Day 2: PH Embassy in Japan, NHK Broadcasting Museum and Japan Foreign Press Center

We started our second day in Japan by paying a courtesy call on the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo.

Meeting us at the Embassy was the Deputy Chief of Mission and former DFA Spokesperson, Robespierre Bolivar.

He gave us an overview of the Philippines that is usually presented to Japanese officials and tourists, with the aim of boosting tourism to our country. According to Bolivar, while Japan tourists to Philippines remain strong (in fact, they are the fourth largest number of tourists to visit Philippines this 2019), Filipinos coming to Japan for their vacations is steadily increasing too. We Filipinos still need visas to enter Japan, but Bolivar hopes that the friendly relations between the Japan and Philippines would lead to a visa-free agreement. He echoed President Duterte's words that Japan is "more like a brother" to us, proof of the close ties between the two nations.

We asked him what tips would he give to Filipinos planning to come to Japan and the best one was: Having travel insurance. He shared a story about a Filipino tourist who spent over P-1M because he got sick during his vacation, an example of how expensive healthcare in Japan can be for non-residents.

Another tip he gave us: Have cash ready. Despite Japan being a leader in the tech industry and all the gadgets they create (hello, fancy Japanese toilets), the country is still on a cash-basis system. We'll touch more on this later.

Lastly, as we are representatives of the Philippines, we would like to do our part in promoting our country to the Japanese too, so we asked Bolivar about this. While Philippines sells itself because of all the beautiful beaches and travel spots, it would be better if some of our tourism promotions were in Japanese. The language barrier is one of the main hurdles for Filipinos who would like to work in the country, but there's some good news in that aspect as the country plans to keep opening up to foreign workers.

We ended our visit with a group photo with Bolivar and gave some treats from the Philippines as our token of appreciation.

I appreciated this visit to the PHL Embassy and I'm glad it was part of our itinerary. Not only were we able to learn more about Philippines through the overview presented by Bolivar, but we also learned about what tourists need to prepare for when they come to Japan. I was surprised when he said that more Filipino tourism materials should be in Japanese, I didn't consider the language barrier when thinking about promoting Philippines. I hope that Filipinos fluent in Japanese would consider posting about our country in the foreign language, to better reach Japanese tourists.

After that visit, we were brought to Ginza for lunch. It's our first lunch in Japan, so we were very excited.

Our lunch was sashimi (tuna, salmon) with for (fish eggs) and shrimp on top of rice. We also had some noodles on the side and miso soup. It was very delicious and the perfect introduction to Japanese cuisine. If you're traveling to Japan, prepare to eat some fresh and well-prepared slices of fish like this. It might seem unusual for Filipinos, but keep an open mind and literally open your mouth, you might enjoy the flavors and freshness of this dish. Pro tip: Dip it in soy sauce to bring out the flavor.

Next we went to the NHK Museum of Broadcast. NHK stands for Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai, or the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. It is Japan's national broadcasting network, publicly owned and funded by the television license fees paid by anyone with a television in the whole country. This method allows them to broadcast without thinking too much about commercials, instead prioritizing what benefits the Japanese.

The NHK did not allow photos for certain parts of the exhibit, which was a well-curated history of the equipment used in broadcasting and the content aired on national television, from 1950s to the current 2010s.

Television broadcast in Japan started in the 1950s, but the 1920s prior to 1950s were first radio broadcasts which was essential during the war. Despite starting television broadcast by 1950s, public consumption boomed in the 1960s with the "Three C's" which were: Car, Cooler (air conditioning) and Color TV. Every household had a television, and the television became their source of entertainment and bonding during the evening. This reminded me much of Philippine television primetime back in the 1970s-1980s.

According to the NHK's exhibit, the number of TV reception contracts exceeded over 20 million during 1967, after the broadcast of the first time Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in 1964.

The NHK Museum of Broadcast showed us how similar Japan's relationship with television is to Filipinos. Both countries relied heavily at first with information provided by radio, and after the war, both boomed in the television industry. Some of the programs showed in museum were info-tainment or variety shows, a popular genre in the Philippines.

However I also realized that there isn't an equivalent to the broadcast museum in Philippines. We don't have a single museum dedicated to the history of television, despite it being such a popular media. Perhaps this is because majority of the history of broadcast in the Philippines is shaped by private corporations, like GMA-7 and ABS-CBN. I think this could be something we can learn from Japan, to value our history not just in politics but also in the industry level, like their broadcast museums or train museums.

After that, our last stop for the day was the Foreign Press Center.

We were met by Mr. Kiyotaka Akasaka, the President of the Foreign Press Center Japan. He explained that the Foreign Press Center or FPC hosts press conferences and helps foreign media find case studies, research material, or connect them to other media for usage rights or partnership. They are an independent organization that aims to provide the world with accurate and quality information about Japan's politics, culture, society, and events.

If our morning started with an overview of the Philippines, our day ended with an overview of Japan. Mr. Akasaka shared the current conditions of Japan such as their social and political problems.

Unlike Philippines, poverty and joblessness is not a serious problem for Japan. However, they are still struggling with a slow birth rate, with an average of about 1.8 child per Japanese family. Japan's currently population is over a 120 million, but they also have more citizens above the age of 50-60 years old. The senior citizens mean more is spent on pension and healthcare, and eventually it would outweigh the economy's growth and spending.

Akasaka also explained Japan's "headaches" with North and South Korea, coming from the history of the nation's conflict. North Korea in particular for their ongoing nuclear missile programs and tests (where missiles pass in Japan territory) and South Korea's troubled relationship with the country, like their trade wars.

My favorite part of his talk was a brief explanation on Japan's religion, Shintoism. It is not found anywhere else in the world, except in the Land of the Rising Sun. He explained that Shintoism or Shinto is the belief that there are multiple gods dwelling around us, find in every being or object. He said it is the belief that "there is a God in everything" which may explain why Japanese are so careful with the items they own, however big or small. While Japan has Shinto as their religion and practice, there is also a large number of the population who are Buddhists. Despite a small percentage of Catholics, Pope Francis was in Japan during our visit in November 2019. This shows that Japan is accepting of different religions, which Mr. Akasaka says may be because Shinto already believes in millions of gods or "Kami."

Overall, the visit to the Foreign Press Center was enlightening as our visit to the Philippine Embassy. We were able to get an overview of the two cultures, how different and similar both nations are to one another, and we were able to look at the development of the broadcast and TV industry because of the NHK Broadcast Museum. This day really strengthened our understanding of Japan, not just for its pop culture or anime, but the struggles their society is facing as well.