Book Breaks

The speakers: Martin Fackler, Bryan Dunn    The Club will welcome two Tokyo-based authors who are among the very few foreigners to write books in Japanese. One is Martin Fackler, the former Tokyo Bureau Chief of The New York Times, who has authored or co-authored...

(英文の後に日本語の案内が続きます。） William Ireton, a legendary hitmaker who, for many years, served as Warner Bros.’ representative in Japan, will speak about his latest book 日米映画の架け橋 ラストサムライ ２３９３億円の男 (Nichibei Eiga no Kakehashi Last Samurai 2393oku Yen no Otoko = A Bridge for Japan-US Cinema: The Last...

(英文の後に日本語の案内が続きます。） Why are China’s wealthiest entrepreneurs and liberal intellectuals increasingly viewing Japan not just as a destination, but as a "final sanctuary"? Since its release in January 2025, the investigative bestseller Run Ri (Toyo Keizai Inc.) has sparked a national debate. Author and journalist Takehiro...

Photo journalist and author Stephen Mansfield will talk about his background and why he has developed a particular interest in Japanese gardens, mentioning relevant previous experiences, publications, the genesis and evolution of the book, The Modern Japanese Garden (Thames & Hudson, 2025) in the pre-publication...

Japan is often seen through the lens of an unusually resilient stereotype that classifies it as a nation of risk-averse conformists. In Japanese Rebels: Non-conformists in a Conformist Society (Routledge, April 16, 2026), David McNeill and Stephen McClure challenge that stereotype by showing that there...

After more than a decade of breathless hype, how did Bitcoin—supposedly the clean, liberating future of money—turn into a global engine of scams, cybercrime, and cold-blooded chaos? To answer that, we have to go where the story truly detonated: Japan. In The Devil Takes Bitcoin:...

Ken Belson, a longtime reporter for the New York Times who began his journalism career in Tokyo, will return to the FCCJ to talk about his new book, Every Day Is Sunday: How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell Turned the NFL into a...

Richard Sorge is one of history’s most famous spies. This hard-drinking, womanizing, motorcycle-crashing Soviet officer penetrated the German embassy in Tokyo during the 1930s and gathered intelligence credited with changing the course of World War II. It is an intriguing tale; but Sorge’s spy ring...

FCCJ is hosting author Ronald Drabkin, whose debut book Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2024;『ラトランド、お前は誰だ?: 日本を真珠湾攻撃に導いた男』by Kawadeshoboshinsha, 2024) reveals the amazing and untold story of Frederick Rutland—a debonair British WWI hero, flying ace, fixture of...