Below you will find the Japan America Society of Chicago’s Annual Reports for Fiscal Years 2008-2019, listed in order beginning with the most current year.
JASC Annual Reports Fiscal years of 2008-2020
(Click here to view the 2020 Annual Report)
Highlighted Programs:
Special thanks to Plante & Moran
(Click here to view the 2019 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Marc Knapper, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Korea and Japan & member of the Senior Foreign Service, U.S. Department of State
Highlighted Programs:
(Click here to view the 2018 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Peter Kelley, President, National Association of Japan-America Societies
Highlighted Programs:
(Click here to view the 2017 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Ei-ichi Negishi, Herbert C. Brown Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, Purdue
University & recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Highlighted Programs:
Progress
featuring Ichiro Sone, Chief Executive Director, JETRO Chicago, Yoshiyuki Takasago, Director General,
Commerce & Industry, Miyagi Prefectural Government & Robert Priddy, Engineering Lead, Atkins Nuclear
Solutions US
Japan’s View” featuring Yoichi Kato, Senior Research Fellow, Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation (RJIF)
(Click here to view the 2016 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer, Ambassador to Japan (2005-2009)
Highlighted Programs:
(Click here to view the 2015 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Ambassador Ira Shapiro, Chairman of the Board-National Association of Japan America Societies, Former Clinton Administration official at USTR: General Counsel, Ambassador and Chief Trade Negotiator with Japan and Canada
Highlighted Programs:
featuring Mitoji Yabunaka, Former Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs & Professor, Ritsumeikan University
featuring Ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba, Former Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam and the Kingdom of Belgium & Keiji Shigeoka, Former President, Itochu Petroleum Co. U.S.A.
featuring Chris Wilkens, Deputy General Manager, BTMU’s Global Corporate Banking Division & Head of Global Subsidiary Banking (Tokyo, Japan) & Dr. William R. Farrell, Adjunct Professor, Naval War College & Former Chairman & CEO, Dynamic Strategies Asia, LC
(Click here to view the 2014 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Yusuke Nakamura, Professor of Medicine, Section of Hematology/Oncology; Professor of Surgery and Deputy Director, Center for Personalized Therapeutics, The University of Chicago
Highlighted Programs:
U.S.-Japan Relations Luncheon Program
featuring Tohru Sasaki, Managing Director, Head of Japan Rates & FX Research, JPMorgan Chase, N.A. Tokyo
featuring Sanyutei Ryuraku
Cultural Achievement Award:
Yoko Schmadeke, Oak Park River Forest High School
(Click here to view the 2013 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Kulapat Yantasast, Architect, Co-founder and Principal, wHY Architecture
Highlighted Programs:
presentation by Michael Fisch, University of Chicago & Dan Gornstein, Nippon Sharyo Engineering and Marketing
The Honorable Adlai E. Stevenson, Chairman, SC&M Investment Management Corp.
presented by His Excellency Kenichiro Sasae, Ambassador of Japan to the United States
presentations by students from Japanese schools
presentation by Yasokichi Konishiki, Former Sumo Wrestler
Cultural Achievement Award:
Joyce Sasho Kubase, Urasenke Tradition of Chado the Way of Tea
(Click here to view the 2012 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Ambassador Rust M. Deming, Adjunct Professor, Japan Studies, Johns Hopkins University and Former Director of the Office of Japanese Affairs
Highlighted Programs:
presented by Irene Hirano, President, The U.S.-Japan Council
Cultural Achievement Award:
Kimiko Gunji, Japan House, University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana
(Click here to view the 2011 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Ambassador Robert M. Orr, U.S. Executive Director to the Asian Development Bank. "The U.S.-Japan Relationship at the Asian Development Bank"
Higlighted Programs:
presented by Hideki Asari, Embassy of Japan; Tatuhiro Shindo, JETRO& Kathryn Ibata Arens, DePaul University
presented by Dr. Motoshige Itoh, Professor, Graduate School of Economics and Faculty of Economics, the University of Tokyo
Cultural Achievement Award:
Fujima Shunojo, Japanese Classical Dancer
(Click here to view the 2010 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Professor Theodore C. Bestor, Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Social Anthropology Program, Harvard University
Highlighted Programs:
presented by Beate Sirota Gordon, worked at General MacArthur's headquarters on a team charged with writing a new constitution for Japan
presented by Naoyuki Agawa, Professor, Keio University and Tetsuo Fukuda, Professor of Advanced Institute of Industrial Techonology and Industrial Designer
presented by Noboru Hatakeyama, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Japan Economic Foundation
Cultural Achievement Award:
Tatsu Aoki, Asian aRts Improv Midwest
(Click here to view the 2009 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Kazuo Kawasaki, Design Director, Doctor of Medical Science, Professor of Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Professor Emeritus at Nagoya City University. "Japanese Designs - From Eyeglasses to Artificial Organ Technology"
Highlighted Programs:
presented by the Honorable George Hisaeda, Consul General of Japan, Consulate General of Japan at Chicago
presented by Dr. Akira Iriye, Professor, Harvard University
Cultural Achievement Award:
Dr. Janice A. Katz, Art Institute of Chicago
(Click here to view the 2008 Annual Report)
Keynote Speaker:
Michael R. Lufrano, Senior Vice President, Community Affiars and General Counsel, Chicago Cubs. "The International Past Time: Traditions and Connections between Baseball, Japan, and Wrigley Field"
Highlighted Programs:
presented by Sarah Casanova, Senior Vice President, Business Development, McDonald's Japan
presented by Nicole Piasecki, Vice President, Boeing International and President, Boeing Japan
presented by Professor Heizo Takenaka, Keio University and former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications and Minister of State for the Privatization of Postal Services in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
Cultural Achievement Award:
Lucien Stryk, Translator and Writer of Zen poetry