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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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. |
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.
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.
Photograph © Julio Shiiki
Dear members,
No one can say the FCCJ doesn’t cater to a broad range of interests, and this past month has provided a superb illustration of how we can simultaneously be at the center of different worlds. Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, a former member of SMAP, the boyband that dominated Japanese media for decades, made a rare appearance to talk to members about his role as a transgender woman in the hit film Midnight Swan.
Dear members,
Looking for a place to bed down for the night, even in a derelict building? Many war correspondents were in 1945, and that’s how our forerunner, the Tokyo Correspondents’ Club started out. Looking at our posh Marunouchi premises now, it’s hard to imagine our predecessors’ desperation for a place to sleep in Japan’s bombed-out capital.
Dear FCCJ members,
The FCCJ is emerging from the coronavirus lockdown to face new challenges, not the least of which is to put the Club onto a sounder financial footing by extending our professional and social activities.
As we prepare to upgrade our operations in the Club to the "new normal" of reduced hours, distanced tables at the Bar, temperature checks and name registration at the entrance, etc., we are hoping Japan will flatten the curve and get out from the coronavirus soon along with the world.
Dear Members,
The Club was happy to host the Japan National Softball Team in September, in what should be another in a series of events in the run up to next year’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Five players attended the evening on Sept. 11, along with the head coach and other officials. We set off a space for the team to show their skills and I can testify that while the ball may be pitched underhand, it certainly moves fast. The team autographed balls for lottery winners, one of which is now in the Club’s display cabinet along with an autographed bat.
