The Magazine of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

October 2020 · Volume 52 · No. 10

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS' CLUB OF JAPAN1945

PAST SIMPLE · PRESENT CONTINUOUS 2020

02 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

In this issue
October 2020 · Volume 52 · No. 10

On our 75th Anniversary, the past looks simple, the future more
complicated. But the FCCJ will continue.

Contact the Editors
no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp

Thus every kind their pleasure findThe savage and the tender
Some social join and leagues combine
Some solitary wander

Publisher FCCJ
Editor Peter O’Connor
Designer Julio Kohji Shiiki, www.sedo.co.jp
Editorial Assistant Naomichi Iwamura
Photo coordination Hiroko Moriwaki, Norio Muroi
Publications CommitteePeter O’Connor (Chair), Suvendrini Kakuchi,
Monzurul Huq, Robert Whiting, David McNeill
FC C J B OA R D O F D I R EC TO R S
President Isabel Reynolds, Bloomberg L.P.
Special Advisor to the President Monzurul Huq
1st Vice President Andy Sharp, Nikkei Asian Review
2nd Vice President Walter Sim, Straits Times
Treasurer Mehdi Bassiri, O.B.M. Co., Ltd
Secretary Ilgin Yorulmaz, Freelance/BBC World
Service Turkish
Directors-at-LargePeter O’Connor, Freelance
Simon Farrell, Custom Media K.K.
Mary Corbett, Cresner Media
Daniel J. Sloan, Freelance/Nissan Motor
Kanji Gregory Clark, Freelance
Associate Kanji Vicki L. Beyer, Freelance
Ex-officio Khaldon Azhari, PanOrient News
Regular Reserve Director: Pio d'Emilia, SKY TG 24
FC C J C O M M I T T E E C H A I R SDiversity Ilgin Yorulmaz
Publications Peter O'Connor
Website Simon Farrell, Andy Sharp
Associate Members’ Liaison TBA
Entertainment Sandra Mori
Exhibitions Bruce Osborn
Film Karen Severns
Finance Mehdi Bassiri
Food & Beverage Robert Kirschenbaum, Pio d’Emilia
Freedom of Press Justin McCurry, Simon Denyer
House & Property Isabel Reynolds
Human Resources Walter Sim
Information Technology TBA
Law Koichi Ishiyama, Suvendrini Kakuchi
Public Relations (inc. Marketing Membership)
Simon Farrell
Membership Andrew Horvat, Monzurul Huq
Professional Activities Tetsu Jimbo, David McNeill
Special Projects Haruko Watanabe
DeRoy Memorial Scholarship
Abby Leonard, Kazu Takada
Compliance Kunio Hamada, Mary Corbett
Election Reed Stevenson

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
Marunouchi Nijubashi Building 5F
Marunouchi 3-2-3 Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-0005
Tel: (03) 3211-3161 Fax: (03) 3211-3168 fccj.or.jp
Published by the FCCJ All opinions contained within
Number1 Shimbun are those of the authors.
As such, these opinions do not constitute an official
position of Number1 Shimbun, the editor or theForeign Correspondent’ Club of Japan.
Please pitch and send articles and photographs, oraddress comments to no.1shimbun@fccj.or.jp
Read the Number1 Shimbun online:
www.fccj.or.jp/number-1-shimbun~ Robert Burns, Song composed in August, 1783

THE FRONT PAGE
03

From the President

042020 Election statement

05

Greetings from Australian Consulate
General, Osaka

Isabel Reynolds
Isabel Reynolds

F E AT URES

		Anniversary
		 of the FCCJ
07

Seventy-five years in a nutshell

13

Halcyon days

16

Fun in Marunouchi

18

Lights! Action! Cable!

21

Where the news is made24

Building an Osaka FCCJ?

Charles Pomeroy
Donald Kirk
Sandra Mori

Eric Johnston
Dan Sloan

Eric Johnston

CLUB NEWS26

New members, New in the library
Exhibitions, Regular by eggs

27

Obituary: Richard Halloran, 1930-2020

Cover photo archive FCCJ, cover design: Julio ShiikiINDEX03 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

THE FRONT PAGE

From the President
Dear members,

L

JULIO SHIIKI

ooking for a place to bed down for the night,
even in a derelict building? Many war correspondents were in 1945, and that’s how ourforerunner, 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.
This month's edition of the No. 1 Shimbun marks our
75th anniversary, so it's time to look back on our proudhistory as one of the world’s oldest press clubs and celebrate our survival through some tough times to remain
at the forefront of news coverage in Japan. We also peer
into what the future might hold. While providing beds
is no longer part of our role, it’s clear that we’re still asource of opportunities for our members to scrutinize
those running the country, just as we were during the
U.S. occupation.
General Douglas MacArthur was our guest in 1947, andthis month our tireless Professional Activities Committee managed to snare former Defense Minister Shigeru
Ishiba, one of the candidates for leadership of the Liberal Democratic Party, for a press conference — an eventthat featured prominently on domestic TV news bulletins. His comments about how objective information
was suppressed in the 1940s to enable Japan to go to
war certainly resonate in a world where the truth seems
increasingly hard to come by. Ishiba’s LDP colleagues,
Tomomi Inada and Seiko Noda, both of whom have been
cited as having the potential to become Japan’s firstfemale prime minister in the future, were also due to
speak at the club as I write.
Many people have been eager to declare the journalism profession dead since the advent of social media,
especially with robots now starting to play a role as writers of some of the basic financial market stories distributed by major media companies. The turnout for Ishiba’spress conference, despite the pandemic, reminded methat robots are still no substitute for well-informed
reporters who are prepared to hold the powerful toaccount in person, and that the FCCJ still has an important part to play in enabling them to do their job.
Looking back at the sometimes hilarious photographsfrom club anniversary events over the decades, I sharemany colleagues’ sadness that there will be no galaevent to mark our diamond anniversary this year. We
simply couldn’t risk the lives of members or staff byholding a big celebration amid the threat of Covid-19. But
let’s hope that we will be able to make up for that sometime in 2021.
Finally, I do believe that the duty to provide objective
information applies not only to governments, but to the
FCCJ Board. We’re looking into how best to keep you
updated on our discussions and decisions, and hope tostart doing that in more detail soon.
● Isabel Reynolds has been reporting for Bloomberg inTokyo since 2012. She has lived in Japan for more than 20
years and been a Regular Member of the FCCJ for most ofthat time.

INDEX04 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

THE FRONT PAGE

2020 Election statement
Appendices
The Board and the Election Committee received twocomplaints about the election results. While the Board
has no authority with respect to election matters andcannot interfere with election results, in order to ensurethat these complaints were taken seriously and handledappropriately, the kanji consulted the club’s lawyers
about the appropriate resolution of these complaints.
We have been advised as follows:

Mr Monzurul Huq

During the process of this year’s FCCJ election,
it became clear that an error had inadvertently deprived Mr Huq of a seat on the
Board in the first round. While the mistake
was not discovered until after Mr Huq had withdrawn
his candidacy, and our rules do not permit us to change
the results of the election, we would nonetheless like tobenefit from Monzurul’s wisdom and experience. I havetherefore persuaded him to serve the Club as Special
Advisor to the President, in which role he will be invited
to attend Board meetings for the remainder of the 20202021 term.
In the interests of transparency, please see the Appendices below for a more detailed explanation of how thisissue was handled.
The difficulties with this year’s election have led me,
as President, to convene a special task force headed by
Vicki Beyer and Andrew Horvat to review our election
procedures and propose amendments to improve them,which we hope will eliminate future problems. Our goal
is to complete this process early next year so that themembers can approve a new procedure in time for the2021 election. Anyone with ideas or input is encouraged
to contact either Andrew or Vicki.
As a Board we are determined to move forward to do
our best on behalf of the club by concentrating on thevarious operational issues confronting us. We humbly
ask the support and cooperation of all members. Now
is the time to put aside our differences and be united inpursuit of the club’s future.
As you are aware, many club committees are now
ramping up for the coming year. Anyone who has aninterest in helping the club by serving on a committee
is encouraged to contact the relevant committee chairor myself.

