Nominated and seconded by:
Justin McCurry; Tomoko Hosaka

Heard on the Street Columnist for the Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires

In the next year, I hope that the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan can return to its roots – a place where “The News is Made” and an organization where communication, civility and fraternity are the norm.

The past several months have been stormy at best and have escalated to new levels, following a pattern set by some members in the last couple of years. It goes without saying that the top priority of the Club is newsmaking and gathering, but communication is also equally critical – and it ought to be as that’s what we do as journalists. It’s key whether that’s between the Club staff and the management and the Board of Directors or among members.

In the next year, I will strive to do that, including regular Town Hall meetings between the Board and staff, and an FCCJ Hotline or Listening Post to grasp problems from both staff and members. I also support proposals to have staff as observers on the Board and Human Resources Committee.

The current issues have distracted us from the Club`s primary mission of serving the members, whether that’s bringing the best and most topical speakers to the Club or providing attentive service and the best value for the money in our food and beverage offerings.

But that’s not to say that the past year has been static.
Indeed, we brought on a new Executive Chef and Information Technology and Membership Marketing managers and had an excellent slate of speakers thanks to our Professional Activities Committee. They ranged from then-candidate, now Prime Minister Taro Aso, and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet to Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, Chairman Fujio Mitarai and Yojiro Takita, director of the Academy Award-winning movie Okuribito (Departures). The Club also put in place human resource structures that were non-existent before, such as performance evaluations, personnel files and clear command chains.

As the PAC Board Liaison this year and PAC Co-Chair last year, I have moderated over 50 events and probably written as many notices and have put down the groundwork for many of our biggest speakers in the last two years, including Aso, Trichet and Mitarai – the latter a year and a half after first talking to Keidanren.

As 1st Vice President and Chair of the House and Property Committee, I will seek ways to improve the Club in a way that brings the most bang for the buck, especially important in light of our current financial situation. Clear projects that can dramatically change the atmosphere are new or refurbished furniture, especially the deteriorating dining chairs, new carpets and lighting with more ambiance. While the new maintenance service has clearly improved the physical plant, which had been neglected for a couple of decades, the Committee will need to see how that cost can be trimmed without affecting our aging facilities.

I will also push to get more high-level engagement of the BoD in securing speakers, namely more pro-active outreach to embassies, companies, international institutions and non-governmental organizations. That will be especially critical as Japan will be hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum next year.

All that said, the Club must return to it strengths and that is its deep roots. That means ensuring communication flows freely and civilly and that the Club is the place where “The News is Made.”