mere dots on the landscape below. "I'd like to go back," the 44-year-old taxi driver said. "I want to see the colors again." The crude honking of a truck horn brings him back down to Earth, but his memories are intact. He was there. He saw the aurora australis. A decade ago, Satoh spent 18 months navigating somewhat less congested scenery, working as both pilot and official photographer on a government expedition to research melting ice caps in Antarctica. "It was magical. No photo could do it justice," Satoh said of the aurora, whose fantastic shapes and hues are a dominant subject of the 450 rolls of film he used up during the trip. Satoh is used to long, hard journeys. It took him almost 14 years and 15 million yen to realize his childhood dream of becoming a pilot. Instructor's fees -- 40,000 yen per lesson -- were covered by working part-time as a taxi driver. A learning disability and bullying marred Satoh's early school years and at 18 he joined the Air Self-Defense Force in the hope he could eventually train to become an ASDF pilot. When that dream was shattered by illness, he quit the ASDF and decided to go it alone. "To have time and money to go to aviation school, it seemed taxi driving, with its one-day on, one-day off system, was the best solution," Satoh said. Over the next 13 years, Satoh accumulated the flying hours required to obtain a private pilot's license, and immediately made an impact when in 1987 he became the first Japanese to make a trans-Pacific crossing in a single-engine plane. For the next year, he worked for a small airline, where he transported magazine and newspaper photographers to various locations nationwide to take aerial shots. The experience gained during this stint made him eligible to apply for the annual expeditions to Antarctica, which he had heard about through a fellow pilot. The government annually sends an observation team to the Antarctic on a variety of projects, such as wildlife observation, Satoh said. "There are just 360 freelance pilots in Japan," he said. "Every year, two are hired to go on the expedition." Satoh was accepted for the 31st expedition, during which the 18-member research team collected data on Antarctica's melting ice.Part of the work involved entering the stratosphere to take air samples. "In Antarctica, the stratosphere is very low, around 7,200 meters, and the temperature is around minus 55 degrees. I'll never forget the cold -- I could hardly feel my legs," Satoh said. Although the sunless, "black days" of late June and flying through blizzards in September were other unforgettable moments, nothing compared with the sight of the aurora, he said. Today, Satoh is back to square one. Many of the small airlines that used to hire him for photo shoots or to transport tourists to the Izu Islands have been forced out of business by the recession. Yet Satoh has found a creative outlet for the nostalgia he feels for his Antarctica experience. In addition to creating an Internet site devoted to the trip, he has also produced CD-ROMs and videos. "I want to give people the opportunity to see Antarctica as I saw it from above -- to get young people, especially those who bully and fight, to see the bigger picture." Satoh said he has not been able to secure piloting work for more than two years, but is hoping to take part in next year's Antarctic expedition. "Sometimes when I've finished work, I pull over and watch planes fly by and think 'I wish that was me up there,'" he said. "Other times I stop where there are illuminations: It's not the same, but it will do for now."

JAPAN

Dec 1, 1999

Grocers' group aids family businesses

JAPAN

Nov 15, 1999

Forester decries ranger shortage, U.S. whaling

COMMUNITY

Oct 30, 1999

Web site attaches yen sign to one's personal worth

Staff writer Reiko Ishikawa feels worthless, but it has nothing to do with having no boyfriend, disliking her job, or misplacing her Prada handbag.

JAPAN

Oct 29, 1999

Web site attaches yen sign to personal worth

JAPAN

Oct 15, 1999

Convenience stores in race for Y2K compliance

JAPAN

Sep 15, 1999

Office Depot tinkering to get it right

JAPAN

Sep 8, 1999

U.N. readies for new challenges

JAPAN

Aug 23, 1999

Internet station pulls in global FM tunes

JAPAN

Aug 11, 1999

Kicking butt, collecting cards -- it's Magic

JAPAN

Jul 1, 1999

Quake-prone Japan still unprepared, U.S. expert warns

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

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