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| Photo by Kurtis Beavers |
| Student winners visit media and cultural sites, such as the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. |
The students received an all-expense paid trip from the Scripps Howard Foundation, which sponsors the program with the assistance of the Indiana University School of Journalism.
"This year, we met with the AP in Tokyo, Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones and Toyota's public relations people to discuss coverage of the earthquake," said School of Journalism dean Brad Hamm, who led the students. Japan still is recovering from the March 11 9.0 temblor.
The competition, established in 1984, honors the memory of Roy W. Howard, who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922-1953 and United Press International from 1912-1920. Asia was an area of special interest to Howard, who traveled and reported on the area extensively, even while leading major news organizations.
The school has several connections to the competition. Dean Brad Hamm, a Roy W. Howard scholar, guides the students as they tour cultural and media sites in Japan. The school designates a Roy W. Howard Professor, and Howard’s archives are housed at the School of Journalism.
More:
- Read bios for all the winners.
- Learn more about the program.
- Learn more about Roy W. Howard.
- Read about previous trips.
Itinerary:
June 16: Chicago orientationJune 17: Fly to Japan
June 18: Osaka
June 19: Kyoto
Golden Pavilion, Zen rock gardens at Ryoan-ji
June 20: Hiroshima
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Atomic Bomb Dome, Origami cranes, group dinner
June 21: Osaka/Kobe
Kobe Earthquake Museum, Umeda district, Namba
June 22: Osaka/Tokyo
MBS Television
June 23: Tokyo
The Associated Press, Tsukji, Toyota, Imperial Palace, awards ceremony, cruise in Tokyo bay
June 24: Tokyo
Akihabara, Asakusa
June 25: Depart
Trip reports:
Visiting media, Asakusa
–by Dan Neligh, junior journalism and economics major at Arizona State University
Our final day in Japan began with a trip to the Tokyo offices of the Dow Jones Newswire and the Wall Street Journal. The newsroom bore most of the elements of its counterparts across the Pacific: desks piled high with twisted stacks of papers, television monitors tuned to local stations and a seemingly relaxed, early-morning atmosphere that would dissolve into a chaotic intensity as the day progressed.
One of the most outstanding differences (besides the fact that almost all of the 30 English-language reporters spoke fluent Japanese) was that in Japan, circulation has been going up. I also learned that, although online news consumption has exploded like in the United States, Japan remains the home of newspapers with the highest circulation in the world.
After leaving the news offices, we boarded the train and made our way to Asakusa, a shopping and entertainment district whose central feature is an ancient Buddhist temple — the oldest in Tokyo. Sensoji, established over 1,300 years ago, is surrounded by shops and stands that have capitalized on temple traffic for hundreds of years.
We browsed around for souvenirs and shared snacks with the Sudani sisters, two women in their 20s we met earlier that day who had been students in the U.S. before returning to Japan. They told us about the background of the area, describing some of the intricate festivals hosted there each year, as we passed by display windows filled with gold-encrusted ceremonial equipment.
Thousands of visitors milled around the stone-paved streets and paid homage at the temple as we passed beneath a giant red lantern hanging in the arch of an intricately decorated gateway. The crimson Kaminari-mon, or Thunder Gate, stood almost 40 feet tall and was flanked by statues of the Shinto gods of wind and thunder, and as we passed between them, I couldn’t help but think about the millions of people who must have visited this same spot over the centuries. Both the popularity of the destination among locals and its pristine condition spoke volumes about the appreciation Japanese seem to have for their cultural heritage. This appreciation ran through so many aspects of society; people wore traditional kimonos, gardens and patios were adorned with carefully maintained bonsai, and women waved away the heat with delicate folding fans like they had for a thousand years.
But it was also clear that the rich history of Japan contributed to a cultural mindset—one of pride and determination, and of recognition of the significance of community. These values have no doubt been strengthened by some of the devastating events that have impacted Japan through history, but it is perhaps because of them that the people there are so well qualified to cope with disaster when it strikes and then to take steps toward reconstruction.
