The colorful history of the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan

First in a three-part series

TOKYO — The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan is a venerated institution that has been based in Tokyo since 1945. Rich in history, it has been a magnet for world leaders, movie stars and other famous people over the years. Its interior walls are covered with photos of famous individuals who had spoken or appeared there: Muhammad Ali, Gina Lollobrigida, Ronald Reagan, Willie Nelson, the Emperor and the Empress of Japan, a young, and articulate Donald Trump, Roger Moore, Maradona, Sting, Tony Bennett, Princess Margaret, Rachel McAdams (promoting the Academy Award-wining film Spotlight), Carlos Ghosn, and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. Among Japanese, some of the most influential people in the nation had set foot in its doors, including Shintaro Ishihara, Mao Asada, Ken Watanabe, Yuriko Koike, Junichiro Koizumi, Hayao Miyazaki, Hideki Matsui, Yuzuru Hanyu, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and a host of others.

I became a member in 1982  when the Club was located on the wood-paneled 20th floor of the Yurakucho Denki Building. It played an important role in both my work and social life. I gave press conferences and Book Break talks there on each of my books and even served on the Board, as a Club vice-president. I particularly liked the Main Bar, which offered a panoramic view of the Tokyo skyline, including the Imperial Palace grounds, as well as a ringside seat to many a drunken argument between journalists.

The FCCJ was established by and for journalists who had landed in Japan at the end of World War II with General Douglas MacArthur, in order to provide essential services to facilitate the task of transmitting the news of Japan to the world when no such facilities existed in war-torn Tokyo.