November 2024

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.

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October 2024

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.

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September 2024

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. 

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August 2024- New President

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.

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August 2024

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?

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July 2024

The only safe thing is to take a chance.
Elaine May

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.

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May 2024

Dear members,

Charles Darwin’s centuries-old insights into biology can help explain more than the origin of species. They also provide a helpful frame for analyzing what’s going on in society, including the news media industry.

We often hear that mainstream news media are losing trust, readership and viewership because they’re biased or too focused on this and not that. But what does mainstream mean if not broadly popular? They are the fittest, marketwise, and, above all, they survive. 

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April 2024

Dear members,

In conversations with past presidents and longtime members, I’m often greeted with the notion that the club has “always been this way”. It could be easy to believe that the only thing that ever changes at the club is the pace at which things stay the same. 

But we know better.   

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February 2024

Dear members,

Mindfulness is a necessity in the face of grinding layoffs and publication closures across the journalism industry. The words “stunned” and “historic” appeared in coverage of a slew of bad media news stories earlier this month, including the closure of Sports Illustrated magazine and the Los Angeles Times’ decision to lay off 20% of its workforce. Business Insider, Forbes and National Geographic have piled on the misery, shedding journalists and retrenching in recent weeks.

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