My first (Foreign) N. American Country

Believe it or not, I have never been to Central America or Canada; never, that is, until I went to Toronto this month! This was only my second foreign business trip, the first being another sports story in Argentina, and thanks to some awesome friends who live there, I squeezed a great time into what might have been an all-business... well... business trip!

初カナダ出張で、トロント空港でおろしたドル札です。日本円札と同じようにきれいな新札でした。

カナダの地ビールですが、こちらのIPAは私の好き嫌いに会いませんでした。

Due to a huge earthquake in Chile, I ended up flying solo to meet a different team to cover Japanese pitcher, Masahiro Tanaka's, first official game pitching for the New York Yankees against the Toronto Blue Jays.

For dinner we checked out Real Sports, a huge sports bar and restaurant with seductively dressed waitresses, and one TV screen larger than some movie theater screens I've paid for. The big wall of TVs was controlled by an all-powerful DJ with light and sound affects who switches between sports games and music when every channel is showing commercials. Basically, an amazing pace to watch sports.

Naturally, I ordered the first thing that said "Canada" and "IPA"from the drink menu, and I Alexander Keith's is what came out. I was disappointed to find it was more akin to an English IPA, malty with - I'm guessing, a rather low IBU. I am not calling this a bad beer; it just wasn't what I prefer.
But any excitement lost over the beer was completely overshadowed by my first authentic poutine! Poutine is french fries, cheese curds and gravy and Canadians go on and on about how good, and how unsatisfactory poutine outside Canada, is. I can now now say with experience: Canadians, I get it. You are right. I had a "Canadian burger" too, but by then I was so full, I could barely eat half.

トロントの「レアルスポーツ」というスポーツバーで映画館ほど大きい画面でローカルチームの試合が見れます。

カナダの代表的なおかずプーティンを食べて、旨かったです！

炒めた玉ねぎとピーミールベーコンのバーガー

広島でできた友達二人は今トロントに住んでいて、再会しました！

After dinner and some prep work for the next day, two friends from my Hiroshima days, one Japanese, one Canadian, met me up and took me out for a drink! Both friends had individually hung out with me in New York City, so being able to see them on their turf, and while on a business trip, made it extra special! The bar we chose was The Friar and Firkin, a nice bar with fun decorations. This time I did find a deliciously hoppy Canadian IPL called "Hops & Bolts". I really enjoyed seeing them, but we had all worked long days, so after a drink and some fine conversation, we said our farewells. When did we become so responsible!?! Haha.

「Friar and Firkin」というパッブで一杯飲みながら

美味しくホッピーなオンタリオ州地ビール発見！

The next morning, I actually got up extra early to meet another friend, Tom, for coffee. I hadn't seen or heard from Tom in several years, so there was a lot of catching up to do. Tom is one of a number of my Canadian friends who have such a good heart, I want to do an anthropological study of Canadian to see what they're doing so right. We chatted as long as time allowed, and then we were both of to work.

That day, I worked about two days worth as the rain alternated between a dusting and visibility-impairing, but while the hours were long, my team were very used to working together, which left me with mostly driving, logistics, and food. I didn't mind that one bit though, and I did chip in with the actual news producing, too. 

いよいよ試合の日で雨？！？でもトロントは寒い街だから、球場は可動式屋根があります！

球場内は三日間ほとんどどこでも行けるパッスを持っていましたが、
私の取材班はずーと外でファンのリアクションを撮っていました。

The cool thing about the Blue Jays, besides their logo, is their baseball stadium has a fully retractable roof! Something they chose not to do this cold, windy, rainy night. I can't imagine what playing baseball must be like without any trouble from the elements, but I'm guessing the players didn't mind! While Tanaka pitched, we headed back to the Real Sports bar to interview customers watching the game on that monster screen and my three-day, all-access pass went almost completely to waste. Oh well. 

By the time we wrapped up for the day, I found myself making midnight dinner reservations at a Chinatown hole-in-wall restaurant with sky-high ratings on Google Maps (my secret weapon in choosing food locations). The joint looked like a scene from a movie that serves as a front for a back-house illegal gambling ring, but the food was legit!!!

