TOKYO, Japan — It was a bittersweet moment for the 2024 Association for Promotion of International Cooperation (APIC) Japan Journalism Fellowship as Coordinator Floyd Takeuchi announced his retirement from the very programme he created a decade ago.

“This will be my last year,” he told the invited guests, dignitaries, and the programme participants, at a closing banquet in Tokyo.

Dawn Matus, co-coordinator, who has been a part of the programme since 2018, will continue on and assume Takeuchi’s position.

“I’d like to express my deep respect and gratitude to Floyd whose vision, hard work, and never-ending demand for excellence played a key role in developing the fellowship into the successful and effective programme that it is today,” said Matus.

Jamaican Ambassador to Japan Shorna-Kay M. Richards (centre) share a bit of lens time with
(from left) Association for Promotion of International Cooperation (APIC) Director & Secretary General Megumi
Araki, APIC President and Ambassador Toshinori Shigeie, Foreign Press Center Japan President and Ambassador
Kazuo Kodama, APIC Executive Director and Ambassador Hidenobu Sobashima.

Born in the Marshall Islands, Takeuchi moved with his parents to Saipan and would go on to create an impressive resume that spans over 45 years in the Pacific region, as he worked for distinguished media houses such as Bloomberg News. He recounted the moment when he was approached by the APIC to create the Japan Journalism Fellowship. Noting that the programme began small, it eventually was settled on three pillars as set by Takeuch: Invite some of the best journalists in the Pacific and Caribbean, introduce them to issues and experts on subjects of direct interest, and require that they produce at least one story a day and share their output with each other.

Since 2015, the APIC Japan Journalism Fellowship has hosted close to 50 journalists from countries around the Pacific and Caribbean islands, losing two years of its decade-long history to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. Takeuchi described the 2024 group as one of the strongest.

Ambassador Toshinori Shigeie, president of APIC, stated he was happy about where the programme stands, and looks forwards to its future, but he was sombre about Takeuchi’s retirement. Shorna-Kay M Richards, Jamaican’s Ambassador to Japan, who performed the opening toast, lauded the APIC Japan Journalism Fellowship.

Participants in the 2024 APIC Japan Journalism Fellowship (from left) Laiseana Nasiga, senior
journalist — Fiji Sun, Sandy Deane, editor in chief — Barbados Today, Eve Burns, reporter — Marshall Islands
Journal, Doddy Morris, reporter — Vanuatu Daily Post, and Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, editor — The New Atoll.

“The APIC Japan Journalism Fellowship has been the channel for showcasing Japan’s serious commitment to international cooperation, that Japan is a reliable partner, a genuine tomodachi (friend) of the Caribbean and Pacific regions,” said Richards.

Shigeie presented Takeuchi with a parting memento on behalf of APIC and the FPCJ.