Tuesday, June 27, 2017, 18:15 - 20:30

 

                

Fumio Matsuo

 

  

Fumio Matsuo, a 83-year-old legend in Japanese journalism and an expert on the U.S.-Japan-China relations, has written another 329-page masterpiece on the U.S.-China relations in Japanese, utilizing his rich knowledge and insight and concluding that the relationship has been a history of tough accommodation. The relations all started in 1784 when a three-masted 360-ton ship called “Empress of China” sailed to Canton, becoming the first American boat from the newly independent United States to reach China and opening what is known today as the old China trade. In the next 232 years, the relationship has engendered the dynamism that frequently changed the course of the world, though hostile sometimes. But at the end, it was a history of tough accommodating “symbiosis,” he says. The book titled Amerika-to-Chugoku (America and China=アメリカと中国) was published in January 2017 by Iwanami Shoten Publishers.

Fumio Matsuo was born in Tokyo on August 12th, 1933, and graduated from Gakushuin University with a major in Political Science. He joined Kyodo News in 1956 and from 1981 to 1984, he served as Kyodo’s Washington Bureau Chief, covering the first term of the Reagan Administration. In 2004, he published the best-selling book Democracy with a Gun: The Making of America (銃を持つ民主主義) from Shogakukan, Inc., which won the prestigious 52nd Annual Award of the Japan Essayist Club. In April this year, he was awarded another prestigious 2017 Award of the Japan National Press Club (Nippon Kisha Club)  for his long contribution to the so-called “U.S.-Japan Bouquet Diplomacy.”

 

松尾文夫氏は日本のジャーナリズム界での日米中関係の伝説的人物とも言われ、今回は米中関係に関して60年以上の知見を駆使して本書を書き上げ、同関係はしたたかな「共生」の軌跡と結論づけた。1784年に中国へと辿り着いたアメリカ商船「中国皇后号」－ここから始まった二つの大国の関係は、数百年の歴史の中で、時に対立しながら世界を動かすダイナミズムを様々に生み出した。しかしそれは、したたかな「共生」の軌跡でもあった。アメリカを知り尽くしたジャーナリストが様々な文献を渉猟し、現地取材も重ね描いた唯一無二の歴史物語。彼は長年の日米首脳の「相互献花外交」を推進したとして、2017年日本記者クラブ賞を受賞した。

 

The library committee is offering a cocktail party – "Meet the Author" – starting at 6:15 pm, followed by dinner at 6:45 pm (Menu: Salad/ Grilled Chicken with Mozzarella and Bravas Sauce/ Vanilla Ice Cream/ Coffee or Tea). Drinks can be ordered on a cash basis from the bar in the room. Book Break charges are 2,100yen/3,500yen (members/non-members) per person. The member price is applicable to members' guests.

To FCCJ members: Sign up now at the reception desk (03-3211-3161) or on the FCCJ website. To help us plan proper seating and food preparation, please reserve in advance, preferably by noon of the day of the event. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled. Reservations canceled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full.

To non-members: Sign up now at the reception by mail (front@fccj.or.jp). Please reserve and pay in advance by Thursday, June 22. Those without reservations will be turned away once available seats are filled. No refund is available unless event is canceled for the reasons on our part.

(The talk will be in English)

 

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