トロントは以外に店の閉店時間が早いですが、ボストンと同じく、チャイナタウンのレストランは遅くまでやっています。

Here's the restaurant, in case you want to go. Kom Jug Yuen. The portions are big, prices cheap, food is great, and the server: weird. He really loves his Heinekin. It's imported, from Netherlands, he repeatedly reminded us as he drank the last can in the shop. He actually declined to sell it to us, so he could drink it! 

CNタワーと私が泊まったホテル周辺の夜景です。

My hotel, right by the ballpark and CN Tower, which looked great at night, was also located on the harbor front and next to a great-looking microbrewery I never had time to try. 

Although I have talked a lot more about beer in this post than previously, (spoiler, I have one more beer to tell you about!) because I was driving for the crew this entire trip, I drank very little.

I have one more friend to brag about too! Another Canadian who I've known since studying in Japan in college (9 years ago, ack!) took me out to breakfast my last morning in Canada to a place called Fran's. I guess by now you can guess what I have to say: Great food, great company, and I'm super grateful for the chance to catch up with an old friend after so many years. We figured out the last time we had met was in Japan, six years before, in Kobe!

リンちゃん！久しぶり！朝食ご馳走様でした！

最後に空港戻る前、歴史的な蒸留酒製造所の観光スポットで食事とブラブラしました。

My colleagues wanted to make one last stop for lunch before flying home, and chose a place in the Distillery District, which during the U.S. prohibition was the largest alcohol manufacturer in North America. Now a mere shadow of that former glory, the remaining buildings have been remodeled into a sort of shopping mall with lots of arts and craft shops, another microbrewery (Seriously Toronto, I'm impressed with all the craft beer! Next time I need to actually drink it!), a small sake brewery(!), and our destination: Pure Spirits Oyster House.  

After eating way too much seafood, I dropped my crew off for their flight, returned the rental car, and waited for my flight back to NYC. That's where I tried that last beer I promised, a delicious IPA from the Great Lakes Brewery. As you can tell by the name, I felt it was the appropriate end to my first trip to Canada.

この旅、ずーと運転手で実はあまり飲みませんでした。飛行機を待ちながら、もう一杯地ビールを飲みました。

Here are a couple parting images from Toronto:

カナダでもキャプテン・アメリカのプロモーションを見て驚きました！

Yup, that's Captain America promoting the new movie, and frozen yogurt, in Canada. Amazing...

またトロントで驚いたこと、タクシー会社名は私の苗字？！街中運転しながら自分の名を沢山見ると安心した気持ちかな

Another fun fact about Toronto, their biggest cab company is called... BECK! It was oddly comforting seeing my name everywhere I drove.

So Canada was great, eh!? Hope you enjoyed reading. Of course I had to pick up a souvenir, and what better than this? Until next time, friends!

Micro-Blog Boston Strong

I had my own Boston Strong moment, on this, the one-year anniversary of the attack in marathon spectators and subsequent attack on the psyche and safety of the entire town. 

Last night I few to Boston, while sick, barely able to ignore the chills, sneezes and coughing up yellow cement. 

I still managed to handle logistics, research, plan, stakeout, interview in the rain, transcribe, rough edit, and feed to Tokyo the following story for their final cut. If you wanted to know what a television news producer does, this is it, and I don't forget, of course, I couldn't have done it alone. 

http://youtu.be/0Q9O1eFdxx4

Now, just over 24 hours later, I am back in New York (where, by the way, it's SNOWING?!?), and glad to be one closer to my bed and much needed rest, but my thoughts are still with Boston. 

The Cold

今年のNYC冬は今まで僕の一番辛い寒さを我慢する経験になりました！

This has been the worst winter I've ever experienced. There was the snow, the ice, the wind, but worst of all was just, simply, the cold. 

The following are some pics I've snapped over the last few months.

It's finally getting nicer, but we still have a few days in the low-30s that keep sneaking in.

March has already come in like a lion. Here's hoping it really does go out like a lamb!

The only truly theft-proof bike lock. 盗難の心配はないでしょう！

大雪が降ったら、近所のアストリア公園で友達と雪板乗ってみて、少し滑れました！

One Sunday, my buddy jokingly texted me about snowboarding in Astoria Park, but when I responded "Let's do it!" be stepped up and an hour later we were carving out trails and dodging sledding toddlers!

