My Trip East

I just returned from a whirlwind tour of Japan, traveling with nine students from across the country who won the Roy W. Howard National Reporting Competition. The Indiana University School of Journalism organizes the trip, which is sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation.

One of my biggest takeaways from the Land of the Rising Sun is how people treated each other with respect. There is virtually no crime in Japan. Trains run on time. The sidewalks and streets are clean. We would be walking around in one of the busiest cities in the world and hear no sirens or horns.