Correspondents' Eye on Tokyo:
Unpacking Tokyo for the World
From the Countryside to Big City Living
Reidy first made his way to Japan after graduating with a degree in journalism from Dublin City University. It was not a specific interest in Japan that brought him to its shores, with Reidy explaining, "I grew up in the countryside in Ireland and I had quite a sheltered existence. I hadn't traveled very much, so, when I left college, I wanted to go somewhere far away, basically the furthest away that I could get from what I knew."
His wish was granted as he was accepted on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, which brought him to Japan to work as an assistant language teacher in Sera, Hiroshima Prefecture. "Once I got settled, I very rapidly discovered that Japan suited me," Reidy says, "the culture and how people interact with one another resonated with me." During this time, Reidy threw himself into learning Japanese, took on some freelance journalism jobs, and completed an online Masters in Japanese Language and Society.
After JET, he moved to Osaka to work in a major Japanese gaming company for four years, further immersing himself in the Japanese language and work culture. Soon enough he was ready for a new challenge. "I asked myself 'what am I good at?' I was skilled at journalism, so I applied to Bloomberg and began working here in 2011. I've been here ever since."
Sharing Tokyo with the World
When Reidy moved to Tokyo in 2011 to begin his journalistic career on Bloomberg's breaking news desk it was a trying time for the country. Tokyo, along with the rest of the world, was still recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. Then, within a few months, the country was rocked by the Great East Japan Earthquake. "It wasn't a great time for the Japanese economy in general," Reidy states, "there were months where people were preserving electricity after the earthquake."
Since then, Reidy has seen Japan's economy come on in leaps and bounds, "I think there's a lot more optimism around Tokyo than there was when I moved here." Reidy has witnessed and reported on this all in his many roles at Bloomberg. After starting on the breaking news desk, he has since had numerous positions, including North Asia's Breaking News' Team Leader, Tokyo's Deputy Bureau Chief, and his current role as Opinion columnist covering Japan and Korea.
"I think I have one of the best jobs in journalism in Japan. Certainly in that I have huge freedom in terms of what I get to write about." says Reidy. But that freedom has its own challenges. "It is difficult to narrow down what it is that people are interested in reading, especially as I'm primarily writing for an audience that is outside Japan, and wants to learn something about the country." Luckily, Reidy found that the angle and topics he wished to cover, such as politics, the economy, changes in the labor force, and Japanese soft power, were well received abroad.
Another challenge Reidy has to be wary of as someone writing about Japan for an external audience is how the articles will land. "There's a lot to write about Japan, or Tokyo, that is going to be relevant to people, but their background knowledge is not necessarily up to date," Reidy explains. "I find these days there almost seems to be two different audiences. There are people who are older, don't live in Japan and aren't familiar with it so you need to provide a lot of background explanation. Then the flip side of that is you also have a much younger audience who are intimately familiar with many aspects of Japanese culture. They've been raised on anime and gaming—they've probably consumed more Japanese media than I have—but perhaps aren't as interested in Japanese economics or politics. Trying to write for both these audiences can be a challenge."
Despite having to connect with different audiences, Reidy has one important message he always tries to impart in every article. "At the heart of everything that I write about is that so many of the trends we're seeing across the world often originate here." Reidy sees how challenges that once seemed like a uniquely Japanese issue, such a low birthrate and an aging population, are something countries across the world also face. "You can look at what is happening here, understand these trends as being fundamental issues, and learn from the successes and, in some cases, failures. I think Japan should be on more people's minds as somewhere to learn from."
In his opinion, Japan and Tokyo are ahead of the curve when it comes to tackling these issues, but many people have yet to realize this. "I find a lot of people's knowledge of Japan or of Tokyo is stuck 20 or 25 years in the past," Reidy says. "I like to repudiate that through my work."
Tokyo, a City in Constant Flux
Since arriving here over a decade ago, Reidy has seen Tokyo change again and again. "The most interesting thing about Tokyo is that it never stands still," he states, "there's always huge projects going on. Change is always happening." Sitting in one of Bloomberg's offices overlooking Tokyo Station, he points to the skyline saying, "you only have to look out this window behind us to see that. When I moved here it was a completely different neighborhood to what it is now. Pretty much every skyscraper you see has been built in the last 10 years."
He noted that, along with infrastructure, one of the big factors behind Tokyo's recent economic success is the influx of tourism. In 2023, Japan welcomed over 25 million international tourists. This added close to 41 trillion yen to the economy, making tourism one of Japan's leading exports after automobile manufacturing. Due in part to this, and to the increase in globalised work, Tokyo has become much more open to international residents. "One impression I had before living here was that people in Tokyo were unfriendly, but that's not true at all. I've always found Tokyo to be an incredibly welcoming place. Many people who live here are from somewhere else, including a lot of Japanese residents who are from different parts of the country, so that makes it a really interesting place to be."
"I do think the secret is starting to get out a little bit about the quality of life you can have in Tokyo, compared to some other places," Reidy says. "I don't think there's another city in the world that matches Tokyo's combination of culture and food, its variety of neighborhoods, its public safety, and its incredible public transportation, all of which, even now, are still relatively affordable. There's certainly cities that have elements of the above, but I don't think any city has that combination." To Reidy, Tokyo's great charm is its ever-changing nature, one he hopes won't stop, "I want the spirit and acceptance of change to continue as we move forward."
Gearoid Reidy
