Asialink

Rick Wallace


Rick Wallace
    


Tokyo Correspondent
 The Australian
  1. How did you come to be living and working in Tokyo??
    I took up an appointment as The Australian’s Tokyo correspondent in June 2010.
     
  2. What are some of your company (and your) activities that you undertake?
    From Tokyo I try to cover Japan from a political, economic and cultural stand point, as well as covering North and South Korea and keeping an eye on diplomatic relations in North Asia. It’s pretty varied work – it can be writing about anything from the latest change of leadership in Japan, to the Japanese entries in the Melbourne Cup or North Korea’s push for nuclear weapons.  I also try to write about business and cultural trends in Japan, and keep a close eye on the economy here.
       
  3. In your role, what are the highlights of working with different cultures, particularly Japanese?
    The attention to detail and pride of workmanship are two qualities that quickly stand out in the Japanese workforce, and of course the work ethic of most Japanese employees is pretty strong. So far, I have found most people here are also very reliable on following through on promises – once someone commits to an interview, it’s usually a guarantee they will do it. Also, in talking to business leaders here you start to notice there is a greater emphasis on long-term strategy and relationships over short-term results. For better or worse, it’s a quite different to Australia in that respect.

  4. How do you manage the cultural differences?
    I think you need a bit of patience, and obviously speaking some Japanese is a great advantage, although I am still a beginner and not progressing quite as fast as I had hoped, despite having a great teacher.

    I also have a great co-worker who does translation for me and helps arrange interviews. She’s lived in Australia for a year so she knows all about the quirks and idiosyncrasies of the Australian character, and is a good sounding board when I want to know how some story or development will go down with average Japanese people.

    You also have to change your methods of work. I have gone from covering politics where the day is more often about a flurry of quick phone calls to politicians and staffers, rather than conducting formal face-to-face interviews. Even in business reporting, a basic interview with a CEO in Australia can often be arranged and done over the phone an hour or so after an announcement. I guess it’s a reflection of the informality most Australians love and strive for. Here, it’s very different. There’s much more of ritual involved in terms of submitting questions in advance, often by fax, and then eventually sitting down for a lengthy interview. It can be a hassle, but it also imposes a discipline on you as a journalist to think very carefully about structuring the interview and which questions to include and what order to ask them in.

    While the interview subjects are often a bit of wary of journos in both countries, the preparatory ritual you have to go through here often means the interviewee has thought more deeply about what they want to say. And if they’ve agreed to the interview, it usually means they have a story to tell.

  5. What do you enjoy most about living in Tokyo?
    The job, the food, the people and having a public transport system that works. I think interpreting a foreign country for your paper’s readers is one of the most interesting things you can do in journalism, and I really appreciate the opportunity The Australian has given me to do this in Japan. The food is what everyone says they love about Japan, and I am no different in that respect. The sushi and noodles and seafood are great, but I also love takoyaki (octopus balls), anago (sea eel) and a bunch of other foods people have introduced me to. The people have also been fantastic in both a personal and journalistic sense, and Tokyo is a good city for children too.
     
  6. Looking forward, how can Australia make a stronger contribution to positive relations with Japan?
    From Japan’s perspective, I think it wants Australia to not take it for granted in the rush to cement ties with India and China, and for Australia to recognise its role in helping develop Australia’s mineral industry and being a reliable export customer for so many years. I think Australia’s conscious of that and various ministers including Stephen Smith and Simon Crean have worked hard on the Japan relationship. Business ties remain strong through the AJBCC and its Japanese counterpart, along with the direct relationships companies have set up with each other. I think Australia’s government and business community want to expand the trading relationship to include the services sector, which makes up a great part of both of our economies. As people, I think there’s now great respect and trust between Australians and Japanese that incorporates a real understanding of our differences.