This year’s JALD delegates participated in an orientation session on Jan. 30-31 at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. Pictured are (front row, from left) Sach Takayasu, Lynn Hashimoto, Yoshie Ito, Linda Taira, (second row, from left) Kaz Maniwa (U.S.-Japan Council senior vp), Priscilla Ouchida, Tracy Tsuetaki, Irene Hirano Inouye (U.S.-Japan Council president), (third row, from left) Toshiki Masaki, Robin Yasui, Richard Morimoto and Tyler Tokioka. Photo courtesy of U.S.-Japan Council
Ten Japanese American leaders, including JACL’s Priscilla Ouchida, will visit Tokyo and Hiroshima as part of a weeklong tour.
By P.C. Staff
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Ten Japanese American leaders will travel to Japan from March 6-14 as members of the 2015 Japanese Amerian Leadership Delegation program, a weeklong trip dedicated to building people-to-people connections with Japanese leaders. Now in its 15th year, the JALD provides opportunities for Japanese Americans to establish a meaningful role in strengthening U.S.-Japan relations across all sectors of society.
The delegates will visit Hiroshima prefecture, where they will participate in a panel discussion sponsored by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and the U.S.-Japan Council. (USJC). They will then visit Tokyo, where past delegations have typically met with the prime minister, foreign minister and top business executives.
USJC President Irene Hirano Inouye will lead the delegation. The program is sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and organized by the USJC. This year’s delegates are:
- Lynn Hashimoto (Seattle, Wash.), senior attorney, Microsoft Corp.
- Yoshie Ito (New York, N.Y.), assistant director, global initiatives, Asia Society
- Toshiki Masaki (Detroit, Mich.), manager, government affairs, Ford Motor Co.
- Dr. Richard Morimoto (Chicago, Ill.), Bill and Gayle Cook professor of biology, Northwestern University
- Priscilla Ouchida (San Francisco, Calif.), executive director, JACL
- Linda Taira (Los Angeles, Calif.), senior manager, internal, and CEO communications, Boeing Defense, Space & Security
- Sach Takayasu (Washington, D.C.), president and CEO, Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship
- Tyler Tokioka (Honolulu, Hawaii), vp, external affairs and agency relations, Island Insurance Companies
- Dr. Tracy Tsuetaki (Chapel Hill, N.C.), senior vp, PAREXEL International
- Dr. Robin Yasui (Denver, Colo.), director of geriatrics, Denver Health
JALD Alumni have created a network to ensure that “the commitment to strengthening U.S.-Japan relations is maintained.” The JALD began in 2000, and to date, 166 delegates have participated in the program.
