・What is Miss Kakuchi trying to interpret in the changes in Japan's position over the past two decades?

・How does Miss Kakuchi try to portray the reality of Japan?

interpret   /ɪn'tɜːprət/　v)解釈する

portray　/pɔːr'trəɪ/　v)表現する･顔などを絵に描く･描写する

reality　/ri'æləti/　n)現実

You've been covering Japan from a foreigner's perspective. What's the main area of interest in Japan from foreign media's point of view?

ー Well, I've been in Japan for about well, 20 odd years and things have changed. When I came first, Japan was really viewed as a rich country, very peaceful country, and the leader in Asia, bur during the last two decades that position has changed. So as far as journalists, we have to show our foreign readers the change in Japan. We try to interpret Japan as it changes and how Japan is going to contribute to the development and the peace in Asia.

What do you feel is the gap between the reality and the way Japan is reported abroad?

It depends in the media, really. It's very hard to explain, but I think that I try to really portray the reality and the way I do that is to talk to different people. People at the top in powerful positions as well as people on the street. So I try to portrait Japan through different voices. Of course there's some media that will probably just take one aspect like, you know, some uniqueness, something strange in Japan and try to portray that aspect mainly. But then that is not the reality in Japan I believe. In my work which is especially now I cover a lot of university, education, higher education, research Japan's high technology and environmental science. So I try to not only cover the technology but also how that technology is used by say farmers in Japan and then how that is helping to increase food productivity. So this kind of diverse aspects are very important. I try to make a real picture of Japan. The good and the bad, and then what we can learn from Japan and what we shouldn't learn from Japan.

That's why you talk to different people.

ー Yeah, I talk to different perspective because I think diversity is very important.