Norimitsu Onishi

Norimitsu Onishi (大西 哲光, Ōnishi Norimitsu) is a Japanese Canadian journalist. He is a Paris correspondent for the New York Times, after holding the position as Bureau Chief in Johannesburg, Jakarta, Tokyo and Abidjan.[1]

Norimitsu Onishi
Born
Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan
OccupationJournalist
Notable credit(s)The New York Times, The Detroit Free Press

He was a member of The New York Times reporting team that received the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for coverage of the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.[2] Team members named by The Times were Pam Belluck, Helene Cooper, Sheri Fink, Adam Nossiter, Onishi, Kevin Sack, and Ben C. Solomon.[3]

In November 2018, Onishi wrote an article about the lonely deaths of the elderly in Japan, titled "A Generation in Japan Faces a Lonely Death" for which he was nominated as a 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing finalist.[4] Readers thanked Norimitsu for his "profoundly moving piece" about two people who live alone in a danchi, a sprawling government apartment complex, outside Tokyo.[5]

Career

Onishi was born in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. When he was four years old, Onishi and his family immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he attended college Jean-de-Brébeuf. He attended Princeton University and served as the chief editor of the student newspaper.[6]

Onishi was a reporter for The Detroit Free Press from 1992 until 1993. In December 1993, he joined The New York Times where he began as police reporter from January to July 1994 and city weekly reporter from July 1994 to March 1995. He went on to become the Queens bureau chief from March 1995 to September 1997 and later the West Africa bureau chief from 1998 to 2002.[7]

Onishi became the Tokyo bureau chief for the Times in August 2003. In 2008, he was transferred to head the Southeast Asia bureau in Jakarta; Martin Fackler succeeded him as chief of the Tokyo bureau. In 2012, he was part of a team of reporters, which also included Fackler and Hiroko Tabuchi, that was named as finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for its investigative coverage of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.[8]

While reporting in West Africa, Onishi is credited with coining the word Nollywood as the now accepted nomenclature for what was at the time known locally as Nigeria's "home-video film industry".[9] In September and October 2014, Onishi reported on the ebola virus epidemic in West Africa from Liberia.[10][11][12]

Since July 2019, he is a Paris correspondent.[1]

Onishi received the 2020 Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News for "Crash in Ethiopia".[13]

Criticism

Onishi has accused various Japanese politicians of historical revisionism, particularly on the topics of the Nanjing Massacre and comfort women.[14][15] Conservatives in Japan such as Kohyu Nishimura[16] and Yoshihisa Komori[17] accuse Onishi of holding a leftist perspective and having a strong "anti-Japan" bias, which, they suggest, helps foster vilification of Japan abroad. This is partially due to Onishi's criticisms of Japan's most influential far-right organisation and lobby, Nippon Kaigi, which has members including prominent Japanese politicians and former prime ministers.

Another article, "Letter from Asia: Why Japan Seems Content to Be Run by One Party"[18] provoked an official objection statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan for being "an incorrect article."[19] In it, Onishi referred to Japan's democracy as an "illusion" and immature, comparing its government to that of North Korea and China.[20]

His article on December 17, 2006, "Japan Rightists Fan Fury Over North Korea Abductions,"[21] was also criticized by Kyoko Nakayama, Special Adviser to the Japanese Prime Minister on Abduction.[22][23] Thomas H. Snitch, a former professor of American University also suggested that Onishi's coverage on Japan's effort to deal with the issue of the North Korean abductions of Japanese is influenced by political bias.[24] Some Japanese conservatives even made unproven claims that Onishi is a naturalized Japanese citizen of Korean descent.[25][26]

References
  1. "Norimitsu Onishi - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2020-02-14.
  2. "2015 Pulitzer Prizes: Journalism". www.pulitzer.org.
  3. Times, The New York (April 20, 2015). "2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners in Journalism, Letters, Drama and Music (Published 2015)" – via NYTimes.com.
  4. "Finalist: Norimitsu Onishi of The New York Times". www.pulitzer.org.
  5. Takenaga, Lara (December 2, 2017). "'It Reads Like Poetry': Readers Respond to a Story of Loneliness and Death in Japan (Published 2017)" – via NYTimes.com.
  6. "ひと 日系人ではじめてのニューヨーク・タイムズ誌東京支局長 ノリミツ・オオニシ　さん　(34)", Asahi Shimbun, September 21, 2003. (in Japanese)
  7. "Norimitsu Onishi - The New York Times". www.nytimes.com.
  8. "Finalist: The New York Times Staff". Pulitzer Prize. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  9. Okome, Onookome. (2017). "Africa in Nollywood, Nollywood in Africa." In D L Hodgson and J A Byfield (Ed.), Global Africa: Into the Twenty-First Century (pp. 347-355) Oakland, CA: University of California Press.
  10. "Reporting on Ebola: First rule is you don't touch anyone". Washington Post. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  11. Onishi, Norimitsu; Mouawad, Jad (October 3, 2014). "Ebola Patient's Journey Shows How Global Travel Spreads Disease (Published 2014)" – via NYTimes.com.
  12. Fernandez, Manny; Onishi, Norimitsu (October 1, 2014). "U.S. Patient Aided Ebola Victim in Liberia (Published 2014)" – via NYTimes.com.
  13. Trounson, Rebecca (November 13, 2020). "Anderson School of Management announces 2020 Loeb Award winners in business journalism" (Press release). UCLA Anderson School of Management. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  14. Onishi, Norimitsu (2008-05-17). "Released From Rigors of a Trial, a Nobel Laureate's Ink Flows Freely". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  15. Onishi, Norimitsu (2006-03-12). "To Japanese Nationalists, Only the Y Chromosome Counts". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-09-30.
  16. Nishimura, Kohyu (2006-05-10). 反日スプリンクラーとして世界に歪曲・偏向記事を垂れ流すＮＹＴ東京支局長 (in Japanese). SAPIO. pp. 76–78.
  17. Komori, Yoshihisa (2006-12-01). 世界の「反日レッド・ペーパー」研究 〜日本悪玉論を喧伝する国際偏向報道に反撃を〜 (in Japanese). Seiron magazine. pp. 54–58.
  18. Onishi, Norimitsu (2005-09-07). "Letter from Asia: Why Japan Seems Content to Be Run by One Party". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  19. 自民党「支配」中朝と同一視 米紙ＮＹタイムズ報道 外務省、不公正と"抗議 (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun. 2005-09-03. Archived from the original on 2006-05-23. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  20. Onishi, Norimitsu (2005-09-07). "Why Japan Seems Content to Be Run by One Party". The New York Times.
  21. Onishi, Norimitsu (2006-12-17). "Japan Rightists Fan Fury Over North Korea Abductions". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  22. Nakayama, Kyoko (2006-12-25). "Abductions in Japan". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  23. ＮＹタイムズ拉致「扇動」記事 政府が反論文投稿 (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun/Yahoo! News. 2006-12-29. Archived from the original on January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-03.
  24. Snitch, Thomas H. (2006-12-28). ＮＹタイムズ 拉致問題「右翼扇動」記事 政治的偏見による日本批判 (in Japanese). Sankei Shimbun.
  25. Takayama, Masayuki (July 13, 2006). 変幻自在 207: 似非日本人. Shukan Shincho (in Japanese): 146.
  26. "「NYタイムズ」東京支局長は「反日記事」がお好き" (in Japanese). Shukan Shincho. March 2003. p. 58.
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