THANKS FOR JOINING US IN PORTLAND

Attendees benefitted from extensive networking and talks on geostrategic, political and international investment issues within the U.S.-Japan relationship. We visited the Portland Japanese Garden and and gathered at a reception hosted by JASO and the Japanese Consul General. 

Themes for the 2024 Annual Meeting included: 

• Strategic updates on the U.S.-Japan Relationship 

• US-Japan collaboration in semiconductors, with a focus on workforce development

• Evergreening the grassroots by engaging younger age groups

• Forging AJS-JAS collaboration 

• Tackling society management challenges 
  

This annual conference moves across the U.S., hosted by a different Japan-America member society each year, and helps us surface insights from the most diverse Japan-America network anywhere. 

As a core benefit of NAJAS membership, member societies access a focused day of workshops and peer learning for staff and board participants. All attendees are invited to our Thursday evening and Friday programming. Learn about past Annual Meetings.

RECENT AGENDA AT A GLANCE

For Members:  Wednesday & Thursday

Welcome Reception for JAS / JS / AJS Staff & Board

Members-Only Conference Programming

For All Attendees & Members: Thursday & Friday

Portland Japanese Garden Tour and Mixer

US-Japan Bilateral Relations & Industry Panels

SPECIAL U.S.-JAPAN RELATIONSHIP OVERVIEW

Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki

Former Ambassador of Japan
to the United States

President
The America-Japan Society

Robert T. Koepcke

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Japan, Korea,
and Mongolia

Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs
U.S. Department of State

Our Friday morning program featured a special overview of the U.S.-Japan relationship from Deputy Assistant Robert T. Koepcke, with remarks and insights from Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki. 

With analysis from:

Emma Chanlett-Avery,  Deputy Director of the Asia Society Policy Institute and Director for Political-Security Affairs

Ambassador David Shear, Senior Adviser at McLarty Associates

Ambassador Kurt Tong, Managing Partner at the Asia Group

Our 2024 Annual Meeting is an International Symposium event, which we conduct in alternating years to bring our members together with selected counterpart America-Japan Societies located across Japan. This year Ambassador Fujisaki and over twenty members of America-Japan Societies will joined us in Portland. We last convened this Symposium in 2022 in Kyoto.

Member Programs with Invited Speakers

On August 21st we invited Japan-America Society staff and board members to a welcome reception to greet our counterparts from Japan from America-Japan societies.

The members' daytime schedule  on the 22nd focused on management challenges, with programming made possible by support from the Japan Foundation New York.  JAS / JS Members-Only Event Information >> 

GENERAL PROGRAMMING HELD ON AUGUST 22

Evening: Portland Japanese Garden Tour & Reception

The Portland Japanese Garden hosted us on the evening, of Aug 22nd, and provided multi-day admission for attendees while in town.  We toured the Garden, learned more about the expanding Japan Institute and the North American Japanese Gardens Association, and were inspired by remarks from Garden CEO Stephen Bloom. 

Declared to be “the most beautiful and authentic Japanese garden in the world outside of Japan” by former Ambassador Matsunaga, this tranquil 12-acre urban oasis is home to eight separate garden styles, an authentic Japanese Tea House, and a spectacular view of Mt. Hood.

Transportation to and from the garden was provided. 

For more than a decade, Behind the Shoji has been one of Portland Japanese Garden’s most anticipated summer traditions. An annual show and sale of Japanese and Japanese-inspired wares, visitors can peruse and purchase from a variety of curated items that, even with a trip to Japan, might be difficult to come across. Behind the Shoji offered NAJAS reception guests an intimate shopping experience, alongside a special 10% discount.

GENERAL PROGRAMMING & KEYNOTE LUNCHEON: FRIDAY, AUGUST 23

Keynote Speaker:

Ambassador Nina Hachigian

Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy
Subnational Diplomacy Unit, U.S. Department of State

From the Grassroots to the Galaxy: How Civil Society and Localities Move -- and Benefit from  -- U.S.-Japan and Global Diplomacy

Two years into her appointment as the first in this unique role, Ambassador Hachigian drew from a distinguished career spanning national security, community and equity development for a big city, and representation of the United States to ASEAN, and more. Attendees heard how the pioneering effort that she leads from the State Department is helping communities across our network to advance interests we hold close, in domains from cultural integration and job creation to climate action and educational exchange.

Japan-America societies learned how to connect to the exciting, new Lewis Local Diplomat Program.

Remarks by:

Ambassador Shigeo Yamada

Ambassador of Japan to the United States

Ambassador Shigeo Yamada assumed his post as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United States of America in December 2023. He previously served as Senior Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. In that capacity, he was Political Director for Japan’s 2023 G7 Presidency, supporting the G7 Summit in Hiroshima and the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Nagano-Karuizawa.

Ambassador Yamada’s previous positions in Tokyo include Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs for Foreign Policy, Deputy Director General for North American Affairs, Director for Northeast Asia, Director for Southeast Asia, and Director for the Status of U.S. Forces Agreement. He also served as a Cabinet Councillor in the National Security Secretariat in the Prime Minister’s Office. In addition to his postings in Washington and Tokyo, over the course of his career he was in charge of the public and culture affairs at the Embassies of Japan in London and Beijing.

The Ambassador’s broad diplomatic assignments have led him to the realization, “The Japan-U.S. alliance is no longer just a bilateral relationship, but a global partnership.” It is this conviction that informs his perspective as Japan’s Ambassador to the United States. 

Programming Highlight: The United States & Japan: Securing Needed Workforce for our Emerging Tech Surge

Participants at this special set of panels learned how American and Japanese firms at the leading edge of the semiconductor sector are finding solutions to workforce development, and modeling the U.S-Japan tech and security partnership that promises to re-shape our alliance and support stability and progress across the Indo-Pacific and globally.

The U.S. and Japan have lined up as the strongest and most complementary players across the global supply chain, ready to drive technology and transform the global economy. But workforce development is key to meeting this surge and the labor needs of other emerging technologies and fields. Learn from experts at Intel, Tokyo Electron, JSR Micro, and the Japanese Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). 

Credit: JASO

Friday Evening: Closing Reception at KEEN Footwear

We closed out the Annual Meeting on Friday, Aug 23 with a reception co-hosted by the Japanese Consul General of Portland & JASO at KEEN Footwear headquarters and downtown flagship store.

An extra bonus was the opportunity to meet other Japan-related Oregon non-profits. Again, members were able to enjoy shopping at KEEN  with 40% off for reception attendees! 

Following the reception, attendees were welcomed to an informal karaoke sing-out at Voicebox.

NAJAS wishes to thank our sponsors for the 2024 Annual Meeting: 

Our Institutional Sponsor, the Japan Foundation, New York, our Corporate Sponsors, Hitachi High-Tech America, Inc. and Mackenzie, Inc., our Society Solutions Sponsors NHK World-Japan, Grouper, and Temple University Japan Campus, and our International Symposium Sponsor, The Tokyo Club

Corporate Sponsors

Society Solutions Sponsors