A press club attached to the Nagano Prefectural Government on Tuesday protested Nagano Gov. Yasuo Tanaka's recent decision to scrap restricted press clubs and replace them with a press center open to all media.
The club, whose members include major newspapers, broadcasters and news agencies, also objected to Tanaka's announcement last week that the government -- not the restricted press clubs -- will organize his news conferences.
"It is regrettable that the governor decided to change the host (of the conferences) to the prefectural government without any discussions with the press club," the organization said in a letter. "We cannot accept a unilateral change."
Three media firms representing the club handed the letter to a secretarial office in charge of policy affairs. The governor was not present.