Foreign Correspondents Club or American Club. Worth Joining?

[rainbowtokyo]

Just curious. Is anyone a member of the above clubs? I find it pretty hard to meet intelligent gaijin in Japan at the best of times and I was hoping that the crowd at the above clubs would be worth knowing. I will be paying for the membership myself as I am self-employed. That's said, the dues seem pretty damn steep and I wonder if its worth doing?


http://www.fccj.or.jp/
http://www.tac-club.org/

[Deathblob]

Just curious. Is anyone a member of the above clubs? I find it pretty hard to meet intelligent gaijin in Japan at the best of times and I was hoping that the crowd at the above clubs would be worth knowing. I will be paying for the membership myself as I am self-employed. That's said, the dues seem pretty damn steep and I wonder if its worth doing?


http://www.fccj.or.jp/
http://www.tac-club.org/

I is a menbr off the both clubs. It is gud fer too find teh gaijins who is smurt.

[edin日本]

Just curious. Is anyone a member of the above clubs? I find it pretty hard to meet intelligent gaijin in Japan at the best of times and I was hoping that the crowd at the above clubs would be worth knowing. I will be paying for the membership myself as I am self-employed. That's said, the dues seem pretty damn steep and I wonder if its worth doing?


http://www.fccj.or.jp/
http://www.tac-club.org/

I'm not sure as to how relevant these groups are today. In the past the FCCJ was a focal point for change in Japan. Some 20-30yrs ago the members were very active in various issues–back then it was more than just movie night and a place for the foreign staff of the Japan Times, Maiinichi Daily and the Asahi Evening News to hang out, drink and shoot the sh!t. Back then when we battled windmills the FCCJ always had a good supply of heavy journalistic weapons and WMD's on hand.

BTW, I doubt very much that you'd be allowed to join the FCCJ. You need two active members to invite you into the fold, I'm not an active member these days and I don't think GP's Empress Dowager would bless you with an invite.

[twelvedown]

Here's your outline for the Amerkin club's calendar

Mar 10 Tokyo: Here & Now Cocktail Party
Mar 11 Youth Baseball Skills Evaluation Day
Mar 12 Women's Group Monthly Luncheon: Shunsuke Kimura and Etsuro Ono Concert
Mar 12 A Taste of Oregon
Mar 14 Winemaker Tips
Mar 14 William Saito Lecture
Mar 15 Riedel Wine Tasting with Georg Riedel
Mar 15 Lake Kawaguchi and Oshino Hakkai Tour
Mar 16 “Show & Tell” Club Introduction Party
Mar 16 Library Book Group
Mar 21 Meet the Pro Basketball Players: Chiba Jets
Mar 23 The Post 3-11 Mental Health Tsunami: A Panel Discussion
Mar 24 St Patrick's Day Bowling
Mar 24 Birth Preparation for Couples
Mar 24 Sakura Family Weekend Buffet
Mar 26 Coffee Connections
Mar 26 Gallery Reception

I bet you'll meet all sorts of smart people at the Birth Preparation for couples meeting... oh and the bowling...and the Youth Baseball skilz evaluation day.

I hope you find lots of nice new friends. We'll really miss you around here!

[Super Grover]

Just curious. Is anyone a member of the above clubs? I find it pretty hard to meet intelligent gaijin in Japan at the best of times and I was hoping that the crowd at the above clubs would be worth knowing. I will be paying for the membership myself as I am self-employed. That's said, the dues seem pretty damn steep and I wonder if its worth doing?


http://www.fccj.or.jp/
http://www.tac-club.org/

Or here:

http://japanmensa.jp

or

Contact him. I hear he is dying to hear from just one intelligent person: http://reinceforrnc.com/

[iago]

With TAC you also have to be nominated, seconded and pass an interview before they'll take your (considerable wedge of) money.

Lots of opportunities to meet trailing spouses, trailing rugrats and Japanese who want to network with foreign business people. A lot of Japanese members.

If you're imagining a leather-bound, cigar smoke filled room wherein lofty intellectuals discuss the state of the world... Don't.

[well_bicyclically]

.... as I am self-employed. ...

/

self-employed by choice?? ....or did all the others see you coming??

[rainbowtokyo]

I hope you find lots of nice new friends. We'll really miss you around here!

Nice to know. Pauline Hanson sends you her love old boy. 'Straya forever! It's almost Anzac day. Here's a boiled sweetie for you. http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politi...310-1uqy5.html

Contact him. I hear he is dying to hear from just one intelligent person: http://reinceforrnc.com/

Ah another hateful rightwing nutcase. Spare me.

self-employed by choice?? ....or did all the others see you coming??

Always witty WB. Keep em coming. Still reading the WSJ? Good to hear.

[edin日本]

Ah another hateful rightwing nutcase. Spare me.

Nope! Not gonna! You deserve all the aggravation that's coming your way.

PS; You could always get the Republican twit to nominate you to TAC–the place is a bastion of Republican power in Japan afterall.

