The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) is pleased to announce the upcoming Book Break event on June 16, 2021.

Book Break : "Poisoning the Pacific: The U.S. Military's Secret Dumping of Plutonium, Chemical Weapons, and Agent Orange"
By Jon Mitchell
Wednesday, June 16, 2021 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm
(The talk will be in English)

Admission:
3,000 yen/ 4,000 yen (member/ non-member, including tax, a set dinner with a drink)
550 yen (Zoom)

Please sign up by email (front@fccj.or.jp) and pay by Friday, June 11th,
2021.

Venue:
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan
5F Marunouchi Nijubashi Building
3-2-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0005
(https://www.fccj.or.jp/article/access-contact)

Poisoning the Pacific reveals how US military operations have been
contaminating Japan and neighboring countries with toxic substances,
including plutonium, dioxin, and nerve agent. Hundreds of thousands of
service members, their families, and residents have been exposed -but
the United States has hidden the damage and refused to help victims.

Based upon 12,000+ pages of documents obtained via the US Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), the book highlights how indigenous communities
in Okinawa, Guam and the Marshall Islands have borne the brunt of this
damage. Moreover, on mainland Japan, the military has poisoned sea, soil
and residents - but the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)
prevents Japanese officials from performing checks on US bases and
absolves the military from cleaning up contamination. Accompanying this
damage, US authorities have waged a campaign of cover-ups and attacks on
the media, which the author has experienced firsthand. Oliver Stone
calls the revelations in Poisoning the Pacific, "truly shocking," and
Noam Chomsky lauds it, "an eloquent call to bring this tragedy toan end
without delay."

In this Book Break, Mitchell will discuss CIA and military operations in
Japan, how investigative journalism can contribute to environmental
justice, and what must be done to overhaul the current system which
allows the military to pollute with impunity.

Mitchell is an investigative journalist with the Okinawa Times and
recipient of the 2015 Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan's lifetime
achievement award for press freedom. His work has featured in reports
for the US Congress and Japanese parliament; it has also helped US
service members exposed to contamination in Japan to obtain compensation
from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mitchell is the author of three
bestselling Japanese books about military damage to the environment and
has donated the bulk of his FOIA-obtained reports to archives in Japan
and the United States.

Doors open at 5:30 pm. Dinner is served from 6:00 pm. The presentation
starts from 6:30 pm. Menu: TBD/ Dessert/ Coffee or Tea with one drink.
Book Break charges are 3,000 yen/ 4,000 yen (members/ non-members) per
person.

FCCJ members can sign up at the reception desk. Reservations cancelled
less than 72 hours in advance will be charged in full. Non-members can
reserve at the reception desk by email (front@fccj.or.jp). Payment is in
advance till Friday, June 11th, 2021. No refund is available unless the
event is cancelled by FCCJ.

Online attendance (via Zoom) is available at 550 yen per person. Please
indicate the intention to attend online when signing up. Details on how
to join online will be sent to individual emails after their
reservations are confirmed.

Attendees with food restriction should inform the reception desk
(front@fccj.or.jp) three days before the event.

We kindly ask for your cooperation with Covid-19 prevention measures at
the reception and to wear a mask in the premises. Thank you.

Book Break
https://www.fccj.or.jp/event/book-breaks