Isoko Mochizuki
Arc Times anchor
Reporter for the Tokyo Shimbun. She has covered the Moritomo Gakuen issue, the Kake Gakuen scandal, and Arms export issues. She covered the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office’s Special Investigation Department as well as the Chiba and other prefectural police departments. She is now at the Tokyo city news division at the Tokyo Shimbun. She is the author of “Arms Export and Japanese Corporations” (Kadokawa Shinsho, 2016), “Newspaper Reporter” (Kadokawa Shinsho, 2017), “Peer pressure in Japanese society” (Kadokawa Shinsho, 2019), and her latest book is “The Theory of Dismantling Japan” (Asahi Shinsho, 2022).
The film “The Journalist” (2019, directed by Michito Fujii), which won the Japan Academy Prize for Best Picture and other awards, was inspired by her book “Newspaper Reporter.”
Twitter: @ISOKO_MOCHIZUKI
Hiroshi Hoshi
Arc Times columnist
Born in 1955, he is a TBS special commentator. Graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in Liberal Arts. Joined the Asahi Shimbun. After working as a Washington correspondent and a deputy editor at political news division, he became a senior political correspondent. He also served as a specially-appointed professor at the University of Tokyo. He was the Asahi Shimbun’s Op-Ed editor as well as the deputy editor of editorial board. Then he became a special senior political correspondent in April of 2013. Since March 28th of 2016, he had been the main anchor and commentator for the TBS news program “NEWS23.” He is the author of “The Rise and Fall of Nagatacho Politics” (Asahi Sensho, 2019), “Chief Cabinet Secretary: The Politics of His Close Associates” (Asahi Sensho, 2014), “10 Major Issues in Japan and the Japanese People You Should Definitely Know” (Mikasa Shobo, 2011), and “Japan under Abe administration” (Asahi Shinsho, 2006).
Meri Joyce
Arc Times anchor
Born in Australia. She is an official interpreter for the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ), a board member of Peace Boat Disaster Relief, and a coordinator for NGOs. At the FCCJ, she interpreted for former Prime Ministers, Junichiro Koizumi and Naoto Kan. She serves as the Northeast Asia Regional Liaison Officer at the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict Network of Peacebuilders in Northeast Asia (GPPAC)
Shiho Tomioka
Arc Times columnist
Community cultivator. She was the founding editor-in-chief of “Nakamaaru,” a web media created for people with dementia and their supporting communities, from 2018 to 2021. During her time at the Asahi Shimbun, she covered medical, science and technology news at science and medical news department. She left the Asahi Shimbun in 2021 and became a freelance editor.
