Our Tokyo Bureau Chief on Where She Finds ‘Bolts of Insight’ (Hint: It’s Outside the Office)

How has your background, as a half-Japanese woman who grew up in the United States and Japan, informed your work?

I have written a little about this before. Because of my background, there is no question that my curiosity about Japanese society is personal as well as professional. I am driven to understand this place, and to help our readers understand it, in a nuanced, nonstereotyped way (no stories about anime-obsessed men marrying robots!).

One of the advantages of my background as a journalist is that I have always been an outsider wherever I am. That tends to put me in the observer’s seat. Here in Japan, because of my American side, people don’t assume that I know much about Japan and are willing to explain things to me (sometimes to an excessive degree). It also gives me the privilege of being able to question basic assumptions about Japanese society, while the Japanese side of my identity helps me understand why people here react in a way that might seem strange to someone who has no familiarity with Japanese culture.

If you had to choose another job, in journalism or not, what would it be?

I definitely have a dream job now, but when I imagine another path it’s writing novels for children. I would love to make kids feel the way that Katherine Paterson, Ellen Raskin, Judy Blume, Madeleine L’Engle and Robert Newton Peck made me feel as an only child, when I found my best friends in their books. I read them obsessively and repeatedly.

How do you spend your time when you’re off duty?

When you’re a foreign correspondent, you’re technically never off duty! As often as possible, I try to make it home to family dinner (which my husband cooks, bless him), because I really want to hear what my kids have to say. Adolescents have a way of, shall we say, putting you in your place, but they can also deliver bolts of insight, and I want to be around as often as possible when those drop. Both of my kids play sports, so on weekends my husband and I can be found on the soccer sidelines or cheering someone on to a finish line.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/reader-center/motoko-rich-behind-the-byline.html?partner=rss&emc=rss