It has been my privilege and honor to serve as the Chair of this great organization with 84 years of history and a tradition of trying to maintain long-lasting relationship between the peoples of Japan and Washington State.

Since my family and I came to Seattle in 1979, this organization has been always the center of my life. During the very early stage of my business and personal life here, I was an absolute stranger and did not have any friends. Japan America Society was the one which encouraged me to participate in the activities and enabled me to make many business and personal friends over time.

Now after almost 28 years later today, I have to conclude that I have been able to live here, raise our children, buy home, make friends and conduct my business only because relationship between the two countries has been good. Today, we have no major critical issues between the U.S. and Japan. The relationship is fairly peaceful in general. Under the circumstances, we take this good relationship as granted just like water something we don't appreciate every moment but we are in trouble if we don't have it.

Mr. Steve Rogel just mentioned in his key-note speech a few minutes ago, should anything ever strain this relation or challenge our resolve, we should remember the history of our relationship displayed in our darkest era.  We are very fortunate tonight to have Mr. Steve Rogel, the top executive of Weyerhaeuser, one of most prominent business leaders in this country and a strong believer/supporter of U.S.-Japan relationship, addressing strong message of reconfirming importance of the two nations. Thank you, Steve, for reminding us of its importance once again. The speech was eye-awakening and enlightening.

Also, we are very fortunate to have representatives of the Japanese Gardeners Association, this year's Ambassador Foley Award recipient. There is no doubt that those gardeners supported and nailed our relationship between the two countries from cultural aspect. Thank you very much for your contributions and congratulations from bottom of my heart.

 As Andy Read, past Chair said in his message at this Annual Dinner last year, we are a business, cultural and social organization, and relationships, i.e. friendships are at the core of each. To succeed the spirit, some of our many goals in the past year have been: (1) increase members; (2) increase more cultural activities; and (3) bridging among the diverse groups.

I am proud that last year we continued to increase our membership. We have more cultural programs. Also, our Japan in Schools Project is very active and going very well. These cultural programs should broaden and stabilize our membership base.

We have made some progress in our bridging efforts. We now work closely with organizations like Trade Development Alliance, Nikkei Concerns, Japanese Cultural & Community Center for Washington, Japanese Community Service of Seattle, Densho, etc., etc. Although, there are still many more things to do, I should say that the state of this organization is excellent. I am very appreciative of my fellow Board members, especially those that serve on our various special committees.

Then, my special thanks go to Ed Reilly, our President and his staff members like Tomoko Miwa, Ruth Nishi and Marie Shirai. Ed has shown such a great leadership internally and externally. He has become our face and created momentum. We need to keep this momentum going in the coming years. His success could not be done without very devoted hard work done by those energetic staff people.

I also want to thank the former chairs. They have been my mentors and important advisors during my tenure. I hope I can succeed this tradition.

Also, there have been so many volunteers to support our activities behind the scenes. They should deserve much credit and I thank them for that. We have a table of 8 volunteers who help our School in Japan Program. Here, I would like to express my appreciation to those enthusiastic volunteers. Without you, this program does not exist. Thank you, Megumi Kobayashi of Merrill Lynch for sponsoring the table.

We are fortunate to have so many friends and supporters. Thank Consul General and Mrs. Tanaka for your ever-lasting support and many pieces of appropriate advice when we needed.

And, thank all of you for coming tonight and joining our celebration. We look forward to seeing you at our future events.

Again, thank you all for the privilege of serving. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Now, I am very proud to announce Dick Dudley as our incoming Chair and Linda Salomon as our incoming Chair-Elect. They will jointly lead our organization for the 2007-2008 fiscal year. I have been working closely with Dick as Chair-Elect in the past year. He is very effective and caring. A difference from me you will find is: he is a great golfer and I am not. I will ask Dick to join me up on the stage. As my last official act as Chair, I take great pleasure in introducing Dick Dudley of Weyerhaeuser.

Benefactor

Boeing Commercial Airplanes
Port of Seattle
Weyerhaeuser Company

American Family Insurance
Bank of America
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc.
Sojitz Corporation of America
Pacific Software Publishing

Sustaining

Achilles USA, Inc.
Allied Telesyn, Inc.
Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co., P.C.
The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd.
Corporate Computer, Inc.
Costco Wholesale
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Dorsey & Whitney LLP
Ernst & Young, LLP
Garvey, Schubert Barer
Glacier Northwest
Gobo Enterprises
Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP
JAMCO America, Inc.
KeyBank
Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP
Mithun, Inc.
Mitsubishi International Corporation, Seattle Branch
Nippon Express USA, Inc.
Nippon Suisan (USA), Inc.
Port of Tacoma
Reed Global Advisors, LLC
Riddell Williams P.S.
Russell Investment Group
Toray Composites (America), Inc.
Tri-Ports of the Tri-Cities
UniSea, Inc.

