Blog 1

July 3, 2007
Takako Iwatani, American General Bureau of the Asahi Shimbun, Washington, D.C.

Let me write about how I got this internship and some of my basic ideas about my summer internship.

Last fall semester I started to prepare for applying for internships. With advice from my professors, Dr. Mary Kay Quinlan and Nancy Andersen, I sent my resume and letters written in both English and Japanese to seven Japanese newspaper companies who have bureaus in Washington, D.C. I went to interview with one of those companies and I got good news.

I have interned at the American General Bureau of the Asahi Shimbun since May 7th of this year. The office is in the National Press building which is located in central Washington, D.C. and is just a few blocks away from the White House. Every major media company from around the world has its bureau at this building. Various nationalities, cultures, races and languages are represented here.

Six reporters from Japan and five American assistants work together in our office. The Japanese reporters ask their American assistants to do research, make appointments and help make transcripts from interviews. The reporters then write articles in Japanese with the information they have gathered. The American assistants also let the reporters know what major events are going to happen here, so they always check news on TV, the Internet, newspapers and magazines.

I do research, translate Japanese articles to English and English articles to Japanese, and do whatever I can do.

I mainly work with the reporter who is covering the presidential election. I check news about candidates' campaigns on newspapers, magazines and the Internet then translate the information I have gathered to Japanese. I have to deal with a huge volume of information. The election moves so fast, and news is coming out every hour.

Anyway, I am learning new things everyday, and I think Washington, D.C. is an exciting city because it is the place where you simply can't ignore what's happening in this country. I am excited to share my intern experiences with you through this blog.

Thank you for reading.

Takako

My names is Takako Iwatani. I am from Japan and I am a junior news-editorial major in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I am interning at the American general bureau of the Asahi Shimbun in Washington, D.C. The Asahi Shimbun is one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan with a circulation of about 8.3 million. At this bureau, Japanese reporters and American reporters help each other as they cover major news stories in the U.S. for Japanese readers. I am so excited to see and learn how they work together. Email Me , View All Takako's Entries