by Jonathan Head, Tokyo Correspondent, 14 June 2005

Every few weeks, when we hear the cups next to our coffee machine start to rattle, we are reminded of one of the main reasons we have a bureau here.

Few other cities experience the number of tremors that Tokyo does, and the next ‘big one’ is about 20 years overdue.

Tokyo lies close to where three of the world’s largest tectonic plates grind against each other. Every so often the four of us – myself, producer Chika Nakayama, cameraman Jiro Akiba and office manager Nikki Izumi – discuss how we would cope after a major quake.

The office is full of emergency provisions and I sleep with a torch, water and clothes next to the bed, wondering how I would report the biggest story of my career under several tons of concrete.

Fortunately our office is in one of Tokyo’s most striking new tower blocks, the HQ of our local partner NTV, and it is, we are assured, able to withstand pretty much anything nature could throw at it, although it does wobble alarmingly.

Hyperactive cameramen

While we’re awaiting the ‘big one’, we try to cover other aspects of this fascinating country.

Japan attracts more attention from London than other countries I’ve covered. Programmes call asking for help tracking down, say, a Japanese Rastafarian hairdresser or the inventor of a house-cleaning robot.

Japanese society is going through a huge transition, from an etiquette-bound nation of corporate foot-soldiers, to a looser arrangement.

But it still takes time to arrange anything. People are obsessed with privacy, and distrust local tv, which sometimes covers stories in overwhelming numbers.

Every media event is regulated. Japanese cameramen are not encouraged to take risks or step out of line, and their shooting can be a bit hyperactive, making the footage hard for us to use.

Officially you need police permission to film in any public space. People cover their faces and run away when you try to vox pop them. Companies and government departments sometimes refuse us interviews for months.

Linguistic barriers? Please call

Almost no-one will allow you to film inside their homes. So Chika spends endless time pleading on the phone, or writing letters, or arranging meetings about other meetings that might eventually give us permission to film.

Jiro has to use his considerable charm to make people comfortable with the camera.

The rewards? When you finally get access, people are surprisingly accommodating, and occasionally frank. And every little thing is so uniquely Japanese that whatever we film or record tends to enrich the pieces we do.

The legendary politeness of the Japanese never fails to charm. Tokyo is an endlessly stimulating city, clean and safe, with food so good it’s hard to imagine ever eating a BBC sandwich again.

There are around 100 restaurants within five minutes’ walk of the bureau.

Having a staff cameraman is a welcome luxury. We can always respond at short notice to requests for extra shots or pieces-to-camera, and we have telestream and fibre optic links to London and Singapore.

I have also never been anywhere where people work so hard. I have to force the staff here to leave, even at 10 or 11pm.

So if you ever need any help in dealing with Japan’s linguistic and bureaucratic barriers, please feel free to call us.

^

Back to top