Regular

Acordia Northwest, Inc.
Alaska Frontier Company
All Nippon Airways
Aon Risk Services, Inc. of Washington
BBS International, Inc.
Betts, Patterson & Mines, P.S.
Central Washington University
Christensen, O'Connor, Johnson & Kindness
City University
Civil Aircraft Engineering Services (CAESCO)
Columbia Tower Club
Consulate-General of Japan
C.T. Takahashi & Company, Inc.
Everett Community College
Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.
Fluke Corporation
The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle
Gemba Research, LLC
Group Health Cooperative International Services
Hanwa American Corporation
High Technology Management
Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson, P.S.
Hitachi Consulting
Holland America Line
Hyogo Business & Cultural Center
ICOM America, Inc.
ITOCHU Aviation, Inc.
Ito-Yokado Co., Ltd.
James Erickson & Co., P.S.
JEN, Inc.
JETRO Seattle
Jones Stevedoring Company
Kawasaki Heavy Industries (USA), Inc., Seattle Office
Kibun Foods (U.S.A.), Inc.
Kinokuniya Book Stores of America Co., Ltd.
K-Line America, Inc.
Kobe Trade Information Office
Kohtoku Enterprise, Inc.
Kyokuyo America Corporation
LizardTech, Inc.
McNaul Ebel Nawrot Helgren & Vance PLLC
Microsoft Corporation
Moss Adams LLP
MulvannyG2 Architecture
Nabtesco Aerospace, Inc.
Nichirei U.S.A., Inc.
Nordstrom Product Group
Northwest Suites and Housing Services
NSRI (USA) Inc.
NTT America, Inc.
One Reel/Teatro ZinZanni
Pacific Lumber & Shipping Co.
Pacific Northwest Advisors
Perkins Coie LLP
Phi-Ten USA
Port of Everett
Port of Moses Lake
Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Mariners Baseball Club
Seattle's Convention Bureau
Seed Intellectual Property Law Group
Starbucks Coffee International
Stevedoring Services of America
Sumitomo Metal Mining America Inc.
Susan K. Okamoto Interiors
Swedish Medical Center
Trajal USA, Inc.
Union Bank of California
U.S. Bank
Uwajimaya, Inc.
U.W. Bothell
U.W. Global Business Center
U.W. Japan Studies Program
U.W. Jackson School of International Studies
Virginia Mason Medical Center International Medical Services
Washington State CTED
Western Alaska Fisheries, Inc.
Western Washington University
The Westin Seattle
Yamato Transport U.S.A., Inc.
Yokohama Aerospace America, Inc.

Associate

Advanced Silicon Materials, Inc.
Big Island Abalone Corporation
Cypress, Inc.
EMIS Inc.
Hirai Farms/Class A Properties
Hori Nichibei Consulting, LLC
Interesse International Inc.
International Incubation Inc.
Itec America, Inc.
Japan Pacific Publications, Inc.
JP Renew Distributors, LLC
Laxury Ryokan Collection
Live Languages Ltd.
Miller Nash LLP
NeuralTech Business Information, Inc.
Nisso America Inc.
Pacific Northwest Budo Association
Pinpoint Marketing Japan Inc.
Prudential Financial
QuantumFusion, Inc. Sakahara & Hashimoto, L.L.C.
Seattle-Kobe Sister City Association
Strategic Resource Services Inc.
Toho Marine Service Company, Ltd.
Washington Biotechnology & Biomedical Association
Washington International Business Ventures
Wellness Solutions International, Inc.
Yamaguchi Architecture
YN Translation Service, LLC

Co-Sponsorships

Acucela
THe Boeing Company
City University
Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle
Davis Wright Tremaine
Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Dragonfish Asian Cafe
Gobo Enterprises
Heller Ehrman LLP
Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
Mill Creek Golf & Country Club
Mitsubishi Motors North America
Providence O'Christmas Tree
The Seattle Asian Art Museum
The Seattle Mariners Baseball Club
Top Gun Seafood Restaurant
Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle
University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies
The Virginia Mason Medical Center
Washington State Dept. of Community Trade and Economic Development
Washington State Bar Association
(International Practice Section, Business Law Section and Corporate Law Dept. Section)
Washington Society of CPA (Seattle Chapter and International Committee)
World Affairs Council