A , or "reporters' club", from the Japanese word , meaning reporter, is a Japanese news-gathering association of reporters from specific news organizations, whose reporting centers on a press room set up by sources such as the Prime Minister's Official Residence, government ministries, local authorities, the police, or corporate bodies. In English, it also called a Press Club. Institutions with a kisha club limit their press conferences to the journalists of that club, and membership rules for kisha clubs are restrictive. This blocks access by domestic non-member media, such as magazines and smaller newspapers, and the foreign media, as well as freelance reporters, to the press conferences. While similar arrangements exist in other countries, the Japanese form of this type of organization is seen as one of the most extreme, with journalists actively denying access to other journalists, which has led to use of the Japanese term in other languages, often with a critical meaning. History 1890 In response to the ban imposed by the first Imperial Diet on reporting by newspaper reporters, a reporter from the newspaper called together the Diet correspondents from the Tokyo newspapers to form a , which in October merged with newspaper companies across Japan, changing its name to the , to become the first kisha club. March 1941 With the formation of the , a newspaper control organization, the number of kisha clubs was reduced to one third, and kisha clubs were forbidden from governing themselves. October 26, 1949 The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association created a "Policy on Kisha Clubs", stating that they were "an organization for the purpose of socialization, and are not to intervene in matters related to reporting". December 1997 The Japan Newspaper Publishers and Editors Association changed this policy, stating that kisha clubs were "bases for reporting" which allowed easy access to information held by public bodies. March 24, 2005 Livedoor became the first Internet media company to apply for membership of the Japan Meteorological Agency kisha club. However, on March 15, 2006, the former president of Livedoor, Takafumi Horie, was charged with a breach of the , and for this reason the application was rejected unanimously by the companies present. July 9, 2005 The freelance journalist and the deputy editor of the weekly magazine submitted an application for a provisional ruling against the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and the 15 companies in the related kisha club to the