1. Although there were errors made during theelection process based on misunderstandings ofcomplex rules, the election committee corrected
the errors when they were uncovered, to theextent that they could be corrected. With respect
to one error, it was discovered too late to becorrected. There was no malfeasance by theElection Committee and no illegal action occurred.
2. Club By-Law 10-11 provides that members have
one week to make appeals related to elections.
Both of the complaints received by the Board
were lodged more than one week after the third
election and nearly six weeks after the July 16
result. Accordingly, the club's rules do not permit
these appeals.
3. Finally, By-Law 10-11 gives the Election
Committee full authority to make final judgment
regarding appeals. In the absence of any otherstatement in the Articles or by-laws, our lawyers
advise that By-Law 10-11 should also be interpreted
as giving the Election Committee full authority tomake final judgment regarding election results.
This is logical and reasonable, as the Election
Committee is a neutral and independent bodysupervising the election.
Based on the foregoing, the Election Committee’s earlier
Report on the election and the results remains the final
conclusion of the 2020 election.

Isabel Reynolds
FCCJ President
2020 Board

PHONE: (06)6941-9271
FAX:(06)6920-4543

16F TWIN 21 MID TOWER
2-1-61 SHIROMI, CHUO-KU,
OSAKA 541-6116

AUSTRALIAN CONSULATE GENERAL, OSAKA

18 September 2020
The Foreign Correspondents` Club of Japan
c/o President Isabel Reynolds and the Board of Directors
Marunouchi Nijubashi Building 5F
Marunouchi 3-2-3Chiyoda-ku Tokyo
100-0005
Dear President Reynolds,
On behalf of the Kansai Consular Corps, I’d like to offer warm congratulations to The
Foreign Correspondents` Club of Japan on the occasion of your 75th anniversary.
FCCJ’s distinguished history as a bastion of press freedom is known throughout theworld. Your members have played a leading role in shaping international perceptions ofJapan. Press conferences regularly make national and international news. Activities
ranging from cultural nights to Book Breaks and the FCCJ Scholarship Awards attract
a wide range of business leaders, diplomats, authors, academics, and university students
interested in a journalism career.
For these reasons, FCCJ remains the go-to place for leaders from other regions of Japan
when they wish to address the international media. That includes those from Kansai,
where our organization is based.
The Kansai Consular Corps (KCC) traces its roots to 1868 with the official opening of
Kobe to a few foreign missions. Today, our members represent approximately 65
countries.
The KCC constitutes an important link between the consular representatives and thenational, prefectural and city governments in this region. Issues of concern to the Corps
as a whole or to individual countries are taken up with Japanese officials as well as theprivate sector on behalf of its members. The Corps and its members also inform theirrespective countries about the Kansai region and support its promotional activities.

Despite the Kansai region’s prominence, with its economy said to equal that of The
Netherlands and population of over 21 million, the international media presence in
Kansai remains limited and there is no equivalent to FCCJ here.
But with Osaka hosting the 2025 World Expo and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
having created a new Cabinet-level post to coordinate the event, we expect interest in
Osaka and Kansai to continue to grow. Thus we at the Kansai Consular Corps welcome
any expanded FCCJ activities in the region and are happy to offer advice and support tocarry them out.
Yours sincerely,David Lawson
Dean, Kansai Consular Corps
Consul-General
Australian Consulate-General, OsakaINDEX07 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJSEVENTY-FIVEYEARS IN A
NUTSHELLCHARLES POMEROYI

n September 1945, soon after
the Occupation of Japan began
under General Douglas MacArthur,Supreme Commander Allied Powers(SCAP), a group of disgruntled war correspondents united in a relatively mundane common cause: opposition to SCAP
restrictions on the number of journalists
allowed into the area due, pronounced
SCAP, to insufficient billets. In the chaotic
weeks following the Japanese surrender,
this group formed The Tokyo Correspondents Club, forerunner of the FCCJ, in
October 1945.
Faced with a lack of living quarters,
the first objective of the new press club,headed by Howard Handleman (INS)with Don Starr (Chicago Tribune) andWilliam Dunn (CBS) as first and second
vice-presidents, was to find a place forTokyo correspondents to stay. And find it
they did, between SCAP headquarters in
the Daiichi Seimei building and Tokyo Station, Handleman and Co. came upon thebattered five-storey Marunouchi Kaikan
building. The Kaikan was semi-derelict
but it would do. Handleman’s groupobtained a lease and patched up thebuilding, creating hostel space for some170 correspondents and making it their
new home even before repairs were completed. Early on, someone named it ‘No.1
Shimbun Alley’ and the name stuck.

Prime location
The Alley no longer exists. Located in
Marunouchi, the district between Tokyo

No.1 Shimbun Alley, the FCCJ’s first club house, Autumn 1945

INDEX08 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJSEVENTY-FIVE YEARS IN A NUTSHELL

Happy days: Hessell Tiltman, fourth down, dark suit. Edwin “Ed” Hoffman, white shirt, 2nd down, and others enjoying the special camaraderie of the FCCJ.

station and the Imperial Palace, it was part of Mitsubishi Estate’s
holdings and later disappeared into one of the block-sized buildings put up after the Occupation ended in 1951. However, evenafter several relocations, Marunouchi’s central street, Nakadori, stretching ten blocks between Otemachi and Hibiya, hasremained the Club’s playground right up to the present. Nakadori was convenient and destined to become Tokyo’s somewhat
narrower version of Park Avenue. With the Ginza within walking
distance, it was a terrific location.
As for those early war correspondents, a dwindling number
kept the world informed about Japan’s transformation under
the Occupation, but by mid-1947 they were down to only 40
members, 35 sharing 24 rooms. Despite introducing weekly
dances and special dinners to generate revenue, the Club wasin severely straitened circumstances.

War to the rescue
Rescue and rejuvenation came in June 1950 with the Korean
War. Correspondents surged into Japan to cover the war andClub membership soared to a high of 350. Of course, this is theupside, for eighteen of our correspondents died in the Korean
War and are memorialized on a plaque in the Club’s entryway.
Sovereignty returned to Japan in 1952, bringing the Club underJapanese law and a change of title to The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. As such, the Club became a non-profit organization (shadan hojin) under the auspices of the Foreign Office,largely through the efforts of charter-member Hessell Tiltman,
who had covered pre-war Japan for the London Daily Express,
returned in 1945 for the Manchester Guardian and later switchedto the Economist. Tiltman, the classic correspondent, who served
as Treasurer and several times as President, was especially valu-

able for nourishing and maintaining the Club’s long and harmonious relationship with our landlord, Mitsubishi Estates.

Moving on
Following the 1953 Korean armistice, a drop in correspondents led to the relocation of 1955, when the Club moved torecently vacated American Club premises on a nearby cornerat Naka-dori. The move altered the character of the Club, withhostel facilities a fading memory and a substantial increase in
Associate members bringing in much-needed revenue. Special
arrangements with the American Club and the Yokohama Yacht
Club extended automatic membership of both Clubs to any
member applying to the FCCJ, a considerable perk that continued until 1959. In fact, a fair-sized cohort of members belonged
to the American Club but for various reasons still maintained
offices in Marunouchi and needed somewhere to go for lunch
after their own club moved to distant Azabudai.

Associates
Associate membership, initially intended for family members,
had existed as a separate category since the Club’s 1946 Constitution. However, non-family Associate members, such asaccountant Bill Salter, were active from 1947. The Club from its
inception has always been run by Regular members, correspondents assigned to Japan who elected from among their number
Club officers and Board directors as well as volunteers to participate in the committees that ensure the viability and vitalityof the Club. Over the years, countless Associate members havevolunteered their talents for Committee work. Sometime in the
mid-1960s the ratio of Associate to Regular members was set atfour to one.