[well_bicyclically]

..... We'll really miss you around here!

...like one misses a case of the clap!

[twelvedown]

Mar 12 Women's Group Monthly Luncheon.

Well! Look what you have on the calendar for tomorrow!
Let us know how many intelligent conversations you have over finger sandwiches and decaf.

[Sterling]

FCCJ Membership information: http://www.fccj.or.jp/aboutus/howtojoin

Fees:

... ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP is open to all members of the business, banking, diplomatic and professional communities. The signatures of two sponsors who are Regular, Professional/Journalist Associate, or Associate Members in good standing are required with your application.

Initiation fee: 300,000 yen
Monthly dues: 15,500 yen
Deposit: 40,000 yen
Monthly subscription fee: 400 yen

or, if under 35

YOUNG ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP is available to members of the business, banking, diplomatic and professional communities who are under 35 years old. A certificate which shows your Date of Birth is required with your application. The signatures of two sponsors who are Regular, Professional/Journalist Associate, or Associate Members in good standing are required with your application.

Initiation fee: 50,000 yen
Monthly dues: 11,600 yen
Deposit: 40,000 yen
Monthly subscription fee: 400 yen

FCCJ Events: http://www.fccj.or.jp/event


TOKYO AMERICAN CLUB MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION: http://www.tokyoamericanclub.org/new...embership.html

TAC Fees:
http://www.tokyoamericanclub.org/ima...m_2011_dec.pdf


TAC Events: http://www.tokyoamericanclub.org/club-calendar.html


-----------------------------

Other:

FCCJ members versus TAC members:
- Generally older members at FCCJ (in addition to the journalist members) than TAC (quite a few oldtimers at FCCJ are also members of TAC; many picked FCCJ for the downtown dining facilities in the days that offices were around Marunouchi & Otemachi etc.)
- TAC accommodates families while no one under 16 is allowed in FCCJ. That means bored expat MILFs whom the gym staff have been known to bonk (S&M love hotel behind the TAC) and bratty noisy kids running around. With extravagant facilities, TAC is also more of a social status symbol for Japanese - quite a few Japanese yakuza members who like to flaunt it.
- Dues at TAC are a lot greater than those at FCCJ. Most expat members at TAC have their membership dues and non-refundable deposits paid by their employers.
- If another disaster like 3/11 occurs, if the US Embassy repeats its previous policy of preferential treatment toward 1%'rs, then American TAC members will get advance information and privileges over than of regular hoi polloi compatriots. A week after 3/11, friends & family of Embassy staffers plus all American TAC members were invited to pick up their Potassium Iodide pills from the New Sanno Hotel; no such message was provided to any Americans registered with the Embassy's American Citizens Service (ACS). One week later, as if the Embassy were offering it for the first time, those registered with the ACS got an email inviting them to pick up the pills. See: http://modernmarketingjapan.blogspot...mongst-us.html

[guyjeen]

I'm not an active member these days and I don't think GP's Empress Dowager would bless you with an invite.

Hmmm. You dont seem to be sure of a lot of things these days. Just wanting somebody else to do your work for you?. Does that mean you are an FCC/American Club Expat Drunkee? Lost and alone in a place that you neither have accepted or found acceptance in?

I am beginning to get a handle on your modus apperendi. Give us more Mein Fueherer!

[edin日本]

Hmmm. You dont seem to be sure of a lot of things these days. Just wanting somebody else to do your work for you?. Does that mean you are an FCC/American Club Expat Drunkee? Lost and alone in a place that you neither have accepted or found acceptance in?

I am beginning to get a handle on your modus apperendi. Give us more Mein Fueherer!

Yes, there was a day when I was a member of the FCC, the CCCJ and received regular invites to go to events at TAC and the ACCJ. I was also a member of various commitees organizing the Japan Market Entry Competition and volunteered with several NGO's like Japan Fish Ark and an orphanned childrens group called Hikari no Ei.

And why shouldn't I refer the question on to Trip_Hop, she's GP's very own Jean Pierce, is most likely still involved with both groups and has contacts in places dark and mysterious.

[trip_hop]

And why shouldn't I refer the question on to Trip_Hop, she's GP's very own Jean Pierce, is most likely still involved with both groups and has contacts in places dark and mysterious.

Only go to TAC occasionally as a guest. It's like a modern day version of some colonial British club; corporate execs and well-heeled salarymen in place of sons of the Raj and their compradores; sipping cocktails whilst watching CNN and surfing the net instead of downing G&Ts as the sun sets on their empire; Filipina domestics in place of Indian servants and Chinese amahs bundling the kids and their PS3 consoles into the back of the SUV; while Madam (memsahib) runs back in to confirm the next coffee morning or shopping party with her friends, and discretely leaves her 'mail addo' for the sports pro in tingling anticipation of a good work out! At least they don't get bugged so often by the Russians now.

