Issue:

REGULAR MEMBERS

ALEXANDER LENIN is the chief of the representative office in Japan of the Russian daily newspaper, Rossiyskaya Gazeta. He was born in the western part of the country in the Kaliningrad region. He started his career as a Moscow-based correspondent with the newspaper Zavtra in 2008. He joined Rossiyskaya Gazeta in 2013. He lives in Tokyo with his wife and son.

KAZUO NAGATA joined the Yomiuri Shimbun in 1987 upon receiving a B.A. degree in international politics from Tokyo’s Aoyama Gakuin University. Since then he has worked as a staff writer for the Daily Yomiuri (now the Japan News), and held a number of posts at the Yomiuri Shimbun, including as the Brussels bureau chief, correspondent at the Washington bureau, New Delhi bureau chief and Bangkok bureau chief among other posts. He was also a political news reporter, covering the Prime Minister’s Office and the Liberal Democratic Party. He became a senior research fellow of the Yomiuri Research Institute in February 2015, where he follows developments in Asia, Europe and the United States.

REINSTATEMENT (REGULAR)

PETER LYON is an Australian motor journalist, author, columnist, TV personality and racing driver. Based in Tokyo for over 27 years, he contributes regular car-related stories to eight international publications, including Car and Driver (U.S.), Auto Express (UK) and Carpoint.com.au (Australia). He also writes in Japanese for two local monthly car magazines and co-hosts and co-writes Samurai Wheels, an English-language TV series introducing Japan’s car culture on NHK World. He has published two books in Japanese, including Flashing Hazards in 2014. Lyon has also raced cars since 2000, with a 4th-in-class finish in Germany’s Nurburgring 24- hour endurance race in 2010. He is chairman of the World Car Awards and a juror in the Japan Car of the Year Awards.

STATUS CHANGE (P/JA TO REGULAR)

NAZAFARIN MARZAKHALILI is an editor, reporter and announcer for NHK World’s Persian Radio. From 2000 to 2008 she was a reporter, feature writer and columnist for Iran Daily, Iran’s leading English-language newspaper. From 2007 to 2010, she worked at Iran’s national Radio and Television as editor and reporter for local and international broadcasts, covering news stories such as the Green Movement in Iran, nuclear negotiations between Iran and the 6 powers, as well as other political news. She joined NHK World in 2010 as a Tokyo-based correspondent. Since 2010, she works with BBC Persian Radio-TV and the Tajiki language online service of Radio Free Europe as an expert in Japan affairs. She also works as a translator for news, features and literature.

PROFESSIONAL/ JOURNALIST ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Machiko Chiba, Machiko Cooking Studio
Susumu Sakamoto, Freelance

REINSTATEMENT (ASSOCIATE)
Christopher Domitter, Bayer Holding Ltd.

ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Yukari Ezoe, Ricoh Company, Ltd.
Kiyoshi Hashimoto, Ricoh Company, Ltd.
Midori Ibuka, YKK Corporation
Noriko Koyanagi, HABA Laboratories
Minoru Masubuchi, Japan Securities Finance Co., Ltd.
Haruo Murakami, JECC Corporation
Kiyohisa Nanri, Cova Japan Co., Ltd.
Kenji Oiwake, Wasco Japan
Yukihiro Terada, International Development Center for Japan Inc.
Takehiko Watanabe, Atena Corporation

REINSTATEMENT (ASSOCIATE)

Takaaki Maeda, Yadoumaru Project Co., Ltd.
Keizo Nagai, Mitsubishi Ore Transport Co., Ltd.