Leading Japan Society into the Future
By Dr. Joshua W. Walker, President and CEO, Japan Society
We are a year away from the 50th anniversary of the opening of Japan Society’s headquarters, the original “Japan House,” on September 13, 1971, a week-long celebration that marked the start of a bold new chapter in the Society’s history. On that day, Prince Hitachi, the younger son of the Emperor, who personally attended the opening ceremonies together with Princess Hitachi, brought Japan’s best wishes to the Society “for a new chapter, both rich in content and wide in scope.”
As the newest and youngest president of Japan Society, the 113-year-old organization dedicated to U.S.-Japan relations, I often find it difficult to walk in the footsteps of the leaders who preceded me — men like John D. Rockefeller 3rd, who revived the Society in 1952 after the end of the Occupation of Japan, and also gave the Society the land on which it built our Japan House. My commitment is to look forward, to mobilize the resources of the Society and all friends of Japan, to work together to build a stronger U.S.-Japan connection for the future, rather than only looking back on the “golden days.”
Adapting to a changed world
I joined Japan Society in December 2019, only a few months before the COVID pandemic emerged in the United States, hitting our home of New York City particularly hard. We closed our offices for only the second time in our history and our onsite programming had to go online. Along with the rest of the world, we turned our homes into workspaces and entered fully into the digital realm.
So much of what has made Japan Society what it is over the past 49 years has been based on our building and in-person programs. How did we adapt to a world where we cannot use our building for an unknown period of time because of public health concerns? Starting from that moment of closing our physical doors, we have embraced outstanding new digital initiatives, opening our virtual doors to reach national and international audiences that we had never considered possible before.
As I reflect on what we have gone through since I joined Japan Society less than a year ago, especially over the last six months, I am grateful for the opportunity to be working to bring the U.S. and Japan together in a truly unprecedented moment. I am an eternal optimist. I believe that wherever we look in crisis, we can find opportunity. I also believe that, in this sea of deep uncertainty, Japan itself offers an island of calm tranquility and stability. As we look toward the future, there are so many opportunities now to connect directly to Japan that our forefathers never had.
Building inter-connectivity
Our new digital initiatives, which reach across the world, are only one facet of my vision for Japan Society’s future. It is time to take our inter-connectivity onto shared national and international stages. Whether our reimagined Annual Dinner with a cohost in Tokyo that enabled us to include Prime Minister Abe and living legend Nomura Manasaku in the celebrations, or JAPAN CUTS, the largest Japanese language film festival in North America, which went fully virtual for the first time in our history, we are learning to innovate. I was recently able to join a digital meeting of the America-Japan Society — participating from New York in a format that would never have even been considered before this time — that put me in touch with members across their network from Tokyo to Kyushu, and even my home island of Hokkaido. In the U.S., we have 38 independent Japan-America Societies, of which Japan Society, New York is the largest — we have our own building, an endowment, a big staff. But that does not mean that we stand above, rather we must learn from our colleagues in this space and adapt to the new environment together. Just as in U.S.-Japan relations, this is a time for leaders to work to bring our organizations together for greater impact.
There are four new leaders in the Japan America space, including myself, over the last year, in DC, Boston, San Francisco, and New York, all very important areas for Japanese influence and for U.S.-Japan connectivity. Even before the pandemic I had the privilege of hosting these new leaders and mentors from a number of other Japan American Societies across the country in our offices and marveled at the possibilities. We not only share the same language and values but a shared mission that seems uniquely suited to this time of bending adversity and embracing change.
Connecting peoples and societies
Reaching out to extend a hand wherever possible in this moment, I have been surprised and humbled. Perhaps because I do not have the titles or the seniority, people tend to look at me and say, “He must be doing this because he actually believes in it.” I grew up in Japan. Japan is in my heart and a part of who I am, but at the same time my brain works very much like an American. In some ways, I have spent my entire professional career working outside of Japan — now it is time to come home. I believe that the nichibei relationship, U.S.-Japan, is so much more than just our two nations. It is about our peoples and our societies. It is about U.S.-Japan cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, in the Middle East, in Central Asia, in Europe, areas that I have spent my entire professional career working toward. As a global American, I have a deep appreciation for the relationship that the U.S. and Japan have brought together.
When I think about the future of Japan Society, I think about the fact that we are going to reach and meet this moment together. Whether here in New York, or in Japan, or any other part of the United States or the world, we have an obligation to leave this place better than we found it, for our children and our grandchildren. There is an opportunity to reimagine what we are going to be for the future, and how we as Japan Society, as friends of both the U.S. and Japan, can connect in ways that we never would have thought possible. Together, we can innovate for the future while honoring our cherished past. Together, we can find a way of strengthening our relations, society by society, people to people. That is my vision for the future, not just for my own Japan Society but for the future of U.S.-Japan relations.
Joshua Walker (@drjwalk) is president and CEO of Japan Society. Follow @japansociety.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