INDEX09 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJSEVENTY-FIVE YEARS IN A NUTSHELL
The Chiyoda Building Annex
Our tenancy of the former American Club premises proved
short-lived, however, and in 1958 the FCCJ moved two blocks
up Naka-dori in the direction of Hibiya to its home for the next
18 years. For most members, the new building, re-named the
Chiyoda Building Annex, held far greater appeal in terms of layout and location. Just around the corner and across Hibiya-dori
was the famous ‘Double Bridge’ (Nijubashi) crossing the moat
into the Imperial Palace grounds. The then-headquarters in Yurakucho for the Asahi Shimbun was within walking distance, as
were theatres, restaurants, and shopping areas and the Ginza.
A new center of social life for Club members was in the making.
The FCCJ occupied the lower floors, with reception on thefirst floor, the main bar and dining room easily accessible up a
stairway, a Library much expanded from an initial contribution
by Ian Mutsu in 1947, and workrooms available around the clock.
The Stag Bar in the basement gained a degree of infamy for its
huge calendar photo of a nude Marilyn Monroe (“The Marilyn”),
and signage ‘For Stags Only’ fashioned from a cut-out of a naked
Japanese model. The late James Michener coordinated themove but had little to do with the signage. In 1963, the model
cut-out was replaced by the new/old ‘Shimbun Alley’ title, and in1969 the Stag Bar retreated upstairs to the second floor.

Chiyoda Building Annex, the FCCJ’s third club house

An oddly subdued gathering in the infamous Stag Bar in the basement of the Chiyoda Building: was it really so risqué?

INDEX10 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJSEVENTY-FIVE YEARS IN A NUTSHELL
No.1 Shimbun and other changes
Shimbun itself, meaning newspaper in Japanese, continued toplay a large part in the Club’s identity with the establishment of
the Club’s monthly publication, No. 1 Shimbun, in 1968. Sports,
too, came to play vital part in Club life. Golf from 1963 and its
semi-annual tournaments became a tradition, reaching a highpoint when the winner’s trophy in May of 1983 was presented byPrime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone. From 1972 until the 1990s,
Softball became an FCCJ preoccupation, with the ‘Alley Cats’
team of members and staff echoing the Club’s first name andaddress. Interest in tennis seems to have run hot and cold.
Entertainment and social events also increased in number
and variety after the 1958 move. Anniversary parties, withskits by members spoofing themselves and skewering themighty, became more subdued in later years, and the skits
fell by the wayside.

Distinguished guests
Appearances by royalty included a reception for Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon in 1969, and in 1985 Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko were the highlight of the 40th anniversary party. Inaugural parties for new administrations, oncea huge draw, disappeared after the 1990s, as did fashion showsby such luminaries as Hanae Mori and Issey Miyake. National

Britain’s Princess Margaret, Antony Armstrong-Jones (Lord Snowdon)
and FCCJ President Ugo Puntieri, 1969

‘nites’ sponsored by embassies, musical evenings from modern
to classical, cultural events scrutinizing aspects of Japan alongside prefectural offerings, wine and sake tastings, bingo games
all have a long, continuing history. The regular movie nights ofearlier years later morphed into special presentations by filmmakers themselves. Meanwhile the personal introduction of
new books with author appearances at our Book Breaks havebecome semi-professional events.

PAC
Professional Activities – so critical to the Club’s identity – alsochanged with the times. The military briefings of earlier years
and the occasional but extraordinary press luncheons attendedby General MacArthur and other top brass during the Occupation were replaced from the late 1950s by expanded and morevaried professional events. Club records show two professional
events in 1956 quadrupling to eight in 1958 and then increasing
rapidly until they passed the 100 mark in 1991. Speakers at these
events included prime ministers, presidents, foreign ministers,
ambassadors, religious leaders, movie stars, cosmonauts,
astronauts, writers, scholars, financiers, business tycoons, andexperts from every field of human endeavor imaginable, including a heart-transplant surgeon.
Internationally oriented, the FCCJ on occasion failed to invite
speakers likely to attract Japanese journalists, and so some 25
years after the surrender of 1945, Japanese journalists decided
to create their own nationally oriented club.
In late 1969, the formation of the Japan National Press Club
increased the competition for top-flight speakers, and the 1970s
saw some falling-off in appearances by high-ranking politicians
and government officials at the FCCJ.

Kisha kurabu
40th Anniversary Party - Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko, 1985

Access to local news sources was made difficult by Japan’s
kisha kurabu (‘press club’) system and the hundreds of small
clubs attached to ministries, agencies, trade associations,INDEX11 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJSEVENTY-FIVE YEARS IN A NUTSHELL
and so on, that limit access to press conferences to members. This became a problem for foreign media organisations
trying to set coverage of the 1959 wedding of Crown Prince
Akihito and Michiko Shoda. This in turn inspired the FCCJ
to form an independent organization, the Foreign Press inJapan (FPIJ) to deal with issues of press coverage and freedom of the press. Membership in the FCCJ is not required tojoin the FPIJ, which continues today as an important go-between with Japanese authorities.

Parade to new No.1 Shimbun Alley, the Yurakucho Denki Building, 1976

Over to Yurakucho
Relocation came again in 1976, and this time to new premises
with one of the best views in Tokyo. The 20th floor of the Yurakucho Denki Building, standing on the corner of Naka-dori andHarumi-dori, the broad street separating Marunouchi from Hibiya, became our new home. Located between Yurakucho train
station on the Yamanote line and Naka-dori, the building also
had convenient subway stops in the basement.
Considerable fanfare marked the move, with a parade down
Naka-dori led by a Scots duo of bagpiper/drummer and four
former presidents – John Roderick (AP), John Rich NBC), Mack
Chrysler (USN&WR), and Max Desfor (AP)—marching abreast
bearing the Club’s bronze name plaque and followed by members carrying the FCCJ banner. It was a short march of only
three blocks to the new premises.
The views of a distant Mt. Fuji and much of Tokyo Bay
delighted members, as did the first-class amenities. Over time,these views became mostly blocked as high-rise buildings
mushroomed around us, although a partial view of the Imperial grounds on one side and Ginza on the other remained. Anda glance down Naka-dori toward Otemachi still takes in all of
Marunouchi, the largest business district in Japan. Later renovations included a spiral staircase providing direct access to
the 19th floor after the Library and workrooms were moved
there in the late 1990s to allow expansion of the dining and bar
areas and easier access to the Club offices next to the Library.

Character
Subtle changes in the character of the Club followed each relocation. The 1954 move ended the war-correspondent aura ofearlier years even though members continued to cover suchconflicts as the Quemoy/Matsu bombardments in the 1950s
and the Vietnam war that ended in 1971.
This last war added seven more FCCJ members to our 18 casualties of the Korean War. While the 1958 move to cozier premises
strengthened the journalistic ambience and camaraderie of theClub, it also saw a shift toward business and economic news coverage in response to Japan’s sustained economic growth andtrade anomalies. That trend accelerated after the 1964 Tokyo
Olympics, the same year a business correspondent, Buddy
Cohn of Fairchild Publications, was elected President despitesome questions over his status as a ‘traditional correspondent’.
Similarly, the 1976 move to the Yurakucho Denki Building
affected the Club’s character, with some eventual dimming ofcamaraderie and journalistic ambience. Club veterans cite one
cause as the 1990 replacement of the small ‘Shimbun Alley’ bar,still dominated by the blowup of Marilyn Monroe, by a sushi barthat resulted in a diaspora of veterans who had made it something of a sanctuary. Additionally, the earlier diversification
trend saw the generalists of yore replaced by correspondents
specializing in financial, business, cultural, and scientific news.
But the major catalyst dimming the old spirit was the rapid
growth of the digital age and networking, which lessened correspondents’ dependence on Club facilities or the need to meet,greet and swap news with other journalists. Finally, the bursting

Eisaku Sato and Albert (Al) Kaff, 1967

INDEX12 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJSEVENTY-FIVE YEARS IN A NUTSHELL

Last night before renovation, 1993of Japan’s economic bubble in the early 1990s and the following‘lost decades’ made Japan less newsworthy, with a shift of journalistic interest to China and Korea.
Japan’s economic doldrums affected Club membership as well.
Overwhelming applications for Associate membership from themid-1960s resulted in us putting a ceiling on that category anda years-long waiting list, but over time, those numbers dropped
to a mere 20 in 1995, partly due to the economic situation andpartly due to competition in an increasingly cosmopolitan Tokyo.
A membership category introduced in 1975, Professional Associate, gave local foreign journalists the same status as Regularmembers, except for voting rights. A special category was also
created in the 21st century to attract younger members.

