Articles & Bylaws

ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION
OF THE SHADAN HOJIN FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN
Approved by Foreign Minister Miyazawa, December 16, 1974

BYLAWS

Chapter One:Objectives

Article 1

This Association shall be called in Japanese the Shadan Hojin Nihon Gaikoku Tokuhain Kyokai and in English The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.

Article 2

This Association shall have its office at Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to.

Article 3

The objectives of this Association shall be to promote friendship, harmony, and mutual welfare in both professional and social relations among foreign correspondents from various countries in the world stationed in Japan and Japanese journalists having significant past careers as foreign correspondents dispatched abroad and to defend the freedom of the press and free exchange of information and, in so doing, to maintain and increase friendly relations and sympathetic understanding between Japan and other countries.

Article 4

To achieve the objectives stated in the preceding article, this Association shall engage in the following activities:

  1. Promote mutual friendship and harmony in the professional and social relations of its members.
  2. Provide its members with services to facilitate the collection and distribution of news, to render good offices without discrimination in the distribution of news from Japanese and other news sources to members, and to provide when necessary other professional accommodations such as telephone, telegraph, and other telecommunications services; postal, clerical, liaison, and message center facilities, and offices and meeting places.
  3. Maintain a library of books and other printed or published material needed by members, including particularly basic reference books and books on Japan and Asia.
  4. Render good offices in all other ways to help its members professionally, including the sponsorship of working committees, meetings, lectures, study groups, debates, and language and other lessons.
  5. To publish matters of interest to members.
  6. To provide refreshments, welfare, social, living, logistical, and other accommodations of all kinds for its members and for guests introduced by them and to engage in all other enterprises necessary for achieving the Association's objectives.

Article 5

This Association shall not have for its objective the acquisition of gain. Net revenue from enterprises of the Association shall not become the income of individual members but shall be the revenue of the Association itself.

Article 6

  1. This Association shall have control over only its own meetings, enterprises, and premises, and this Association shall not by itself, or as an agent for another, control, allocate, or limit any access or means of access to news of any kind with regard to any member or non-member.
  2. This Association shall immediately refer all such matters it learns of to those directly interested.
  3. Membership or associate status in this Association shall confer no privilege outside this Association.

Chapter Two: Members

Article 7

This Association shall have regular, honorary, and guest members, as well as professional associates and associates.

Article 8

  1. A regular member shall be a person recognized by the Board of Directors of this Association as a bonafide actively practicing foreign correspondent in Japan, or an actively practicing Japanese journalist having a significant past career as a foreign correspondent dispatched abroad from Japan, or others having similar professional qualifications.
  2. At least two-thirds of all regular members shall be actively practicing foreign correspondents in Japan, which category shall include persons engaged in Japan by foreign news organizations as correspondents.

Article 9

  1. A professional associate shall be a person recognized by the Board of Directors as actively practicing in the field of journalism or related fields.
  2. A professional associate shall have all privileges of this Association except those reserved for regular members.

Article 10

  1. An associate shall be a person recognized by the Board of Directors as contributing directly to the objectives of this Association.
  2. An associate shall have all the privileges of this Association except those reserved for regular members and professional associates.

Article 11

An honorary member shall be a person especially designated as a friend or benefactor of this Association by the Board of Directors.

Article 12

  1. 1. A guest member shall be a person on a brief visit to Japan who is recognized by the President of this Association as otherwise basically qualified as a regular member or associate.
  2. A guest member for a limited time may have all the privileges of this Association not reserved for regular members or professional associates or specially withheld by the Board of Directors.

Article 13

  1. Recognition by the Board of Directors shall mean approval by at least six Directors.
  2. In the event that a regular member no longer meets the requirements of Article 8 above, he can no longer be recognized as qualified to be a regular member.
  3. Such a member shall immediately notify the Board that he is no longer qualified to be a regular member.
  4. If such a member wishes to hold other membership or associate status in this Association, he shall ask the Board to be transferred to the appropriate category.
  5. A regular member who does not immediately notify the Board that he no longer meets the requirements of Article 8 above may be transferred automatically by the Board to an appropriate category as soon as the Board learns of the change, except that no transfer shall be made until the member is given an opportunity to appear personally before the Board to state his reasons or objections, provided, however, that serious, deliberate deception by a member concerning the requirements of Article 8 above shall be cause for expulsion.
  6. The preceding paragraph shall likewise be applied to professional associates and associates for changes in their qualifications and transfer in membership status.
  7. The Board shall take action in cases involving professional associates and associates comparable to that provided for regular members in Paragraphs 4 and 5 above, and in accord with the category involved.

Article 14

  1. Regular members, professional associates, and associates shall pay all subscription fees levied by a general meeting or in a referendum.
  2. All members without exception shall pay all charges they incur for services provided by this Association.

Article 15

In the event a member violates his obligations to or engages in acts that damage the honor of this Association, he may be expelled by a resolution adopted by a two-thirds vote of a general meeting called to discuss expulsion. However, notice for an expulsion meeting shall not name the member concerned.

Article 16

  1. Only a regular member shall attend a general meeting, participate in its proceedings, vote in a general meeting or referendum or election, or hold office.
  2. A regular member shall have only one vote.



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