Thousands of visitors milled around the stone-paved streets and paid homage at the temple as we passed beneath a giant red lantern hanging in the arch of an intricately decorated gateway. The crimson Kaminari-mon, or Thunder Gate, stood almost 40 feet tall and was flanked by statues of the Shinto gods of wind and thunder, and as we passed between them, I couldn’t help but think about the millions of people who must have visited this same spot over the centuries. Both the popularity of the destination among locals and its pristine condition spoke volumes about the appreciation Japanese seem to have for their cultural heritage. This appreciation ran through so many aspects of society; people wore traditional kimonos, gardens and patios were adorned with carefully maintained bonsai, and women waved away the heat with delicate folding fans like they had for a thousand years.
But it was also clear that the rich history of Japan contributed to a cultural mindset—one of pride and determination, and of recognition of the significance of community. These values have no doubt been strengthened by some of the devastating events that have impacted Japan through history, but it is perhaps because of them that the people there are so well qualified to cope with disaster when it strikes and then to take steps toward reconstruction.
Kobe Earthquake Museum
–by Caroline Pahl, junior at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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| Photo by Caroline Pahl |
| The plaque at the Kobe Earthquake Museum commemorates the 1995 7.3 quake that devastated the city. |
The Kobe Earthquake Memorial Museum and Disaster Prevention Center was one of the coolest museums I've ever visited. I wasn't able to take pictures, but I still have the memories. The main purpose of the museum is to educate the public about the terrible damage the earthquake caused, how the people managed to recover, and what can be done to minimize future damage.
Our tour guide explained that future earthquakes are inevitable. What matters is the action the city takes now to prepare for and prevent as much damage as possible.
In the beginning of our museum visit, we experienced some of the drama and chaos of the earthquake in this IMAX-like presentation, complete with loud music, flashing lights and floor tremors. We saw pictures of the actual damage, the most shocking of which was a picture of a raised highway, knocked over on its side like a chess piece. I couldn't imagine (nor could the Japanese tour guide) what I would do if I were on a bus when that highway fell over.
The next part of the museum explained how the people recovered. Recovery was very slow. The government was inefficient in its response, so the people of Kobe really showed their strength and sense of community as they stuck together to find peace of mind and worked together to rebuild their homes.
The last part of the visit focused on damage prevention. The earthquake experts have come up with great ideas to make buildings more earthquake-resistant. Here are a couple:
The next part of the museum explained how the people recovered. Recovery was very slow. The government was inefficient in its response, so the people of Kobe really showed their strength and sense of community as they stuck together to find peace of mind and worked together to rebuild their homes.
The last part of the visit focused on damage prevention. The earthquake experts have come up with great ideas to make buildings more earthquake-resistant. Here are a couple:
- Attach 30m concrete pipes to building foundations so that buildings move with the shaking earth instead of against it. The building doesn't topple over if water rises around it through liquefaction.
- Connect the building to an isolated base that moves with the ground during an earthquake.
- Secure the building walls with crossed pieces of steel or concrete. Instead of having a side of a building made up of two corners and a wall, you connect the two wall corners with crisscrossed material to minimize shaking.
Visiting Hiroshima
–by Kelly Robinson, a junior at Colorado State University, Fort Collins
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| Photo by Kurtis Beavers |
| The group visited the Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Dome, whose skeleton is all that remains after the 1945 atomic bombing. |
One of the first things we noticed was a series of water bottles lined up and left at a shrine. When we asked why, we were told it was symbolic for those who needed water that day when the atomic bomb fell.
Since 1996, the Atomic Bomb Dome has been dedicated to reminding everyone of the destruction the atomic bomb left on the city. As Hiroshima has since rebuilt, signs of the catastrophe were no longer apparent, except for the bare metal skeleton and charred walls of the Atomic Bomb Dome.
From the dome, we continued to a memorial of origami paper cranes that were dedicated to approximately 10,000 school children who lost their lives. We were touched by the story of hope in suffering shown by the Japanese who made the cranes, thus hoping for a wish of health to be granted.