From shadan hojin to koeki status
The Club entered a new era in 2011 following revision of Japanese law that eliminated its shadan hojin status in 2014. In its
stead, a majority chose to seek koeki or ‘public-interest’ status,
which meant that 50% or more of its funds must be used for
public service or benefit. To meet this goal, the Club opted tooutsource its food-and-beverage operation – the first contract
went to the Tokyu Group's International Restaurant Services(IRS) – that necessitated a large and painful reduction in Club
staff. A referendum in 2012 approved the plan for koeki status
by a two-thirds majority. Revision of the Articles of Association
and Bylaws, also a requirement, passed in 2013 and took effectupon our change of status on April 1, 2014. This controversial
restructuring brought another first to the Club in the form of
lawsuits, two involving former employees, another by a group of
members questioning the validity of the outsourcing contract,and one by an individual over alleged defamation of character.

The final move
In October 2018, the Club moved to new premises for the fifthtime, relocating to the fifth and sixth floors of the Nijubashi
Building on Nakadori. With the move, we exchanged our bird’seye view of Yurakucho for a side view of the Imperial Palacegrounds, but we were still in the same neighborhood. The atmosphere in the Club also changed, and the membership has beenadjusting itself accordingly.
Despite going through so many changes over the years, the
FCCJ of 2013-2014 had gained considerable status as one ofthe oldest, largest, and most active press clubs in the world.
Journalistic ambience and the spirit of camaraderie remained
alive and well. The membership stood at some 2,000, includingin the Regular category over 300 foreign correspondents andtheir Japanese counterparts, many with significant careers outside Japan, as well as over 200 Professional Associates working
as local journalists. Associate members numbered somewhat
fewer than 1,500 and ranged from entrepreneurs to businessexecutives and a variety of other professionals. Honorary membership, usually accorded to ambassadors, speakers at PAC andBook Break events, and special guests, remains a separate category dating from the Club’s earliest days, and is not counted in
our membership rolls.

● Charles Pomeroy became a Member of the FCCJ in 1965, and has
been a Regular Member since 1967. His edited history of the Club,
Foreign Correspondents in Japan (1998) provides definitive detailon the Club’s founding years and telling insights on the Club’s
fortunes during the Korean and Vietnam wars, and all the years
running up to publication.

INDEX13 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJHALCYON DAYSTHE FCCJ IN THE 1970s AND 80s

Capacity attendance: a full crowd kicks off the 1970s at the 25th Anniversary party

DONALD KIRKIn the fall of 1971, when I first joined as Far East correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, the FCCJ
was a very exciting place to be. Veteranjournalists hung out there every day, thework room was humming, the library a mosthelpful institution and the dining room and bar,humming with news, gossip, food and drink,presided over by that stunning photo of a nude
Marilyn Monroe.
If the FCCJ has lost a little of its historical lustre, it’s for two interrelated reasons. One is that
foreign news organizations, notably American,
have cut right back on foreign news. Most news
Donald Kirk, 1971
bureaus in Tokyo have slashed staff or pulled
out completely. At the same time, the internet makes it possible

for journalists to work out of their homes or offices without any
need to turn to the FCCJ as a hub of information.
When they can google just about any historicaldetail, few journalists need turn to the once-indispensable FCCJ library.

Good company and‘the real Japan’
Looking back nearly half a century to 1971, theway I remember the old-timers of my day is not
so much for evenings in the bar as for the quality of their conversation and their company.
Dick Halloran, whom I had known in a fellowship
program at Columbia, briefed me from a professional foundation built on many years with McGraw-Hill and14 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJHALCYON DAYS
Business Week, the Washington Post and then the New YorkTimes. Sam Jameson, who recommended me for the Tribune
when he moved to the Los Angeles Times, was happy to tell mejust about everything he had learned from his years in Japan
beginning with the Stars and Stripes. John Roderick of the AP
was a congenial raconteur, evoking memories of his days as acorrespondent who had met Mao while covering the Communist revolution in China and filing from so many other datelines.
We may never have resolved such perennial questions as
where or what was ‘the real Japan’, why the Japanese behave as
they do, whether or why or how the Japanese might be instinctively or intuitively anti-foreign, if indeed they were all thatanti-foreign, or what it was that separated Japanese from we
gaijin, the ‘outside people’. If nobody figured out Japan during
my heyday at the Club, it wasn’t for lack of trying. The FCCJ wascentral to this monumental quest. On any given day or night,
you would find people only too willing to discuss such questions
while picking up hard news at talks and pressers, at the bar, overlunch and any meal, and in thorough, questioning seminars.

Getting stale
The FCCJ was so critical to getting the news in Tokyo that at times
I felt I must be spending too much time there. Maybe too manyof us confined our reporting to one or two square miles of downtown Tokyo, from the FCCJ to the foreign ministry to a few othergovernment offices and news and corporate headquarters. It was
all part of the never-ending challenge to absorb ‘the real Japan’,whatever that was. After a while, despite frequent excursions
outside my main beat, I began to get the feeling I was writing
much the same story, or the same type of story, over and over.
So for variety or relief, one could take off for Seoul. A few
months after I got to Tokyo correspondents descended for negotiations in Seoul sponsored by the North and South Red Cross.
Keyes Beech of the Chicago Daily News, another late-lamented
paper, was there, as was Don Oberdorfer, just arrived in Tokyo
for the Washington Post. Oberdorfer and I flew often to Saigon
where Beech was spending more and more of his time.

SoftballLife at the FCCJ had plenty of fun moments outside the Club. Fora couple of years I ran the FCCJ softball team. Two FCCJ staffers,
Hosono and Mori, were among our stalwarts, alongside Andy
Adams, Jim Abrams, Mel Tsugi, Mark Schreiber, Shiro Yoneyama
and Glenn Davis. Ron Yates took over the team and my job for
the Chicago Tribune in 1974 when I joined the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on a Murrow fellowship.
The main problems running the softball team were making surepeople turned up and giving everyone a chance to play. If you got
a dozen people out there, you had to get everyone into the gameeven though you would rather some stayed on the bench. (As acertified non-athlete, I never played if there were enough men on
the field). We had a couple of unforgettable ringers. One of ourINDEX

15 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

INDEXF E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJHALCYON DAYS
best was John Wells, a teacher, lately laid up with cancer. Then
there was the power-hitting Barry Forman, later jailed on drug
charges. Team solidarity required that I visit him in Fuchu.

Bill Lamp in the workroom

Freelance heaven
The FCCJ was absolutely essential for freelancers, who reliedon the workroom and counted on front desk staff for support.
Returning to Japan as a freelancer, I found myself sending stories by messenger from the FCCJ to Reuters and UPI, both ofwhich transmitted my files to papers in the U.S. and London.
Before joining USA Today in 1982 I was filing for up to eight
different papers, all in different regions. This intense freelancing, impossible without the FCCJ, was way more profitable
than working as a staffer for any newspaper. Today I wouldn’t
get away with it. Newspapers no longer invest in foreign news,
and the so-called miracle of the internet means you can’t send
exclusives to editors who only have to click their keyboards tosee what you’re writing for their rivals.

The one and only
Inside the FCCJ there were plenty of characters around. One of
the more memorable was Barry Riddell, a South African who
had once been with Reuters in London. He got accredited tosome good news organizations, including the Chicago Daily
News and the Evening Standard of London, and eked out anexistence as an editor for a business magazine.
I ran into him again in Manila in the mid-70s. Barry was afont of information and insights, on a first-name basis with
Philippine politicos and journalists, providing detailed memos
to NHK, whose correspondents saw him as a pipeline into the

Barry Riddell strikes a blow for press freedom, Number1 Shimbun, April 1974

local scene. Barry had already won a niche in FCCJ history as theClub’s first and only streaker, having run across the dining room
naked at a Club occasion, but we had much more to talk about
when we met for the last time nine or ten years ago.
The next time I heard about Barry came after his death on
December 10, 2013, when his landlord found his body in his
single room in Manila. More than a month later, no one hadclaimed the body.
Barry’s name lives on in the memory of those who werearound in those days as do so many others who traipsed in andout of the FCCJ, hanging around for a few months or years oreven decades. The 1970s and 80s were halcyon days for foreign
journalism in Japan. All kinds of stories, in Japan and the region,
showed up on our radar screens. The internet was an unimaginable phenomenon, a mere menace on the horizon. The clubbrought a vital dimension to our lives and work. Those reallywere the days, my friends.
● Donald Kirk joined the FCCJ in 1971 soon after arriving as
correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. He has returned toTokyo many times over the years, filing for numerous papers
including The Observer and the old International Herald Tribune.

