From the President - January 2021

I’m writing this column for the last edition of Number 1 Shimbun to be edited by Peter O’Connor, who is stepping down at the end of the year, to be replaced by Justin McCurry. It was with a bit of a jolt that I realised this evening that I’ve been Club President since August, but haven’t met Peter in person even once – we know each other only through Zoom, phone calls and emails. ...
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From the President - December 2020

Dear Members,
If you polish your glasses and squint hard enough, you can just about see it. Yes, that tiny, unfamiliar thing in the distance is a faint sign of light at the end of the tunnel. It’s hard to focus on it when Japan has just recorded a new high of 2,684 virus cases in a day and the third wave of the pandemic is casting a pall over the normally lively end of the year ...
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From our new President

Dear members,

As Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister prepares to ride off into the sunset, the Liberal Democratic Party is agog over who will be the next Prime Minister and which senior lawmakers will finally get that sought-after post in the cabinet after years of waiting. Hardly less momentous than the successor to Shinzo Abe is the appointment of committee chairs to work on all aspects of FCCJ activities.

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From the New President

Isabel Reynolds

It is my very great honor and pleasure to have been appointed President of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in this, our 75th anniversary year. For those who don’t know me, I’m a reporter with Bloomberg News and I’ve worked in Tokyo for more than 20 years.

Not only am I one of just a handful of women to have served in this position, but I am lucky enough to be on a Board with no less than three other women. In other words, more than a third of the Board is female and, by contrast with many other organizations, we’ve met the Japanese government’s 30% target for female managers bang on time.

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From the President - August 2020

Dear members,

The life of my 2019-2020 Board has been inadvertently extended by nearly two months, thanks to the complicated election system imposed on us by the Shadan Hojin Law. A certain voting percentage is now essential for any candidate to be elected. When members fail to vote in sufficient numbers, the Club and our staff consume much-needed resources on establishing the new Board of Directors.

I have been serving on the Board for more than four years. In every one of those years, we had to meet the challenge of an insufficient quorum when we held GMMs and elections.

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From the (ex-)President

Dear Members,

I assume that some Members will have read the recent mail saying I will soon be leaving Japan and hence have stepped down as president of the FCCJ.
Danish journalist Thomas Hoy Davidsen has been chosen as the new Club president, but I have been allowed the opportunity to write this final message. Someone who is halfway out the door is typically not of much interest to those that remain, so I want use this space to introduce Thomas. 

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