バレンティン選手がこの場所で保釈されたため、急に暖かいフロリダ州の出張がありました。

The next week a baseball player for the Japan league was locked up on domestic violence charges, so I was suddenly flown down to Miami to cover it! It was great to be warm, and in a place where I had so many chances to practice my Spanish. The irony was I missed two of my Spanish classes and the news itself was barely a step above the level of "paparazzi", so I left feeling unsatisfied, despite over half-a-minute of footage I filmed myself airing multiple times on Japanese national TV!

フロリダ州まで他社３局も貴局から同じ便を乗りました！面白かったです。

The flight to Miami was relatively empty, and we ended up taking over the back-third of the plane along with 3 teams of our competitors (TV Asahi, NTV, NHK). Since we are all basically friends, that made for a fun flight!

寒い冬はとても辛くても、綺麗ときもありますね。

Back in New York, what had already been two solid months of freezing temperatures turned nastier still! While the cold was biting, the snow piling higher, and wind chill dropping the feeling to to the sub-double-digits, I have to admit it could be beautiful at times!

公園以外は２年ぶり本気でスノボしました！

Fast forward a couple weeks, a group of regional JET alums from several states, and Canada all met in Killington, Vermont for a weekend of snowboarding! I had such an awesome time, I forgot to take photos, but it felt great to be back on a board somewhere other than my little park!

３０人近くの日本在住経験（JETプログラム元参加者）がこの素敵なリゾートに泊まりました。

Somewhere between 25 and 28 of us all stayed at this cool lodge. It had a large, indoor, hot tub, outdoor, heat pool, library, bar, and the slowest damn staff and breakfast service you can imagine, but the food was still good, and we had to keep reminding each other: "We're on vacation, in Vermont."
I want to rename their state slogan to "Vermont - What's the rush?". Somewhere from Vermont, start the petition!

バーモント州のキリングトン市にあるこのリゾートはレスキューされたワンちゃんを長年世話してることが自慢です。

The quirkiest thing about the lodge was they had a long history of adopting rescue dogs and their restaurant place mats were a history of all the dogs which was morbid, since all the dogs on the list were the dead ones. The live ones were two St. Bernards, and a French bulldog, and they wandered around and paid us very little attention.

雪挑戦した写真がFBで次の絵と似てる？

Before leaving the lodge, while in the outdoor pool with a water-proof camera, I hopped out and posed for a picture. Here is how it appeared on my friend's Facebook wall. The juxtaposition is pretty wonderful. 

The weather in Vermont was of course cold also, but surprisingly mild! Back in New York the following Tuesday morning, I was greeted with another snow storm.

セントラルパークは最後の大雪の一週間後でもこんなに綺麗でした！

The last (so far) big snow, took weeks to melt away, because of the daily cold temperatures. I got to Central Park to see friends visiting from DC and it was still a winter wonderland, at least at first glance. The broad strokes were gorgeous, and we even walked out onto a lake (granted, never the smartest thing to do, but that puppy was rock solid). You didn't have to look hard however to spot all the yellow, sometimes brown, snow from the hundreds of dogs that are walked all over the famous park. Still, please enjoy the following and forget all the yucky details. That's what a photo-blog is for anyway, right?

ポーランドの王様。。。スゲィっす！

セントラルパークってお城があります。皆が驚きます。

マイナッツを探してるリスちゃん。私もナツを探しています。

This last photo, a squirrel shoving his head deep into the snow, is analogous to many treks outside, checking, waiting, searching for signs that the long winter has come to an end.
The current temperature is: 36 degrees (2 degrees Celsius).

What’s in a UN? 国連とは？

本当の国際安全保障理事会の大統領席に座っている私

As a journalist, I have some pretty amazing access to the United Nations. Maybe that sounds impressive, but as an American I feel most people don't actually know or care much about it. So here is what will hopefully be the first in a series I'll call:  "A day in the life". Today is: The United Nations. 

レゴセットになったほどニューヨーク市にある国連は有名です。この中に私はよく働いています。只今国連は工事中で,
臨時施設「ノース・ロン・ビリデぃング」(NLB)というビルがありますが、このレゴセットにはありません。

First, let's break it down into pieces...:

The United Nations has many organizations that do amazing work around the world, especially UNICEF, the PKO (Peace Keepers), and OCHA (Humanitarian aid), but other than the infrequent press conference, I rarely get to cover them. I spend most of my time at the headquarters dealing with the three main bodies: the General Assembly, Security Council, and Secretariat (including the office of the Secretary General). 