INDEX16 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJFUN INMARUNOUCHISANDRA MORIS

ome things don’t leave you, however
far back you go. I was barely elevenyears old, but I still can’t forget thestark, twisted girders of Kawasaki
seen from the train between Tokyo and Yokohama. The stalls along the Ginza too, with barely clad families selling their heirlooms for the
price of a supper. Many a collector of Japanese
art got their start at these stalls.
Even today, I hold in my mind’s eye our second location, the Chiyoda Annexe Building in
Marunouchi, the first of our premises to be called

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, thebuilding and the concrete pillars in the lobby stillsmudged and sooty from the B29 firebombingof Marunouchi. I was eleven. According to myfather, who worked for SCAP, the initial plan had
been to ring-fence the entire area for GCHQ,
but MacArthur, a more than occasional visitor
to the Club, had all the space he needed at theDaiichi Seimei Building, and after some initial
opposition, the hacks bedded down near theirworkplaces. Dozens of correspondents were living and working in offices around Marunouchi
and the Club was teeming with people waiting
and drinking. Men and women in uniform andClockwise from top left:
11th Anniversary Party 1956;
New Years Eve Party, Albert (Al)Kaff 1964; French Night 1957;
Italian Night - Takako Shimazu 1963

INDEX17 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJFUN IN MARUNOUCHI
fatigues, few with more than a smattering of Japanese, sat aroundon mismatched sofas and leather armchairs rescued from thefires of war, and drank and waited, and drank some more.

Reception
The front desk of the Chiyoda Annex Building on Marunouchi
was overseen by the wonderful Mary Ushijima, a friend to all,especially this 11 year old kid. Mary always had the last word onjust about everything there was to know. I have fond memoriesof the nights the Zenier Brothers, famed Pacific war correspondents, set up a camera on the roof for me and my schoolfriends
to watch movies while our parents partied downstairs.
The Club’s Marunouchi location saw us in our heyday. Every
bigwig who came to Tokyo appeared at the FCCJ and that
included local celebrities. Politicians, diplomats, artists, celebrated movie stars – Gina Lollobrigida made a grand entranceon our staircase – and world-famous musicians. The food was
terrific. T-bone steaks, quality international fare and even an
excellent lasagna recipe from our Italian President Ugo Puntieri.
We were hosting the Foreign Minister Toshio Kimura in 1974
when a car rearended a truck of gas canisters nearby, setting
off a blast that took out some of our windows. Demonstrating the sang-froid essential to all institutions worthy of the
Fourth Estate, consideration resumed on the relative merits ofvichysoisse or gazpacho, as we had reached the soup stage, but
nobody remarked on the state of the windowpanes (Pomeroyed. 1998: 207).
Our anniversary parties featured brilliant skits from our considerable reserve of gifted members. There were many firsts. A
celebrated tattoo artist redesigned some of our members rightbefore our eyes. I was so excited I made an appointment to surprise my husband with a little heart somewhere, but when I told
him my plans, he warned that he would divorce me if I did any
such thing – the perfect shitamachi response.
We had fashion shows too. I interviewed Hanae Mori on
her Vivid clothing line at her shop in Shinjuku when I was stilla teenager on the Japan Times. This was the woman who put
Japanese fashion on the map.

The move
The move to Yurakucho was sad for many but not for long. The
guys made a memorable parade to the 20th floor of the Denki
Bldg. and we resumed our famous PAC luncheons featuring
the popular Ambassador’s Table, where they really let their
hair down. For many of them, Tokyo was often the penultimate
assignment before Washington D.C., so rumors were in the airand news was there in the making. All you had to do was listen.
I served on the Board in Yurakucho but spent most of my timeon the F&B, Entertainment and even Bradley Martin’s House
and Property Committee. Being on both F&B and Entertainment
helped me build up the Sunday Brunch, and we had some superinternational events with native cuisine, music and dance (ourOur fourth club house on the 20th floor of the Yurakucho Denki Building

Cuba Nights were outstanding). The F&B’s Bob Kirschenbaumand Ernie Solomon introduced Wine Dinner Nights, always a big
hit. We ran our own kitchen and we could stage any event any
time we wanted.

Waking up the weekend
The Club was too quiet on weekends, but Glen Davis had thebrilliant idea of Saturday Night (now ‘Nite’) Live to busy up thebar and get in some regular entertainment for the membership.
Children’s birthday parties were also introduced at Yurakucho,
making full use of all facilities on quiet weekend afternoons. My
son Dan got into the first.
Now we are at Nijubashi and we have to play the hand we’vebeen dealt. Right now Covid has limited our functions but we’ll
get going again. Meanwhile, Saturday Night Live is going strong:
free, no cover charge, no table charge, and some of the bestentertainment in town. Check your messages or see what’s on
the website and join us.
● Sandra Martine Mori first came to Tokyo from California at the ageof 11. She joined the FCCJ in September 1969, writing for Anone and
the Japan Times in her teenage years and progressing to a column
on the Mainichi Daily News. She served on the Board of Directors
at the Yurakucho Denki Building and is a long-serving Chair of theEntertainment Committee.

INDEX18 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJ

LIGHTS!
ACTION!
CABLE!
THE FCCJ GOES TO THE MOVIESERIC JOHNSTON

W

hile the FCCJ has long been celebrated asa location for any number of impromptu
Oscar-worthy performances, over the past 75
years, numerous genuine Hollywood producers
and directors have used the Club or the experiences of foreign
journalists in Japan to tell their own stories on celluloid. Hereare some recommended long (best?) forgotten classics where
you can catch a glimpse of “FCCJ” in its earlier days and/or theadventures of intrepid foreign journalists in Japan.

Blood on the Sun (1945)
Any film with James Cagney working at a Japan-based
English language newspaper is worthy of a five-star review.
In Blood on the Sun, Cagney stars as the hard-bitten editor of
the “Tokyo Chronicle”. Set just before World War II, Cagney’s
character, Nick Condon, uncovers a plot by a Japanese aris-

https://youtu.be/G2iOvnRP_rM

tocrat to expand Japan’s military empire. Unfortunately for
Condon, the Chronicle’s owner, an apologist for the Japanese
government, tries to get him to retract the story. Another
Chronicle reporter then gets hold of the plan, but decides touse it to blackmail the Japanese government. That doesn’t
go at all well, for Condon ends up dead. You’ll have to see
the ending for yourself. One unexpected highlight is hearing
James Cagney speak Japanese.
There are also a few scenes, however, of Cagney and otherTokyo-based foreign journalists at their favorite drinking establishment. As Blood on the Sun is set in the late 1930s, on a set
more reminiscent of Rick’s Café than Marunouchi, it was notfilmed at the real FCCJ. Obviously, additional scenes of journalists (all white men) sitting at the bar, wearing suits and fedoras,smoking pipes, getting sloshed, complaining to each otherabout who owes who money, and declaring they intend to write
books on Japan are clearly nothing more than a figment of thescreenwriter’s imagination, someone who never knew foreign
journalists in Japan.

INDEX19 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJ
LIGHTS! ACTION! CABLE!
Pretty much every traditional stereotype of Japan is on
display and the film, which was shot with Occupation approval, feels like what it is: a period American propaganda piece.
Whether the interior shots of “FCCJ” are those of the actual Clubof the time, only those who were members then, or remember
visiting it as young children, can say.

