President’s Message
- Almost Half a Century with the Foreign Press as a Reliable Facilitator
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Foreign Press Center Japan (FPCJ) was established in 1976, jointly funded by the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association and Keidanren, with the goal of helping the foreign press cover Japan in order to promote diverse and accurate reporting on Japan throughout the world.
Some of the activities the FPCJ carries out for members of the foreign press include press briefings, fellowship programs (inviting journalists from overseas to interview key Japanese politicians, industry figures, and academics), press tours, and assistance for individual reporting. The FPCJ uses the knowhow and experience we have built up over more than 40 years to work together with local governments, universities, research institutions, and other organizations interested in disseminating information from Japan overseas as part of these activities, and provides support for these organizations in reaching the foreign press.
The global spread of COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the FPCJ’s operations, but through the use of digital communications technology we have not only continued carrying out activities online, we have also started new projects.
In the nearly half-century history of the FPCJ, the global media has run stories based on different theories of Japan depending on the time period, with stories about “Japan as No. 1” or “the unusual country of Japan” in the Showa era (1970s and 1980s), then stories about “Japan, unchanging and unable to” or “the Lost Two Decades” in the Heisei era (1989–2019). Interestingly, with the beginning of the Reiwa era (2019-), a new theory of Japan is emerging: many of the issues Japan is already facing are shared global issues, and so other countries should learn from both its successes and its failures in initiatives as a “country with advanced issues,” seeing Japan as a “harbinger state.”
We see this change and evolution of reporting on Japan by the foreign media as a priceless opportunity to help promote understanding of Japan around the world, and even more, to promote a sense of closeness with the people of Japan. To that end, the FPCJ will do our best to live up to expectations and act as a reliable facilitator between foreign press and interviewees in Japan. We ask for your continued support.
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March 2023
Kazuo Kodama
President, Foreign Press Center Japan
Organization (as of June 26, 2023)
| Council | non-permanent |
Akira Ikegami / Professor, Meijo University Misako Ito / Executive Director, Japan Representative, Portland Japanese Garden's Japan Institute Satoru Satoh / Former Ambassador of Japan to Brazil and Spain Hiroki Sugita / Columnist, Kyodo News and Professor, Meiji University Sayuri Daimon / Journalist Hisao Tonedachi / Executive Research Director, Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) Atsushi Yamakoshi / Senior Counselor (International), Keizai Koho Center (Japan Institute for Social and Economic Affairs) |
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| Board of Directors | President | Kazuo Kodama / Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the European Union |
| non-permanent |
Yoshiaki Ito / Visiting Senior Staff Writer, Mainichi Shimbun Shingo Egi / Managing Director and Secretary-General, Japan National Press Club Tadakazu Kimura / Councilor of the International University of Health and Welfare - Specially Appointed Professor of the Graduate School, International University of Health and Welfare Kyoichi Hayashi / Board Member and Secretary General, Nihon Shinbun Kyokai (NSK) |
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| Auditor | non-permanent |
Kuni Sato / Former Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Hungary Akira Matsuzaka / Certified Public Tax Accountant |
| Secretariat |
Secretary-General Director, Strategic Planning and Management Division Director, Media Communication and Planning Division Director, Media Relations Division |