US-Japan Future Forum - October 11, 2007

The second official meeting of the US-Japan Future Forum took place on October 11, 2007 and was another resounding success! Close to 40 attendees gathered for an evening of drinks, dinner and discussion. Here are some of the highlights:

• Sam Shepherd, Sempai Emeritus and President of NAJAS welcomed everyone. He described the tremendously positive feedback that NAJAS has received on the Future Forum. Sam closed by saying that he or Bill Farrell, Chairman of NAJAS, would be following up with each of the members to get their feedback on the Forum.


• After brief remarks by Bob Grondine and Barry Hirschfeld, we had two fantastic presentations. Professor Ezra Vogel, Sempai Emeritus, started out with a thought provoking update on the state of Japanese studies and Japan hands in the US. Next, Dr. Skipp Orr, Sempai and Chairman of the Panasonic Foundation, gave a fascinating on-the-ground update on the state of Japanese politics in light of the recent appointment of Prime Minister Fukuda. A lively discussion then ensued among the Forum members.


• A number of Sempai and Kohai spoke about their interactions with their respective counterparts. Examples of the interactions included trips to Kamakura, lunches, dinners etc. All of the reviews were overwhelmingly positive highlighting the mentorship benefits of the Forum.


• Finally, Barry Hirschfeld reported that most of the Sempai-Kohai pairs had already gotten together at least once. Barry will be following up with a survey of each of the Forum members in order to continually make improvements to the group.