The Manster (1960)

https://youtu.be/Lfdm45cBVTk

Tokyo File 212 (1951)
Tokyo. 1951. The last outpostof democracy in the Far East.
The Korean War is raging. The
postwar Occupation is winding
down but the Red Menace inJapan is threatening to take thecountry into the Communist
Block. Enter Jim Carter (Robert
Peyton), a poor man’s Humphrey Bogart who works as a
spy for an unnamed U.S. intelligence agency. Carter arrives inTokyo, his job to track down his
old college roommate, a Japanese from a prominent family
who has fallen in with the Japan Communist Party and its fellow
travelers. While on assignment, he will see the underbelly ofTokyo as well as experience high culture and strange food, work
beside a mysterious White Russian refugee (whose sibling was
kidnapped to North Korea), and ultimately save Japan from acommunist takeover.
While Tokyo File 212 belongs in the ‘so-bad-its-good’ category,it holds a certain appeal for FCCJ members, for Carter is working undercover as a journalist. He hops into a charcoal-powered
taxi, and gets taken to the Tokyo Foreign Correspondents’ Club,
showing the original exterior. That’s where he is lodging, and assoon as he opens the door to his room, he discovers the beautiful White Russian lady Steffi (played by Florence Marley, whosecomical Russian accent is as bad as her acting) asleep in his bed(a common occurrence at FCCJ back then). She turns into his
assistant and the adventures begin. Another FCCJ resident journalist is a tall British man who spends his time drinking gin andbeing fanned by a Japanese woman in a kimono.

After three years in Tokyo,
an American foreign correspondent turns into a raving
beast, develops a second
head, and goes on a murderous rampage through thestreets of Tokyo.
OK, the plot of The Manster,a 1960 cult classic, is a bit
more complicated than that.
The American reporter, Larry
Stanford (Peter Dyneley), has
tracked down a mad scientist
named Dr. Suzuki (played by
the brilliant Nakamura Tetsu,
who would star in a number of Japan-themed Hollywood films)
is his mountain lair. Inquiring minds want to know, Stanford
says, what is going on with all of these test tubes. Is Suzuki doing
experiments on human beings, trying to alter their DNA?
No, no, not all, Suzuki replies — before injecting Stanford
with a mysterious serum after knocking him out with a sleeping pill slipped into his whisky glass. When Stanford comesto, he’s woozy but says, “no story here.” He also tells Suzuki
that, as he’s due to return the U.S. in a few days, he wants tohave some fun.

https://youtu.be/Sn2dztCLvL8

INDEX20 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJ
LIGHTS! ACTION! CABLE!
Stanford and Suzuki head out for a night on the town, ending
up with geisha, etc. etc. But Stanford is changing, becoming
more irritable. Just another cynical hack or is something elsegoing on? It turns out to be the latter. Stanford quarrels withhis editor, get drunk, misses the plane to New York, and causes
all sorts of problems. Finally, in a classic scene, Suzuki’s truth
serum produces its ultimate effect: a second head pops out of
Stanford’s shoulder and his transformation from a rough, cynical Tokyo-based foreign correspondent to a hairy, two-headed
hairy beast who goes on a killing spree is complete.
While there is nothing in The Manster directly connected to
FCCJ, there are a couple of scenes featuring Stanford in what
appears to be a newspaper office somewhere in central Tokyo,
with a couple of foreign faces and lots of Japanese staff serving as extras. Some unconfirmed reports say that this was The
Japan Times’ office of the period. Others have said it was more
likely the Associated Press or UPI offices. FCCJ members who
were in Tokyo in 1960 are encouraged to view the film to see ifthey can determine which newspaper or wire service office, ifany, served as the location for those scenes.

A Girl Named Tamiko (1962)
This was noted British actor Laurence Harvey’s “other film” thatcame out about the time of the internationally acclaimed The
Manchurian Candidate, in which Harvey had a role as a character who had been brainwashed.
In “Tamiko” Harvey plays Russian-Chinese photographer Ivan
Kalin, who is living in Tokyo but trying desperately to get permission from the U.S. embassy to emigrate to America. Kalin has
a very complicated love life, including a kindhearted Japanese
girlfriend named Eiko who he dumps for an American woman

Part 1

https://dai.ly/x3qi1w5

who works at the U.S. embassy. Kalin hopes that by romancing
her, he can get his visa application approved.
Katlin is approached by an American travel magazine editor
who has just arrived in Tokyo. The editor invites him for a drink
at FCCJ, and we’re treated to numerous scenes of a crowdedbar, black and white photos on the walls, and male reporters
elbow to elbow drinking scotch or martinis or sitting, with a few
women, at the tables, everybody nattily dressed and holding
cigarettes. One wonders if the producers of ‘Mad Men’ referenced these scenes to create the set designs and atmosphereof their show.
But it’s not all male bonding at the bar. Katlin meets the FCCJ
librarian, a woman with an aristocratic background named
Tamiko. He visits her in her office, surrounded by paper files. We
see the other journalists relaxing, smoking, and reading.
And then? Katlin the cad, the scoundrel, the two-timing foreign photographer, actually falls in love with the demure Tamiko.
Who says the FCCJ isn’t a romantic place? The two make a trip
to Nara and Lake Biwa. Check out the ending for yourself, but
it’s not as entertaining and, no doubt, nostalgic as the scenes
filmed at “FCCJ”. Again, members who remember the real FCCJ
bar and library of 1962 are better placed to say how authentic
these scenes really are. Or whether those filmed at the bar
and in a few other scenes were old friends and associates who
decided to have a bit of fun and serve as extras.
There are no doubt other films out there where FCCJ figures,
either in reality or as part of the plotline (excluding documentaries, of which there are no doubt plenty with scenes of FCCJ).
If so, let us know. The above films are all available for free on
YouTube. So make up that batch of buttered popcorn, sit back,and see the FCCJ and foreign journalists in Japan the way Hollywood and the world, once saw us and probably still does.

Part 2https://dai.ly/x5l3n6i● Eric Johnston first joined the FCCJ in 2000, and is currently Senior Kansai Correspondent for The Japan Times. He enjoys discovering old
films about Japan, especially those that feature the Kansai region.

INDEX21 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJWHERE
THE NEWSIS MADE

Rooftop view from our late-lamented premises, the Yurakucho Denki Building

DAN SLOAN

H

appy 75th! I’ve been a proud Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan member for a third of ourhistoric era, in roles ranging from left field on oursoftball team to leadership of our Board. This
month I have come to praise Caesar, not to bury him, to lookback at our storied past and try to put our future into someperspective. I’ll start with some early memories, as well as
heroes of the past and present who have graced our organization during my years.
I was living in Los Angeles in the 1980s when an LA Times
advertisement before a film featured Tokyo Correspondent SamJameson, walking the streets of ancient Edo and daily making

the inscrutable economic juggernaut more understandable for
Californians. After moving back to Japan in 1988, I met Sam in
the Yurakucho Denki Building bar a few years later at the invitation of Pat Killen, and the world – or Tokyo media fish bowl – had
suddenly become smaller and more navigable, as I was nearing
a seat at the hallowed Correspondent’s tables.
Pat and I were acquainted through the Press Club Alleycats,
the softball team that included FCCJ members such as Glenn
Davis, George Faas, Yoshi Fujii and Roger Schreffler, as well as
Club staff such as Chef Fumio Okuda and his son, Hiroshi Hosono, Jimmy Horikawa and Jimmy Semoto. We actually won a few
titles over the years, but needed to import players – both Japanese and expats, as journalists were always better at assessing,rather than possessing, talent.

