From the Editor
Justin McCurry
The second Donald Trump presidency is barely three months old and already he and other senior officials have signalled their contempt for sections of the media. After banning the Associated Press from the Oval Office and reorganising press pool arrangements in an attempt to turn government briefing rooms into MAGA echo chambers, the White House trained its sights on Voice of America. In this month’s cover story, Dan Sloan reports on the latest round of “Infowars”, including an interview with VOA staffer and former FCCJ president Steve Herman. Elsewhere, Peter McGill makes the case for the FCCJ leaving Elon Musk’s X platform, Eric Johnston looks back at Japan’s celebrated, and sometimes troubled, relationship with expositions ahead of the opening of the Osaka Expo, and Sloan dissects the challenges posed to our profession by AI. Mark Schreiber takes us on a journey through sites connected to William Adams, the inspiration behind two Shogun TV miniseries, and Stephen Mansfield celebrates the boom in artisanal Okinawan salt. In Ask an Associate, Suvendrini Kakuchi speaks to longtime FCCJ member Takeo Hayano, and Anthony Rowley previews the coming struggle between the U.S. and China for economic supremacy. In their regular columns, Johnston asks if the LDP has taken a risk in selecting Mio Sugita – who has made discriminatory remarks about Ainu people - to fight an Upper House seat in Hokkaido this summer, and Philip Brasor argues that too much Japanese media coverage of the Kurdish community in Saitama Prefecture is informed by bigotry and ignorance.
Cover artwork by Julio Shiiki
The Number 1 Shimbun
April 2025
Publisher FCCJ
Editor Justin McCurry, [email protected]
Designer Julio Kohji Shiiki, www.sedo.co.jp
Website Paul Braganza
Editorial Assistant Naomichi Iwamura
Photo coordination Hiroko Moriwaki
Publications Committee
Justin McCurry (Chair), Suvendrini Kakuchi, David McNeill, Andy Sharp
FCCJ Board of Directors
President Dan Sloan
1st Vice President Khaldon Azhari
2nd Vice President Randy Schmidt
Treasurer Anthony Rowley
Secretary David M. Umeda
Directors-at-Large
Shuri Fukunaga, Suvendrini Kakuchi, Dave McCombs, Taeko Nagayama
Kanji Martin Fackler, Knopf Doubleday Publishing & Simon Farrell, Custom Media K.K.
FCCJ Committee & Ad-hoc Committee Chairs
Publications Justin McCurry
Associate Members’ Liaison Simon Farrell & David Umeda
Entertainment Jake Adelstein & Simon Farrell
Exhibitions Peter Lyon
Film Karen Severns
Finance Anthony Rowley
Food & Beverage Shuri Fukunaga & Michiyo Nakamoto
Freedom of Press David McNeill
House & Property Khaldon Azhari
Human Resources Randy Schmidt
Information Technology Hinza Asif & Yusuke Wada
Library, Archives & Workroom Suvendrini Kakuchi & Robert Whiting
Membership Randy Schmidt
Professional Activities Tetsuo Jimbo & Martin Koelling
DeRoy Memorial Scholarship Martin Fackler
Compliance Kunio Hamada & Yoshisuke Iinuma
Election Yoshisuke Iinuma
Deep Dive Anthony Rowley
Membership Marketing Gary Bremermann
Sports Akihiko Tanabe
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan
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Tel: (03) 3211-3161・fccj.or.jp
Published by the FCCJ All opinions contained within the Number 1 Shimbun are those of the authors. As such, these opinions do not constitute an official position of Number 1 Shimbun, the editor or the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.