The Secretariat - 国際連合事務局

国連事務所長パン・ギムン何回もみたことありますが、所長はほとんどこの会見の部屋に来られていません。

Most people think Kofi Annan when they think "Secretary General", but the current SG is a Korean named Ban Ki Moon. 

国連が大すき？ネット上で生放送はみれますよ。

His office, holds press conferences down the hall from the Security Council in the Press Briefing Room. These are always broadcast by the UN's own media division UNTV and can be watched online, always, for free. If you watch the Spokesperson for the SG's daily noon briefing, you'll likely see me, or at least a half-dozen people I know. It's especially fun to watch 15 minutes before the noon briefing starts because the reporters forget they're on camera and you can catch them being silly!

記者は会見の方によって沢山来ますが、満席はあまりなりません。

The Security Council - 国際安全保障理事会

普段、私が国連にいる時間の6割はこんなかんじです。

The Security Council is made up of 15 countries; 5 permanent members, the "P5", and two other groups of 5 countries representing their regions of the world through their own countries' self-interests, and these countries are chosen by a vote of the General Assembly to serve two-year terms in the SC. 

Each month, in alphabetical order, one of these 15 countries takes a turn as President of the SC, meaning they chair all meetings and set the agenda for the month. The SC passes resolutions affecting global policy, but many of the countries who are obligated as members of the UN to follow these resolutions do not comply when it doesn't suit their interests. Also, the P5 - the U.S., China, Russia, France, and the U.K. have the power to veto any resolution for any reason they choose. For these two reasons, along with a simple lack of consensus which is often the case, the SC is often ineffective. Even when they do reach consensus, the UN is mostly ignored by the U.S. public, but not the Japanese! Of all the foreign media, Japan is the most disproportionately present, with every television network, newspaper, and wire service present for all major events and a lot of minor ones that don't even make the news.
I spend a lot of time waiting outside the Security Council. Most of the serious topics discussed inside are closed to the media, so we rely on delegates, press liaisons, and the ambassadors themselves to come out and fill us in. They also come out sometimes to use the restroom, and we get all excited over nothing! When they do approach the podium (also recorded and broadcast live by the UN online) where we stakeout, you get a strange and rare sight. Ambassadors who are normally whizzing in and out private meetings, actually stand and listen respectively (usually) along with us, to their counterparts, patiently waiting for their turn at the podium. 

If we can just watch online, why spend so long staking out the podium? Often countries will speak off to the side of our media stakeout area, and being there is how we find out about countries tensions, future plans, and more. Of course the biggest scoops are made elsewhere, walking one-on-one in hushed tones down empty hallways. 

シリアの国連大使が安保理の外で申します。

The speaker pictured above is the Ambassador of Syria, Ja'afari.

記者の使っているスペースはとても狭いです。

ロシアのチュルキン国連大使

While "unity in the security council" is the often over-used and truly best thing for making progress on serious issues, I can't help but enjoy when the P5 ambassadors arguing at the stakeout! The verbal pokes and jabs they take at one another show their truly masterful grasp of wit. No one is more skilled at this than Ambassador Churkin of Russia. His - usual, deadpan humor, and classic Russian accent reminds me of Rocky and Bullwinkle's Boris mixed with Rodney Dangerfield, all while driving home exactly what he means to say.

安保理の近くに偉い方が使うラウンジ

This is the "North Delegates Lounge" down the hall from the Security Council chamber. It is mostly reserved for Ambassadors and delegates, and some press. With lots of art and vaulted ceilings, it is a great place to sneak off for a coffee during all that stakeout downtime, or grab a beer with a delegate and create a contact. Here, I thought I would be coyly leave it at that, but while writing this, a scathing article came out about the more deviant side if the room, and I encourage you to read it!