INDEX22 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJ
WHERE THE NEWS IS MADEFCCJ Alleycats (Fall 1993): Jim Semoto, Bruce Rutledge, Glenn Davis and masked Pat Killen (2nd/3rd/4th/9th from top left); Yoshi Fujii,
Dan Sloan and Chef Fumio Okuda (4th/5th/8th from bottom left)

Turning Regular

Plugging on

After joining a trade journal in Tokyo late in the Bubble period,
my Japanese boss agreed to pay for FCCJ membership should
this esteemed institution be mistaken enough to let me in as aRegular. The Club wisely eschewed the opportunity and offered
Professional Associate status instead. Perhaps like Groucho
being rejected by a club, I decided to wait on the FCCJ for another four years until joining Reuters, who supported my membership, alongside our staff. Tom Thomson, Linda Sieg, Irene
Kunii, Chikafumi Hodo, Janet Snyder, Teruaki Ueno, Eiichiro
Tokumoto, George Nishiyama, and Eugene Moosa were amongcorrespondents frequently at PAC luncheons, in the library or
at watering holes at the end of a long day. The policy for mostnews agencies then included FCCJ sponsorship, although thatlargesse has been scaled back almost entirely in 25 years, asbeats changed, budgets shrank, and Internet mobility grew.
The Club environment was collegial, social, and aspirational– you met people whom you had read, watched, and admired.
I had earlier worked at Knight-Ridder in Tokyo after graduate
school, and Lew Simons was the chain’s Asian newspaper correspondent here, as Japan was still seen as a more functional andnewsworthy locale than its neighbors despite the costs. Lew
was the nicest Pulitzer Prize winner you could ever meet, andlike a number of FCCJ members, such as Bruce Dunning, had
begun as a Vietnam War correspondent. On a given night, you
could hear war stories, which for Pat and Ed Neilan dated backto Korea, or for John Roderick to the Long March of the mid1930s. Until recently, you could read historian emeritus Charles
Pomeroy recount FCCJ moments in his monthly articles,
although his war stories occasionally detailed skirmishes morein the bar than on the battlefield.

Perhaps the wisest thing I did during my own first tour of duty in
the FCCJ was to stay out of Club politics and focus on the Club’s
merits, which included the 50th anniversary party attended
by members of the Imperial family. The Showa Era had ended
and Heisei had turned into an economic black eye for Japan,
and eventually for its media industry. The age of the foreign
correspondent was winding down, and all but a few newspapers or broadcasters closed Tokyo bureaus or gave those still
here responsibilities to cover all of Asia without any increase inresources. Even with a declining professional base, challenged
demographics, and a murky fiscal horizon, the Club kept plugging on with a dedicated staff and by properly assessing theneeds and budgets of its members, and leveraging its optimal
location. I must confess that besides Club amenities, I treasured
our proximity to Andy’s izakaya across the street, the American
Pharmacy in the days before the Peninsula Hotel, and Bic Camera for games and tech. The vending machines under the JRlines also were a plebian treat before or after a train.

Highlights
I can’t remember my first PAC lunch, but it was obvious that theClub embodied its catchphrase “Where the News is Made”. Near
our current library is a mid-1990s photograph of Aum Shinrikyo
spokesman Fumihiro Joyu with Richard Lloyd Parry, and thisevent was among many in the next two decades to fill editorial
copy and newsreels. Having attended or MC’d numerous luncheons with government officials, captains of industry, religious
leaders, sports and arts stars, as well as those driving news in
20th and 21st Century Japan, it became clear that this was ourmost valuable professional service, and unlike other organi-INDEX23 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJ
WHERE THE NEWS IS MADE

Nintendo’s former CEO Satoru Iwata and Design Chief Shigeru Iwamoto with the author, April 2009

zations without access barriers to any working press. I recall
from the head table director Hayao Miyazaki sketching while
he answered questions, a young LDP Secretary-General named
Shinzo Abe separately trying to be as animated as Totoro to askeptical Japan, and Philippine President Gloria Arroyo defying
National Press Club opprobrium and speak at the FCCJ aboutchanges in her country. This platform for history was, and is,the diamond of our organization, and with a greater post-COVID
resumption of services, it will shine even brighter, based on thehard work of our PAC team now led by Akiko Saikawa.

On Board
Eventually, I went from professional interest in PAC to runningfor the FCCJ Board after two years in Singapore that revealed all
I had taken for granted about our organization – its incredible
member diversity and talents, as well as its vanguard role forpress freedom and opportunity. I first joined the BoD in 2003,
and followed Myron Belkind as president. With the help of GM
Seishi Yoda and great colleagues that included Steve Herman,
James Simms, Khaldon Azhari, Yoshisuke Iinuma, Jim Brooke,
Tim Kelly, Dennis Normile, Kaz Abiko, and many others, I rapidly
learned some of the complex Club issues that vexed us, suchas the declining state of our premises and inherent financial
liabilities, the vicissitudes of selecting F&B menus and vendors,
the sacrosanct fiefdoms and blood feuds behind them, the rigors and rigor mortis of our Articles and Bylaws, and (there waseven some good stuff) our young journalist and scholarshipprograms, the amazing movie series in which Donald Richie
selected films to commemorate our 60th anniversary year andKaren Severns now keeps the flame lit, the charitable efforts intimes of crises, the diverse entertainment from bunraku to beebop, and our constant attempt to do the most with not much. If I
wasn’t converted before, I became a believer, and it is this organization now more than ever that needs patronage and support
in the tough hours of the pandemic.
When I spoke at our 60th anniversary party in a red sweater to signify the moment, I took a line from former New York
Mayor David Dinkins, calling the Club a “beautiful mosaic” inwhich every single tile contributes to the whole. I serve now on
our current BoD that faces challenges as significant as the Clubhas ever known, but I have no doubt that someone will write asimilar column for our 100th anniversary. I stopped playing softball years ago, so that may not be a good sign for me as author(my money is on Charles), but I definitely want to read our next
chapter - how we persevered, how like Sam and countless others over the decades we made inscrutable Japan more understandable, and how we continued to thrive as a place where thenews was made.
● Dan Sloan joined the FCCJ in 1994 and is a Life Member. He served
as President in 2004 and 2005-6 and serves on the 2020 Board.
He reported for Knight-Ridder and Reuters for nearly two decades,
and is a regular contributor to EuroBiz Japan. He has worked incorporate communications for Nissan Motor Corporation since 2011.

INDEX24 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJBUILDING ANOSAKA FCCJ?
ERIC JOHNSTONIn February 2019, I was covering the Kansai Economic
Forum for the Japan Times. The annual event draws
about 500 of the region’s largest and most powerfulcorporate executives to discuss national and regional
economic, and sometimes political, strategies.
At one session, discussion was on the 2025 World Expo, which
Osaka had secured the previous November. The mood was
jubilant. But there was also a groundswell of recognition for the
hard work of international local diplomacy and public relations
involved in kick-starting the Expo. What to do? One prominent
attendee, Takuya Nomura, a Cabinet advisor on innovation, suggested that we consider forming an Osaka branch of the FCCJ,or “some sort of Osaka International Media Association”.
As some FCCJ members may recall, there had been an informal Osaka-based journalists’ forum in the late 1990s, based on agroup that included The Guardian’s Justin McCurry and myself.
But there is nothing remotely similar to the FCCJ in Kansai today.
As I wrote in the June 2017 issue of No. 1 Shimbun, Kyoto, not
Osaka, is now the Kansai base for a tiny number of Western journalists, including Regular Member John Ashburne. But there are
any number of Associate Members who call Osaka and otherparts of Kansai home.

Early days
While the Expo is still nearly five years away, local discussions
on foreign media coverage are already under way. In May, at
Nomura-san’s request, I spoke to a small group of Osaka andforeign business leaders and diplomatic officials about the realities of covering Kansai as a foreign journalist.
Obviously, there can never be a Tokyo equivalent of the FCCJ
in Kansai. The demand is not there and never will be. However, some form of new association affiliated with the FCCJ thatserves as a local base for Tokyo-based members and attracts
more Kansai members to FCCJ events, even via Zoom conferencing, is, I believe, possible.

