President's message - July 2026

We held elections and shared with the Membership in June the outcome, which continues into July, to select two Associate Director positions. For the meeting, a quorum was achieved with 174 votes cast. Two resolutions passed - a vote to approve the Balance Sheet, Revenue & Expenditures Statement and Registry of Assets for FY 2025 and to repurpose a 20-million-yen relocation reserve for current operations, capital expenditure and retirement payments, and to dissolve the relocation reserve and 60-million-yen relocation liability.

Link to Issue Page:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun-article/presidents-message-july-2026

President's message - June 2026

The current FCCJ Board of Directors is winding down its tenure with elections scheduled for all offices at the end of this month; I sincerely hope if you are not running that you will consider joining or leading one of our many committees, whose work I always try to highlight. All members are welcome to join our General Membership Meeting at month's end when the election results will be announced and key Club developments will be shared.

Link to Issue Page:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun-article/presidents-message-june-2026

May 2026

I hope you are enjoying a relaxing Golden Week ahead of an eventual return to work and the rain and humidity of the months ahead. The Club will come out of the holidays with a variety of activities for all tastes, including a special exhibition-reception on May 8, when H.I.H. Princess Takamado will attend and a chorus comprising ambassadors and their wives will perform. On May 14, we will host a sneak preview of the film Never After Dark attended by the actor Kento Kaku.

Link to Issue Page:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun-article/presidents-message-may-2026

April 2026

The Finance Committee, Board of Directors, and General Manager offer our deep thanks for your overwhelming approval of our next budget at the March 25 General Membership Meeting, as well as unifying the consecutive term limits of directors. We don’t meet that frequently, but I regret to say that the GMM was disrupted, so a deeper BoD dialogue with the membership was impossible. Nonetheless, we aim to rectify that at our next meeting in June, as well as ensure an orderly process following all rules and proper decorum.

Link to Issue Page:
https://www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun-article/presidents-message-april-2026

March 2026

Dear members, The Finance Committee, Board of Directors and General Manager are in a critical period drawing up our next budget, to be presented at the GMM at the end of March. Again, all members are invited to the GMM. Separately, I encourage you all to visit the Club over the next weeks for events such as films, professional speakers, and our outstanding entertainment and exhibitions.

February 2026

 

Dear members

I write shortly after our Extraordinary General Membership Meeting at the end of January, when we welcomed new board member Khaldon Azhari and passed changes to our dues structure to further stabilize our financial foundations. I thank you for your participation in the election, and for actually attending the meeting.

January 2026

 

Dear members,

On behalf of everyone at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, I would like to wish you and your families a very happy new year. We had a historic anniversary last year, and I hope that 2026 will bring even more prosperity and greater FCCJ experiences. Stay tuned for more, including a long-form A+E video on the Club’s 80th.

November 2025

Dear members, We are in a historic era. Japan now has its first female prime minister and Masayuki Watanabe, an FCCJ director, last month became the Club’s secretary. In his first term on the Board, Watanabe-san provided a wealth of support to the Club, and taking on this new role is just another example of his broad service and dedication to our organization. We greatly appreciate his efforts and those of all our volunteer directors, kanji, and committee chairs.

October 2025

Dear members,

September was a hot and hectic month at the club, with the announcement of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s intention to resign, followed by the start of the campaign to succeed him as president of the Liberal Democratic Party. We hosted a number of political speakers in the runup to the vote on October 4, as well as several panel discussions, including one on the future of journalism education in Japan.