Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan

In September 1945, disgruntled war correspondents banded together, opposing restrictions on journalists entering Japan due to insufficient housing. They leased a war-battered, five-story building and repaired it to provide hostel services for some 170 correspondents, making it operational in November 1945 even before repairs were completed. They called it “No. 1 Shimbun Alley.” By mid-1947 only 40 members remained, but when the Korean War broke out in June 1950, correspondents once again surged into Japan and club membership jumped to a high of 350. The club has occupied four premises since its foundation: the old Tokyo Kaikan (1945-1954), the former American Club Building (1954-1967), the Chiyoda Annex Building (1967-1976), and the Yurakucho Denki Building (1976-2018).