Reaching and planning
How to do it, though? The first step is to reach out to people in
the Kansai region, using the need to publicize the 2025 Expointernationally as a chance to begin discussions between FCCJ
and interested parties in Kansai about what kind of events might

Prescience or prediction? Number1 Shimbun, March 1970

attract interest over the coming year. Here’s one idea of how to
get those discussions going by early 2021.
First, two events, preferably in person but over Zoom if needbe, should be arranged specifically for interested persons in
Osaka and Kyoto in order to introduce and explain the FCCJ.
The theme would be something like ‘75 Years of International
Reporting on Japan’. This could be a panel discussion withsenior FCCJ journalist members, ideally the President and current BoD members. FCCJ members in Kansai could then help
publicize the panel or similar events.
Second, separate meetings – and these should be in-person,
not over Zoom – are needed with senior Osaka and Kyoto government and business officials. Especially those involved with
the Expo. Ideally, an FCCJ delegation, led by the President,
would visit Kansai. Meetings could take place prior to the event.

INDEX25 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

F E A T U R E ›› 75th Anniversary of the FCCJBUILDING AN OSAKA FCCJ?

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC JOHNSTON

Forging the links: FCCJ President Lucy Birmingham talking to Kansai journalists in January 2014

position to determine the kind of activities, including membership promotion, that would be best suited to Kansai journalists.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIC JOHNSTON

Tried and tested

Q&A in Kyoto following FCCJ President Lucy Birmingham and FCCJ Kansai
member Eric Johnston presentation, January 2014

The delegation can listen and offer advice on what the region
might do to increase foreign media interest in the run-up to the
Expo. Local sponsorship to cover transportation/lodging costsof Tokyo FCCJ members to Kansai could be arranged.
While the Corona virus makes it difficult to plan in advance,something like the above could be planned for the winter or
spring of 2021. Once that is held, the FCCJ would be in a better

There are precedents for FCCJ representatives speaking in
Kansai. Former FCCJ President Dan Sloan addressed Kansai
business leaders and local journalists in Osaka. It was, I’ve been
told, one of the best-attended events they’ve ever held. Former
President Lucy Birmingham talked about the FCCJ to audiencesin Osaka and an even larger gathering in Kyoto. In this age of
remote working and live telecasting, there are going to be evenmore reasons to look upon Osaka as an active, interesting andregular base for media activity. Let’s follow them up and makemore of them.
● With over a quarter century of newspaper journalism experience,
all of it in Kansai area, Eric Johnston has worked extensively withJapan-based and overseas foreign journalists visiting the region.
He has a special interest in how past foreign journalists andwriters shaped modern images of Japan in general and Kyoto inparticular. The views in this article are his personal views and do notnecessarily reflect the views or positions of The Japan Times.

INDEX26 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

CLUB NEWSNew members
ASSOCIATE MEMBERHIDETERU OTSUKI,
DeNA Co., Ltd. CTO Office,
System Management Unit

REGULAR MEMBERKARYN NISHIMURA,
Liberation / Radio France /Le Point

Karine (or Karyn) NISHIMURA.
Previously Karyn POUPEE
Born in France. Came in
Japon the first time in 1997,

travelled between Japan andFrance as a free journalist
between 1999 and 2000. Livein Japan since then.
Employed as acorrespondent with AFP fromend of 2004 to February
2020, 15 years. Work now
mainly as correspondent for
Liberation newspaper, Le
Point weekly news magazine
and Radio France Group(3 radio stations, France
Inter, France Info, France
Culture). Monthly chronicle inNewsweek Japan and Tokyo

FM Slow News Program.
Has published several
books about Japan in France,
as well as books in Japan
comparing French andJapanese society.
Laureate of the JapaneseFrench price ShibusawaClaudel price in 2009 withher books « Les Japonais »(Japanese people).
Knight of the French
National Order of Merit.
Married with the Japanesemangaka JP Nishi.
Mother of two boys.

New in the library
2

1
By More Than Providence: Grand
Strategy and American Power in the Asia
Pacific Since 1783
Michael J. Green
Columbia University Press

Exhibitions

Healing Labor: Japanese Sex Workin the Gendered Economy
Gabriele Koch
Stanford University Press

10/03 - 11/06

11/07 - 12/04

12/05 - 01/08

Photo Correspondent Stanley
Troutman: From Hollywood to
the Pacific War

Dog Rescue
Support / group
photo exhibition

Total Recall: Remembering
Japan’s Temple of Speed /photos by Joe Honda

INDEX27 | FCCJ | OCTOBER 2020

OBITUARY

Richard Halloran
1930-2020

We have lost one of our outspoken andrespected former members, who liked tocall himself ‘an ink-stained wretch’. Richard“Dick” Halloran died on August 30, 2020,
at his home in Boulder, Colorado, at the age of 90 after along career as a journalist and author. His career beganwith Business Week in 1957, followed by a two-year stint
as the Tokyo Bureau Chief for McGraw Hill’s World News
from 1962 and membership in the FCCJ. He then took aposition with The Washington Post, which assigned him
to Tokyo as its bureau chief in 1966 for two years. After ayear back in Washington, he joined The
New York Times to return to Tokyo in
September of 1971 as its Tokyo bureau
chief, a position he held until 1976.
Still with NYT, Halloran’s journalistic
focus shifted from Japan to investigative and energy reporting before his
assignment in 1979 to cover defense
and military affairs in Washington,
D.C. over the next ten years. Having
been born into a military family, hisfather was a Naval officer and hehimself had served as a paratroop
officer in the U.S. Army, he was well
prepared for that last assignment.
After retiring from the Times in 1990, Halloran became
Director of the Program on Communications and Journalism at the University of Hawaii’s East-West Center in
Honolulu until 1994. He then took an editorial post at a
now defunct Honolulu newspaper that was replaced in2010 by the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, for which he wrote a
weekly column about U.S. relations with Asia called “TheRising East” for several years.
During his time in Tokyo, Halloran was an active FCCJ
member who strongly criticized Japan’s kisha (journalist)
clubs for their exclusionary control of official news events.
This criticism was included in his 1960s book "Japan: Images and Realities" that drew the attention of Japanese media.
He also participated in debates over FCCJ membership
qualifications for correspondents of government-spon-sored media, such as NPR and Star & Stripes, versus thoseof correspondents from communist countries such as thePeoples Republic of China. He will also be remembered by
the Club’s baseball fans as the center fielder for the Alley
Cats, our baseball team, in the 1970s.
In addition to his first book on Japan, Halloran wrote a
half dozen books on various subjects from military affairs
and international relations to the lives of notable Japanese Americans, such as Senator Spark M. Matsunaga. He
received numerous awards over his long career, including
the George Polk Award for National Reporting, the Gerald
R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense, and the U.S.
Army’s Outstanding Civilian Service
Medal. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he also held an MA in East AsianStudies from the University of Michigan and a Ford Foundation Fellowshipin Advanced International Reportingat Columbia University.
Richard Halloran is survived by hiswife of 42 years, Fumiko Mori Halloran,
as well as two daughters from an earlier marriage and five grandchildren.
His son from the earlier marriage,
Christopher, died of cancer in 2015.
Fumiko, it should be noted, also was writer who authoredover a half dozen books, primarily in Japanese.
Personally, Richard and Fumiko Halloran were goodfriends with whom my wife and I shared companionshipand dinners during Hawaii visits in the first decade ofthis century. “Dick,” as we called him, was “a thoroughly decent man…a meticulous and fair reporter…and athoughtful host who gathered informed Japanese andforeigners for stimulating seminars.” These words weretaken from his post-mortem tribute to Sam Jamesonthat was sent to the Club in 2013. They apply to Dick, but
I would add that he was also insightful and a great guy.
RIP, Richard “Dick” Halloran, you will not be forgotten.
● Charles Pomeroy

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¥5,000 ~ ¥25,000
credit for introducing a new member¥25,000
if you introduce:
Associate, Diplomatic Associate or
Five-Year Associate member¥10,000
if you introduce:
Regular, P/J Associate, Young Associate or
Outside Kanto Associate member¥5,000
if you introduce:
Young Regular, Young P/J Associate,
Outside Kanto Regular or Outside Kanto P/J Associate member

THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS’ CLUB OF JAPANMarunouchi Nijubashi Building 5F, Marunouchi 3-2-3 Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 100-0005, Japanwww.fccj.or.jp E-mail: front@fccj.or.jp Tel: +81-3-3211-3161 Fax: +81-3-3211-3168

The FCCJ may end promotion at any time. Please check with the office to confirm still active.