Asada Mao and The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan

Asada Mao spoke at The Foreign Correspondents' Club on Friday the 6th. When you get a chance to ask questions of one the world's top figure skaters, you'd think the topic would be figure skating, wouldn't you? The Japanese media, however, was quick to point out the absurdity of some of the questions.

Of course, they did ask her about figure skating. The contrast is interesting. The Japan Times article makes the press conference sound as if all they did was talk about skating. The Japanese media, on the other hand, was more interested in the odd questions from the reporters. Moreover, this article notes that while speakers usually start off with a 20-30 minute speech of their own, the conference quickly shifted to a Q&A session.

What was the FCCJ thinking when they invited Asada Mao? "Fuck, who invited a 16 year-old to speak? After we ask her about the Vancouver Olympics, her training, and what she thinks of other skaters, it'll all be over in 10 minutes. Shit, what do we do to kill time? How about we ask her if she has a boyfriend or if she likes the New York Yankees? I know, how about asking her about Japan's dirty past and the scandal with the Japan Skating Federation? You know the opinions of a 16 year-old are what everybody wants to hear."

There isn't any news here to begin with. It looks like both the Japanese and foreign press were grasping for the slightest nugget of content. The Japanese press got their photos of the skater and the foreign press got enough information to write a puff piece or two.