Japan-America Society of the State of Washington

2005

Highlights of the Japan-America Society Year

The following constitute, in the order they occurred, the major highlights of the 2005 year.

March 4, 2005
Dr. Robert Orr, President of Boeing Japan
Japan's Search for a New Mission

Dr. Robert Orr addresses luncheon attendees

The Society presented the second program in our Japan Is Back series featuring Dr. Robert (Skipp) Orr, President of Boeing Japan, on March 4. Orr, who was named President of Boeing Japan in February 2002 and is responsible for coordinating all Boeing business activities in Japan, addressed economic, political, and national security issues in his presentation. The series is co-sponsored by the Global Business Center at the University of Washington. In addition, Dr. Orr's presentation was co-sponsored by the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle.

March 22, 2005
Bob Bavasi, JapanBall.com
Japan Baseball 2005: New Teams, New Owners, New Era

Taking us on a tour of the new era in Japan Baseball was Bob Bavasi, an attorney and longtime minor league club owner, with well-established business relationships throughout MLB and Minor League Baseball. In addition, as head of JapanBall.com, Bob operates a tour of Japan every year that takes in both baseball games and culture.

April 28, 2005
2005 Annual Meeting
Keynote Speaker George F. Russell, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus, Russell Investment Group

265 members and their guests heard George F. Russell, Jr., Chairman Emeritus at Russell Investment Group, at the 2005 Japan-America Society Annual Meeting in the Spanish Ballroom at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Downtown Seattle. A new slate of Officers and Directors was nominated by the members present. Andrew Read, Partner at Deloitte & Touche, succeeded Paul Rollins to the position of Chair of the Board of Directors. Speech by Mr. Russell is now available for download.

June 3, 2005
An Evening with the Seattle Symphony

From Left to Right: JAS Chair, Andy Read, Kyoko Takezawa, JAS President, Ed Reilly

Japan-America Society members enjoyed an evening filled with great foods, friends and music with an Evening with the Seattle Symphony. At Pre-Concert reception, members enjoyed educational talk by Steve Lowe, the Symphony's Public Information Specialist, as well as wonderful foods and drinks from Wolfgang Pack. During the intermission, the Founders Room was open for our members to relax with complementary wine and chocolate. After the concert, the evening's featured violinist, Kyoko Takezawa, privately came out to meet our members. Needless to say, the music and the Symphony were fantastic, and great time was had by all participants. The event was generously sponsored by Davis Wright Tremaine.

July 18, 2005
The 45th Annual Golf Tournament

The Japan-America Society's Annual Golf Tournament was held under a perfect weather on July 18 at the Mill Creek Country Club. 110 JAS members, including the Consul-General Tanaka & Mrs. Tanaka, and their guests took on the challenging tight tree-lined 6,300 plus yard Mill Creek Country Club golf course. Following the competition, members and their guests relaxed with a buffet dinner and awards ceremony.

July 27-28, 2005
JAS and Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle Welcome New Business Conference from Japan

The Japan-America Society and the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle welcomed a Japanese delegate, the New Business Conference (NBC) to Seattle.

The invitation-only welcome reception on July 27th was held at the beautiful office of the Black, Lowe and Graham on the 48th floor of the Columbia Tower. It was attended by the Consul-General Tanaka, the Board of Directors and other local dignitaries.

About 60 people attended to listen in an interesting discussion on how to enter the Japanese market at the public program on July 28th. The program was sponsored by Dorsey & Whitney LLP and held at the Columbia Tower Club. Four panelists who have extensive experience and knowledge about doing business with and in Japan shared their stories, dos & don'ts, and insights on how to enter the Japanese market. The lively discussion was moderated by David Keller. Many stayed throught the networking reception after the program.

September 22, 2005

Wireless: What's Next?
How the Wireless Giant NTT DoCoMo Built Its Success and What Lies Ahead for the Wirelss/Telecom Industries

Audience Listen In Mr. Ono Panelists. From L to R. Marianne Marck, Vern Fotheringham, Chetan Sharma, Nobuharu Ono, Moderator David Keller

In cooperation with EMC, City University and JETRO Seattle, the Japan-America Society presented the first Eastside program, held at the City University in Bellevue, featuring Nobuharu Ono,the President & CEO of NTT DoCoMo, USA, Inc. Also presented were a stellar line of panelists, Marianne Marck, VP of Walt Disney Internet Group, Vern Fotheringham, CEO, Adaptix, Chetan Sharma, Technology & Strategy Consultant.

Mr. Ono talked about the history and the current status of NTT DoCoMo, compared and contrasted the Japanese and the U.S. Wireless markets and shared his insights on the future of the industry. His presentation was followed by a panel discussion on the current status and the future of the Wireless, moderated by David Keller. Over 100 attendees enjoyed this quality program and lively discussion and stayed through a wine-&-cheese networking reception after the program.

October 26, 2005
Doing Business in Japan in the New Environment:
Strategies for IT and Brick-and-Mortar Companies

Japan-America Society presented an afternoon seminar on "How to do business in Japan" at Plestcheeff Auditor at the Seattle Art Museum. The seminar, which was consisted of 5 small sessions on various topics related to how to do business in Japan, was attended by over 70 people. The seminar's chair was Masahiro "Max" Yoshimura, Attorney and CPA. The other presenters were Mark R. Hennings, attorney at law with Merchant & Gould, on Intellectual Property; Hiroshi Yagi, President of IMAnet, Inc. on Employment Practice; David E. Wagoner, a Seattle-based arbitrator, on Resolution of International Business Disputes; and Wistar Kay of Washington State CTED, Sam Tsoming of U.S. Commerce Department and DaisakuYukita of Japan External Trade Organization of San Francisco on Government Resources. Consulate General of Japan, Honorable Kazuo Tanaka made a closing remark. After the seminar, attendees enjoyed wine and cheese reception at the Simons Board Room.

This program was co-sponsored by JETRO San Francisco, Consulate-General of Japan in Seattle, International Practice Section of Washington Bar Association, the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants (WSCPA), U.S. Commercial Services, U.S. Dept. of Commerce, and Washington State Dept. of Community, Trade & Economic Development.

November 29, 2005
Holiday Celebration Dinner & Auction

On November 29, 2005, approximately 500 people gathered at the Westin Hotel Seattle's Grand Ballroom to attend the Japan-America Society's annual Holiday Celebration Dinner & Auction.

The silent auction and cocktail reception began at 5:00 p.m. as Santa Claus and a group of the Board of Directors gave attendees a warm welcome. This year we had over 120 quality auction items, all generously donated by our members and many businesses our members frequent.

This year's Platinum Silent Auction items included a limited-edition (one of 30) Ichiro Commemorative Plaque which was produced to honor his MLB record 262 hits during the 2004 season, the Seattle Super Sonics Courtside VIP tickets and everyone's favorite "The Board of Directors Wine Collection".

Japan-America Society of the State of Washington
Information, Opportunity, Access

Offices in the World Trade Center West
2200 Alaskan Way, Suite 400
Seattle, Washington USA
Telephone 206-374-0180 FAX 206-374-0175

jassw@us-japan.org

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