March 2025
Dear members,
We are just weeks away from our General Membership Meeting, when the Finance Committee will present our budget for the next business year. Tremendous consideration goes into this plan, and I’d like to thank Treasurer Anthony Rowley and his finance team for leading the Club towards a stronger path of sustainability. I hope to see you all at this quarterly meeting on March 27. Dinner will be served for 1,000 yen for those in attendance.
Dear members,
We ended January with our new year’s Hacks & Flacks party, as well as excellent PAC speakers including the ambassadors of Israel, the U.S., and Palestine. Now we want to keep that momentum going.
Dear members,
Happy new year from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. In early 2025, we will host (hopefully) the U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel and a memorial for former director Mary Corbett on January 10, followed by our Hacks & Flacks party on January 23. Please note that space for this shinnenkai event will be limited and reservations are already peaking, so book your tickets soon to ensure a place at Japan’s best networking night.
Dear Members: We held an Extraordinary General Membership Meeting in late November and saw the election of Martin Fackler as Kanji and the passage of some key amendments. The Treasurer and I invited Rick Dyck as a special Finance Committee observer, who added insights to matters related to the Club. In these discussions at the meeting and with the General Manager, I am confident that our cash position is not only explicable, but firm as long as the FCCJ continues its current levy and sees the higher initiation income generated so far this year. Do we still have challenges?
Dear members,
Just days after Japan's lower house elections and less than a week before the U.S. chooses a new president, the uncertainty surrounding both votes is palpable. We are hosting a viewing of the U.S. election results at the club on Wednesday November 6, and hoping that Japanese opposition party leaders visit to detail their plans for a coalition government later this month. The FCCJ is where news is made, so expect more speakers and analysis in a very consequential month ahead.
Dear members
We closed September with a Saturday Night Live honoring Sandra Mori and Geoff Tudor, who played key roles in popularizing this event. The club also showed the documentary The Making of a Japanese, held a Book Break with Japan and FCCJ stalwart Bob Whiting, as well as a memorial for Bob Neff and Terry Anderson. We also heard from LDP candidates hoping to be Japan’s next prime minister and hosted a panel on the country’s political horizon.
Dear members,
As summer winds down (although, unfortunately, not the temperatures), the new board has selected the club’s committees, launched Professional Activities Committee and Film Committee events and, on 23 August, met members and listened to their hopes about the FCCJ.
Dear Members,
It took a while, but a new BoD now represents the FCCJ and held its first meeting on August 9. I will serve as president, Khaldon Azhari as First Vice President, Randy Schmidt as Second Vice President, Anthony Rowley as Treasurer, and David Umeda as Secretary. Completing our directors are Shuri Fukunaga, Taeko Nagayama, Suvendrini Kakuchi, and outgoing President Dave McCombs, and Simon Farrell as Kanji. Milton Isa will serve as Reserve Director.
Ever wonder what’s going on at the club?
What do the club’s bylaws say about how many directors are needed to form a board? How does the FCCJ’s first-quarter revenue compare with the same period a year ago, and the five years before that? What board resolutions related to club restaurants were considered over the past 12 months?
A visitor to the club could be forgiven for asking: “What happened?” The glorious hallway leading to the main bar is decked with the faces of world leaders, entertainers, athletes, artists, business titans and authors who’ve crossed our threshold. But it’s been a while since we have hosted big global names on a regular basis.
