The Asian American Journalists Association Asia Chapter (AAJA-Asia)’s Tokyo board came together to plan and organize local events in the organization’s Tokyo subchapter and promote its values to the broader journalism and media professional community in Japan. In the past couple of years, the AAJA-Asia Tokyo board has hosted meetups, a talk session, a press conference and hybrid seminars connecting other AAJA-Asia subchapters.
If you are interested in joining the board or learn more about AAJA-Asia’s events and programs in Japan, please write to tokyo@aaja.org, follow us on Twitter at @AAJA_Tokyo or join our Facebook group. As part of the AAJA-Asia Tokyo network, you will have the opportunity to connect with industry experts, academics, early-career journalists and students in Japan/Asia.
The 2023 members of the AAJA-Asia Tokyo board are:
Erica Yokoyama is a Tokyo-based economy & government reporter for Bloomberg, covering a wide range of economic news, including currency markets, budgets, indicators and the G-7/G-20 meetings. She is also interested in climate change and sustainability. Before her current role, she was a breaking news editor for three years. Follow her on Twitter at @erica_yokoyama.
Kantaro Komiya is a breaking news correspondent at Reuters’ Tokyo bureau, where he writes about anything from price inflation to North Korea’s missiles to global regulation on AI companies. His stories have also been published in the Associated Press, Bloomberg, the Japan Times and Rest of World. A Tokyo native, Kantaro graduated from DePauw University in the United States and was the recipient of the Overseas Press Club Foundation 2020 Scholar Award. Follow him on Twitter at @kantarokomiya.
Winnie Hsu is a reporter at Bloomberg Tokyo, covering Asia equity market and equality stories. She is originally from Taiwan and has previously worked with BBC, NBC and NHKWORLD. She is particularly interested in multimedia storytelling. Winnie graduated from the University of Tokyo in 2017 and holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from Northwestern University.
Himari Semans is a writer for Unseen Japan, a contributor to The Daily Beast and France 24, and a current intern at The Japan Times in Tokyo. She has also worked with Campside Media on the podcast “The Evaporated: Gone With The Gods,” sponsored by Sony Music Entertainment. As a translator, she has worked with BBC News as well. While covering a broad range of topics such as crime, culture, and Japanese social issues for various publications, Himari also studies at Waseda University in the School of Culture, Media and Society. She’s in her senior year now and is expected to graduate in March of 2024.
Bart Johnson is an aspiring photographer and journalist who recently graduated from Temple University with a BA in Media Communications and is now pursuing his Master’s in Management at the same institution. He hopes to combine his love for writing and visual storytelling to embark on a career in freelance journalism and travel photography.
Sarah Hilton is the Tokyo-based Asia editor for news nonprofit Rest of World. Prior to that, she worked at Nikkei for 8 years, most recently as the deputy Big Story Editor, handling features. She’s most interested in the intersection of business and technology.
Eri Tamazawa is a corporate communications specialist at MSD Japan, a pharmaceutical company with its HQ based in the US, where she writes articles for the company’s social media accounts, press releases for journalists and helps organize internal/external events such as press conferences. Prior to that, she worked as a broadcast journalist at NHK based in Kyoto, covering various topics ranging from crimes, accidents, natural disasters to healthcare, local economy and international affairs. Eri graduated from Waseda University in 2019.
Momoka Yokoyama is a Tokyo-based rotation reporter at Bloomberg. After interning at Reuters, Handelsblatt, NZZ, and Country Watch, she now covers JGB at Bloomberg. She recently graduated from Sophia University with a degree in political science.
About AAJA-Asia
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a nonprofit educational and professional organization with more than 1,500 members across the U.S. and Asia. The Asia chapter of AAJA represents members across the Asia-Pacific region. It is a diverse, multi-ethnic community of local and international journalists and media professionals committed to supporting a vibrant press in the Asia-Pacific region. We are committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in media organizations, providing training opportunities to members, supporting students interested in journalism and advocating for fair media access.