Book Break: Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor
By Ronald Drabkin
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
A Dinner Event, from 5:45 pm to 8:30 pm
(The talk will be in English)

https://www.fccj.or.jp/event/book-break-ronald-drabkin-author-beverly-hills-spy-double-agent-war-hero-who-helped-japan

Please sign up by email (front@fccj.or.jp) and pay by Friday, December 5, 2025. 
No cancellations after Sunday, December 7.

[Admission]
3,000 yen for members, 4,000 yen for non-members.
Online attendance (Zoom) is available by reservation at 550 yen per person.

[Schedule]
Doors open at 5:45 pm with a casual "meet the author: cocktail time"
Dinner will be served from 6:30 pm.
The talk begins at 7:15 pm.

[Menu] Please choose from the two options below.

Option 1:  Pastrami and Tuna Salad*, Sautéed Yellowtail with Balsamic Sauce, Bread, Today's Dessert, Coffee or Tea, and One beverage of choice (orange juice, oolong tea, red or white wine, beer)                 <*The salad contains beef.>
 
Option 2 (Vegetarian): Green Salad, Warm Vegetable Bagna Cauda, Bread, Fruit, Coffee or Tea, and One beverage of choice (orange juice, oolong tea, red or white wine, beer)

Please inform the club of food restrictions when reserving.(front@fccj.or.jp)

[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)

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FCCJ is hosting author Ronald Drabkin, whose debut book Beverly Hills Spy: The Double-Agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2024;『ラトランド、お前は誰だ?: 日本を真珠湾攻撃に導いた男』by Kawadeshoboshinsha, 2024) reveals the amazing and untold story of Frederick Rutland--a debonair British WWI hero, flying ace, fixture of Los Angeles society, and friend of Golden Age Hollywood stars--who flipped to become a spy for Japan in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Frederick Rutland, known to the British press as "Rutland of Jutland," was the first pilot to take off from a ship in battle and was head of the world's first carrier air group. Yet later, a disgruntled Rutland became an advisor to the Japanese Navy in Yokohama before being given his job in espionage.

The Wall Street Journal review of Beverly Hills Spy noted it is "compelling." Kirkus gave it a coveted starred review, saying "Strap in for a narrative that demands a suspension of disbelief--and richly rewards it." The story contains rich set of characters, including Charlie Chaplin, Boris Karloff, J Edgar Hoover, Amelia Earhart and Admiral Yamamoto.

Drabkin, a Silicon Valley/Japan based entrepreneur, pieces together to completion this stranger-than-fiction tale using newly declassified and groundbreaking FBI and MI5 files and relatively unknown Japanese navy memoirs and documents.

The FCCJ book break on Beverly Hills Spy will trace the life of this British/Japanese spy in a story chock full of anecdotes from the Yokohama foreign settlement, the early days Japanese carrier aviation, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the Japanese Navy's prep for World War II.

Doors open at 5:45 pm with a casual "meet the author/cocktail time" from 6:00 pm. Dinner will be served from 6:30 pm and the talk begins at 7:15 pm. 

The menu is Pastrami and Tuna Salad, Sautéed Yellowtail with Balsamic Sauce, Bread, Today's Dessert, Coffee or Tea, and One beverage of choice (orange juice, oolong tea, red or white wine, beer). A vegetarian option is available. Please inform the club of food restrictions when reserving (front@fccj.or.jp). Price: 3,000 yen for members, 4,000 yen for non-members.

Online attendance (Zoom) is available by reservation at 550 yen per person. 

The member reservation deadline is 2 pm December 10. 

Non-members must reserve and pay by Friday, December 5, 2025. 

No cancellations after Sunday, December 7.

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

Library, Archives & Workroom Committee 
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ)