Japanese Media Come Aboard
As a Navy journalist, my major role is to produce stories that give an account of Navy life and the operations that we conduct at sea. This serves an important role for those that cannot be there on the ship but want to be connected to what we are doing. My other role is to help facilitate stories for outside media, so that they can tell the Navy story to their readership. In Japan, this often means bringing on the media for a ship tour (which is actually how I met Yoko, who gracefully helps the translation process in these types of events).
For the past few days, myself and my PAO have been doing this type of facilitation on a whole new level-at sea-brining Japanese five reporters along with us for a transit from Sasebo to Okinawa, where the ships are now loading on Marines its seasonal patrol in Southeast Asia. The reporters came with an eager enthusiasm, to not only understand what we do, but who we are-and how we live on a ship day after day.
Though I’ve told the Navy story countless times, it was a neat experience to tell it to people firsthand, especially those of another culture and another language whose only real contact with the U.S. Navy was minimal. From the get go, the reporters were interested in every little detail, from the words over the 1MC (general announcing system) to the flags to the plotting devices in the bridge. The language barrier was broken by a Japanese translator (not my Yoko but ironically another Yoko), who took our words and presented it to them so they could understand; watching them grasp the naval concepts we were feeding them was inspiring, like watching a child take his first steps. That understanding would grow and grow as the questions continued, the observations unfolded, and personal one-one-one interviews ensued with members of the crew.
The series of activities made me appreciate my Navy life a little bit more, as activities that have become mundane (because I had seen/done them so many times) took on a whole new meaning. One of my favorite parts escorting them to take pictures of flight operations and then seeing the sparkle in their eyes as they got to experience this activity. These types of moments were endless: they ate chow on the mess decks with the crew one day, one of them got a hair cut, a few of them got to use the ship’s firefighting hose (and actually put on a firefighting suit); they shopped at the ship’s store…On top of all the activity, each got sligthtly sea sick - but they brushed it off, happy to become sick, in some ways, because it was another notch in the belt for them - to becoming a Sailor. And that’s what I think they enjoyed the most about the overall experience - was that they not only observed our lives, they lived our lives-and now can write from our perspective a little more.
The reporters left for home a few hours after we arrived in Okinawa, their note pads full of notes and their cameras full of pictures. I look forward to seeing their stories and hope that their words and their experiences, told through words and photos, can help bring the Japanese people closer to us. For understanding is the key to friendship.
For the past few days, myself and my PAO have been doing this type of facilitation on a whole new level-at sea-brining Japanese five reporters along with us for a transit from Sasebo to Okinawa, where the ships are now loading on Marines its seasonal patrol in Southeast Asia. The reporters came with an eager enthusiasm, to not only understand what we do, but who we are-and how we live on a ship day after day.
Though I’ve told the Navy story countless times, it was a neat experience to tell it to people firsthand, especially those of another culture and another language whose only real contact with the U.S. Navy was minimal. From the get go, the reporters were interested in every little detail, from the words over the 1MC (general announcing system) to the flags to the plotting devices in the bridge. The language barrier was broken by a Japanese translator (not my Yoko but ironically another Yoko), who took our words and presented it to them so they could understand; watching them grasp the naval concepts we were feeding them was inspiring, like watching a child take his first steps. That understanding would grow and grow as the questions continued, the observations unfolded, and personal one-one-one interviews ensued with members of the crew.
The series of activities made me appreciate my Navy life a little bit more, as activities that have become mundane (because I had seen/done them so many times) took on a whole new meaning. One of my favorite parts escorting them to take pictures of flight operations and then seeing the sparkle in their eyes as they got to experience this activity. These types of moments were endless: they ate chow on the mess decks with the crew one day, one of them got a hair cut, a few of them got to use the ship’s firefighting hose (and actually put on a firefighting suit); they shopped at the ship’s store…On top of all the activity, each got sligthtly sea sick - but they brushed it off, happy to become sick, in some ways, because it was another notch in the belt for them - to becoming a Sailor. And that’s what I think they enjoyed the most about the overall experience - was that they not only observed our lives, they lived our lives-and now can write from our perspective a little more.
The reporters left for home a few hours after we arrived in Okinawa, their note pads full of notes and their cameras full of pictures. I look forward to seeing their stories and hope that their words and their experiences, told through words and photos, can help bring the Japanese people closer to us. For understanding is the key to friendship.