Date : January 30 - February 9, 2012
Report: Fellowship Program: Mr. John Yearwood, World Editor, Miami Herald, US (Jan. 30-Feb.9, 2012)
post date : 2013.08.20
Mr. John Yearwood, the world editor of an American newspaper, the Miami Herald, came to Japan under the FPCJ Fellowship Program. The Miami Herald, the leading daily newspaper in Florida, is also influential in Latin America, publishing Spanish editions as well.
Having covered the Haiti earthquake in 2010, Mr. Yearwood visited Sendai and Ishinomaki Cities in Miyagi Prefecture to compare the situation of Haiti and that of Japan after being hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami. In the cities, he interviewed city officials and local people living in temporary housing, and also visited Sendai airport, where US military forces engaged in disaster relief operations called Operation Tomodachi (meaning “friends”).
Mr. Yearwood also met with officials of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the government’s International Peace Cooperation Headquarters to learn about Japan’s disaster relief operations carried out in different countries including Haiti.
(Picture on the right: Mr. Yearwood interviewing a JICA official who engaged in disaster relief operations in Haiti)
He also interviewed government officials and experts in Tokyo about “Japan-Latin America relations” and “lessons from Japan’s economic bubble and the subsequent ‘lost decade.’”
Mr. Yearwood plans to write some feature articles based on his stay in Japan. He says he would like to come back to Japan next year to see progress in reconstruction efforts and changes in local people’s daily lives and feelings.