The General Assembly - 国際連合総会

改造中で去年から今年の夏まで完成させる予定です。

Okay, this may look impressive, and when President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine received a standing ovation from nearly every country (not the U.S. or Israel obviously) in the standing-room-only, packed hall, for his speech asking for observer-state UN membership in 2012, impressive would be an understatement. However, the General Assembly Hall has been moved to a temporary building for remodeling and currently looks like this:

総会の臨時施設です。この写真撮った時の公演者がわかりますか？

Aesthetics aside, because I never follow their daily meetings outside of the UN General Assembly every late September/Early October when the world's heads of states come to speak, I tend to subconsciously assign less importance to their proceedings. But reflecting, I realize things like last year's arms trade treaty, the sudden election of Jordan to the Security Council to substitute Saudi Arabia, and special speakers like Steven Spielberg (above) for the Holocaust day of remembrance, all make it an equally important branch that should not be ignored. Much the way the U.S. 435+ members of the House of Representatives, are (sometimes disappointingly) essential to the design of the full congress in our legislative branch, everything at the U.N. relies on their member states.


It's fascinating to work where some of the biggest names across the full spectrum of fame. I've seen current and former heads of state - including dictators, Bill Gates, Stevie Wonder, Malala on her 16th birthday, Ted Turner, and royalty. Here are a few:

ヨルダンの王子様が国連大使です。

Ambassador and Prince of Jordan, His Royal Highness Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein

スティーヴィー・ワンダー

Stevie! (A couple months later I also got to hear him perform live!) On this occasion he spoke about freedom of accessibility for the disabled.

去年ビル・ゲーツの奥様メリンダさんが何か国の元首と一緒にパネルディスカッションしました

Melinda Gates chairs a panel of heads of states during last year's General Assembly.

去年の総会でイランのローハニ大統領とザリフ外務大臣のトゥーショットが撮れました。

The newly elected President of Iran Rouhani and his Foreign Minister Zarif. 

パン・ギムン事務所長とマララさんとイギリスの元総理大臣ゴルドン・ブラウン氏です。

Gordon Brown, introducing Malala Yousafzai before her first public speech since being shot by the Taliban. It was also her 16th birthday that day.

第二次世界大戦でオスカー・シンドラーに命救われた生存者レナ・フィンダーさんが先月総会の前で語りました。

Rena Finder, who survived the Holocaust thanks to Oskar Schindler, speaks before the GA and thanks Steven Spielberg for "making it easier to tell" her story, by making people genuinely interested. It was a beautiful speech. 

That's IT! Plenty, I think. I leave you with this gorgeous view of the UN from the East River and the UN's rose garden! See you in a couple weeks!

イースト川から見える国連の姿はいいですね。

2013's Resolution and 2014 Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone!
2013 was quite the adventure, for me - a year of transitions to be sure!

Inside the control room for the Metro North Rail at Grand Central Terminal, one year ago

At work, I covered the Boston Marathon bombing; was promoted from "Associate Producer", to "Producer"; started focusing on the United Nations and Security Council much more; met and interviewed all sorts of interesting, sometimes famous, people; produced many many news stories, including one I wrote about craft beer; and almost got to do a live broadcast myself. (The story didn't turn out to be as newsworthy, so it has been placed on my very large back-burner.)

At home, my sweet cat Samus has been with me a full year now! She purrs away next to me as I type this. I have successfully brewed four out of four one-gallon batches of home-brewed beer, and number five is fermenting happily under my sink.

I ended a big chapter in my love life, meaning I am single again, but the break was amicable and mutual, and hopefully we will remain friends. The prospect of dating in New York City is both intriguing and daunting, but I will wade out into those waters when I'm ready.

If you've paid some small attention to my sparse blogging, you'll know I bought an SLR off a friend, and slowly work on my photography skills, and I traveled to South America for the first time, and my first foreign business trip... ever! So yes, this review skips much of my big events and reduces others to broad strokes, but one cannot live in the past, now can one!

2014 promises to be no less engaging and I plan to meet it head on with many New Years resolutions. The first one being this! . . . my online presence. My blog, my Facebook, my social media engagement. I have slacked and probably missed opportunities because of it, but no more! I will blog monthly at least, with more updates, stories from months and years past, and behind-the-scenes photos I may have forgotten to share along the way, going on my new Facebook Page. Feel free to "like" that, and subscribe to this while you're at it. My goal is to create a following to engage with, so it feels less like work, and more like chatting.

Next is studying Spanish.
I have already started studying on a free app called Duolingo, which I love so far, and I've just been accepted to a beginner's-level Spanish class at the UN, starting next week! Wish me luck.
Another goal is to visit at least 3 new countries this year, and I'm very sorry Japan, but that means I'm focusing on different parts of the globe until 2015, at least. You're always welcome to visit me in New York City!

- Greg