Familiar with the media's network of relations in the political world, I am less aware of the specific mechanisms for gathering and reporting security and trade related news stories in the U.S. and Japan. This will be an important aspect of this research. Finally, there have been a number of important changes in Japan since I left a year and a half ago -- most notably the LDP's loss of a majority in the Diet and the rise of reform-minded coalitions. But more important in terms of the project outlined here has been both the purported role that TV journalism played in the downfall of the LOP and the significant press club reform introduced in July of 1993. As a result of this reform, foreign correspondents now have access to many major government ministries and agencies that had been off limits to them for most of the postwar period. Finally, though only indirectly related to the media, another important trend in Japan requiring attention is the movement to establish a national freedom of information statute modeled after that of the American Freedom of Information Act. This law would give the Japanese public greater access to official documents, would make the bureaucratic decision-making process more transparent to Japanese and Americans, and could have a profound on the bilateral U.S.-Japan relationship.