Many of the members only encounter Japan through the eyes and ears of interpreters, translators and drivers, as they spend/ endure 3~5 years on their expat contract, snug in their Homat, Century-21 flat or Ken apartment, as their spouse fawns and climbs the greasy pole to the top of the corporate tree, awaiting the day when they can cash in their share options and retire.

FCCJ has a good mix now, people are closer to Japan, some young blood coming in, old hands passing on their experiences, and hosts events with decent speakers, plus a handy location close to the Yamanote.

The diplotrash on the Embassy cocktail reception and tea-party trail probably host some of the most interesting events, if you can get an invite, though too many of their staff spend excessive time flaunting their connections and trawling for business deals and consultancies in anticipation of when their diplomatic status runs out, the foreigners' version of amakudari!

Chambers of Commerce and the Japan-XXXX societies (XXXX is the country of you choice) may also stimulate the grey matter, though little English is spoken at the latter.

At a more humble and local level, look for some of the regional business groups and arts societies, as well as Rotary/ Lions clubs, or wave your apron and try your folded pinkie handshake at the Freemasons!

[kurogane]

Seeing as how you are too F'ing stoopid to classify this thread properly, you should fit right in.


With the dumb scum you meet on the street, I mean.

[edin日本]

Seeing as how you are too F'ing stoopid to classify this thread properly, you should fit right in.


With the dumb scum you meet on the street, I mean.

Down boy! Heel! Rainbow Tokyo is not a chew toy!

.................................................. ..........................................

OK! Alright already! You can bury Guyjeen in the hole that jin fell into while he was walking his dog.

Happy now?

[well_bicyclically]

Down boy! Heel! Rainbow Tokyo is not a chew toy!....

.... he is not exactly PLU, now is he? we cannot have that sort amongst us.

[edin日本]

.... he is not exactly PLU, now is he? we cannot have that sort amongst us.

Kurogane! Get the cat!
http://kimages.imikimi.com/image/EoK...=max&width=400

[guyjeen]

Down boy! Heel! Rainbow Tokyo is not a chew toy!

.................................................. ..........................................

OK! Alright already! You can bury Guyjeen in the hole that jin fell into while he was walking his dog.

Happy now?

What you and Korogane can never understand, is that I was there at the AC before you and Jean P (triphop) were even regular members. Before even You were expats serving your depraved masters. Alas, even You have nothing on me, and try as you may, I am your worst enemy, because I was before you. I am a ghost in your machine, a translyvanian transvestite, a reincarnation of Electric Japan. You have no clue as to who or what I really am. Keep trying though.

That is why you will die as fungus at my feet.

[edin日本]

What you and Korogane can never understand is that I was there at the AC before you and Jean P (triphop) were regular members. Before You were even expats serving your depraved masters. You have nothing on me, and try as you may, I am your worst enemy, because I was there before you. I am a ghost in your machine, a translyvanian transvestite who is a reincarnation from Electric Japan. You have no clue as to who or what I really am. Keep trying.

That is why you will die as fungus at my feet.

You talk the talk but can't walk the walk. I've got no worries where you are concerned.

[guyjeen]

You talk the talk but can't walk the walk. I've got no worries where you are concerned.

nice cliche, but you obviously can't do better. Bye the way what ever happend to Gary?

[guyjeen]

I know you are straining. He was the black guy from inkster.

[guyjeen]

ok I get it
what about eku?

[guyjeen]

you seem to be at a loss for words

What about...

you fill in the blank.

[guyjeen]

sorry but people pay me for my time.
Have a good evening
come and play when you are up to the game. yahwn.

[edin日本]

nice cliche, but you obviously can't do better. Bye the way what ever happend to Gary?

Gary's MIA, similar to wasDougie

[edin日本]

ok I get it
what about eku?

Left Japan. What's the matter? You gone senile?

[edin日本]

you seem to be at a loss for words

What about...

you fill in the blank.

Peter Bellamy? You should remember him, English dude with a knack for building fast, custom motorbikes.

[edin日本]

sorry but people pay me for my time.

And obviously they pay you way too much.

[kurogane]

Kurogane! Get the cat!
http://kimages.imikimi.com/image/EoK...=max&width=400

NO!!!!!!!!

Kurogane same as Honey Badger..............no like Kitty.

What you and Korogane can never understand, is that I was there at the AC before you and Jean P (triphop) were even regular members. Before even You were expats serving your depraved masters. Alas, even You have nothing on me, and try as you may, I am your worst enemy, because I was before you. I am a ghost in your machine, a translyvanian transvestite, a reincarnation of Electric Japan. You have no clue as to who or what I really am. Keep trying though.

That is why you will die as fungus at my feet.

Your chronological precedence is merely an ontological pretence for your epistemological panegyrics.

But I would wear your vintage genes any day.

Are they blue?

[edin日本]

Are they blue?

I was informed that they are green.

PS Mr Moose and the Dancing Bear are looking for you.