This project provides journalists from the Pacific Islands with newsgathering and coverage training in Japan, focusing on social and cultural topics unique to Japan. This is designed to enable journalists to write articles based on the perspectives and values of the Pacific Islands, rather than relying on those of the Western media.
The three participants from the Pacific Island region in 2007--selected from among eight applicants-- came from the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, and Saipan. They visited Japan from October 21 to 27 to cover the Japanese government's Visit Japan campaign, tourism culture in Japan as exemplified in the pilgrimage to Ise Shrine, efforts to boost island economies through tourism, the current state of Japanese tourism in the Pacific Islands, and overseas travel by retirees.
They wrote 25 articles during their stay in Japan, which appeared in their home newspapers as well as in a special issue of Pacific Magazine, which broadly covers the Pacific region.