BBC - Around the World - Ariel's 'Foreign Bureau' - 17 August 2004

By Miki Tomita, Marketing Manager, BBC World, Japan, 17 August 2004

Have you seen the film Lost in Translation? Can you imagine what it’s like to live and work in Japan, an island nation half way around the world from the UK?

Every morning, I pray in front of a small shrine in my flat for a good day ahead and for a peaceful world.

To get to the BBC World office in downtown I battle through the crowds. In the tube I’m often pressed hard against strangers.

Generally, the Japanese shy away from bodily contact like kissing and hugging in public. But not so in the trains. Commuters are pressed against total strangers whether they like it or not.

You see people sending e-mails or playing games on their mobiles, and white-collar workers (called salarymen) trying to read Manga comic books.

The popular manga at present is Vagabond, about a famous warrior named Musashi who lived 500 years ago and spent his life trying to be a true samurai.

In present-day Japan, people are not familiar with Bushido, the spirit of martial arts. Many of us learn not by reading books but reading Manga.

The area near my tube station is like Soho in London, with many international restaurants and bars, but it also has residences for the Japanese royal family and the prime minister.

BBC World Distribution Japan sells the 24 hour news and information channel to Japanese viewers, mainly through cable and satellite tv operators, and we receive subscription fees. We also distribute the channel to hotels, schools and companies.

Though Japan boasts of a near 100 percent literacy rate, most people understand only Japanese. So we bring BBC World to them with Japanese translation done live at TV Centre in London.

My job is to provide Japanese viewers, clients and media with the channel and programme information in Japanese. I also look after our programme promotions. Top Gear is popular and we receive inquiries and comments from viewers, often by e-mail, and I write replies to them.

Only a small percentage of Japanese speak English and learning the language has become a national obsession. Lots of money and time are spent studying at conversation schools after long days in the office. Many people watch BBC World to learn English.

Japanese are also curious to find out how Japan is reported abroad and I sometimes arrange magazine and newspaper interviews with our Tokyo correspondent, Jonathan Head.

I believe that my job is to act as a bridge between the two different cultures. It’s tough but I’m proud of what I do. At the end of a long working day I take a tube home, this time not so crowded.

The new day starts with my morning prayer and the infamous train to work.

Why not come to Japan and experience the life of an ordinary Japanese? With a little help from me and my colleagues, it will not be all Lost in Translation, I hope.

You must take the packed rush hour train in Tokyo to feel what it’s really like to live and work in Japan, only a 12-hour flight away from Heathrow but a world of difference. Or is it?