After the crane memorial, we continued to the Atomic Bomb museum, where we learned more about the history of the first atomic bomb usage in human history. While it was at times difficult to digest, it was an important day in learning about a day that tied Japanese and American history together forever, and an event after which two nations were able to overcome and forge a new and fruitful friendship.
While we left Hiroshima with a somber feeling in our hearts, we were grateful for the opportunity to see firsthand a beautiful city that has rebuilt literally from the ground up.
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| Photo by Kurtis Beavers |
| People crafted these origami cranes as a memorial to the 10,000 children who lost their lives in the bombing. |
While we left Hiroshima with a somber feeling in our hearts, we were grateful for the opportunity to see firsthand a beautiful city that has rebuilt literally from the ground up.
The sights are wonderful, but this day is about the people
—by Shelly Bradbury, a junior at Huntington University, Indiana
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| Photo by Kurtis Beavers |
| Students check out at the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. Shelly Bradbury judges the people she's met to be as fascinating as the sights she's seen. |
All while the Golden Pavilion stood – momentarily forgotten – in the background.
While we visited several stunning sights on Sunday in Kyoto, including the Golden Pavilion, Nijo Castle and the Zen rock garden at Ryoan-ji, Sunday was almost more about the people we met.
Kazio, who studied as an exchange student in the United States with IU School of Journalism’s Dean Brad Hamm, guided us through the streets of Kyoto with total confidence. She not only led us through trains, busses and taxis, but also shared her personal experiences and knowledge.
Her perspective enriched our day. It was on her suggestion that we visited Nijo Castle, a beautiful old military building that was intentionally constructed with squeaky floors to warn of intruders.
We also met Graham, a Canadian who moved to Japan planning to teach English for a year, but who still lives in Kyoto now, five years later. He led the group to a Buddhist shrine, filled us in on the history of Kyoto, helped us navigate our first sit-down dinner, and broadened our perspective on Japanese cultural values. Graham showed us a shrine to humor, where you tell a joke, toss in a coin, bow and clap twice so that you will have good humor for a year.
And of course we also met many people very briefly – the taxi cab drivers, ticket sellers, the young lady who wanted so badly to take a picture with us, the junior high students, the lady selling a hot
green tea, the waiter.
As a journalist, I was curious about each person's story, and this curiosity was heightened by the fact that it was our first day in Japan. I saw a story behind each face, and I took in the day with
hyper-vigilance.
But we need to remember to maintain that same curiosity back home. Every face has a story, and that story is worthy of the time and effort it takes to dig it out and discover it. We should look for those stories all the time, regardless of whether we are walking the streets of Indianapolis or Kyoto.
The sights are inspiring and we learned so much. Still, it's almost more about the people.
Her perspective enriched our day. It was on her suggestion that we visited Nijo Castle, a beautiful old military building that was intentionally constructed with squeaky floors to warn of intruders.
We also met Graham, a Canadian who moved to Japan planning to teach English for a year, but who still lives in Kyoto now, five years later. He led the group to a Buddhist shrine, filled us in on the history of Kyoto, helped us navigate our first sit-down dinner, and broadened our perspective on Japanese cultural values. Graham showed us a shrine to humor, where you tell a joke, toss in a coin, bow and clap twice so that you will have good humor for a year.
And of course we also met many people very briefly – the taxi cab drivers, ticket sellers, the young lady who wanted so badly to take a picture with us, the junior high students, the lady selling a hot
green tea, the waiter.
As a journalist, I was curious about each person's story, and this curiosity was heightened by the fact that it was our first day in Japan. I saw a story behind each face, and I took in the day with
hyper-vigilance.
But we need to remember to maintain that same curiosity back home. Every face has a story, and that story is worthy of the time and effort it takes to dig it out and discover it. We should look for those stories all the time, regardless of whether we are walking the streets of Indianapolis or Kyoto.
The sights are inspiring and we learned so much. Still, it's almost more about the people.