Happy New Year from Foreign Press Center Japan
post date : 2019.01.04
Foreign Press Center Japan would like to wish you a happy new year.
Thank you for your understanding and support of the FPCJ’s activities during the past year. Thanks to the support of so many of you, we had another successful year.
In 2019, a new emperor will succeed to the throne, ending the Heisei era and starting a new era with a new name. There will also be many international events held in Japan, including the G20 Summit in Osaka and ministerial meetings, the Tokyo International Conference of Africa's Development, and the Rugby World Cup. This will be the first time for Japan to host a G20 Summit, and will be the first time the Rugby World Cup is hosted in Asia. This summer will also mark only one year left until the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. The number of inbound tourists to Japan has also been rapidly increasing, hitting a record high of 30 million last year.
At the same time, the international situation has been growing even more chaotic, with America First and Brexit as some examples of the challenges being made worldwide to the liberal international order which represents freedom, the rule of law, and multinationalism. With issues in East Asia, the future of the security situation and international economy surrounding Japan has been growing more unclear. In these circumstances, there are hopes for Japan to play a significant role in maintaining the liberal international order.
With this situation leading to increased interest from overseas in Japanese policy and other areas, the FPCJ will continue to cooperate with Japanese governmental agencies, local governments, businesses, academia, and media to assist in the dissemination of diverse, worthwhile information from Japan. To ensure this dissemination of information is possible, we will pay even greater attention to the needs of foreign journalists, and work to support their reporting activities.
We look forward to working with you in the coming year, and ask for your continuing support.
Kiyotaka Akasaka
President, Foreign Press Center Japan
January 2019