CULCON is a binational advisory group to the U.S. and Japanese governments and is composed of two panels. For information and news about the Japan CULCON Panel, please visit: https://www.jpf.go.jp/culcon/
US CULCON
Private Sector Members
Chair
Dr. Sheila A. Smith
Senior Fellow for Japan Studies
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
Panelists
Dr. Edward Lincoln
Lecturer
George Washington University
Dr. Patricia Maclachlan
Professor of Government and Asian Studies and the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Professor of Japanese Studies
University of Texas
Dr. Deanna Marcum
Managing Director
Ithaka
Dr. Samuel Morse
Howard and Martha Mitchel Professor of the History of Art and Asian Languages and Civilizations
Amherst College
Dr. Leonard J. Schoppa, Jr.
Director, Woodrow Wilson Department of Politics
The University of Virginia
Mr. David Sneider
Partner
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
Dr. William Tsutsui
Former President, Hendrix College
Public Sector Members
Michelle Asha Cooper
Acting Assistant Secretary of Education for Post-Secondary Education
U.S. Department of Education
Matthew Lussenhop
Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
U.S. Department of State
Honorary Member
Hon. Caroline Kennedy
Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Japan CULCON
Japanese Panelists include:
For bios of all Japanese panelists in English and Japanese, please click here:
Chair
Ambassador Ryozo Kato
Former Ambassador to the United States
Vice Chair
Dr. Fumiaki Kubo
Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, University of Tokyo;
President, Japanese Association for American Studies
Members
Mr. Naoyuki Agawa
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Doshisha University
Mr. Hiroyuki Akita
Commentator, Nikkei Inc. Nikkei (“Japan Economic Journal”)
Ms. Hiroko Tsuka
Executive Director, Center for Global Partnership / Managing Director The Japan Foundation
Dr. Masako Egawa
Professor, Graduate School of Commerce and Management, Hitotsubashi University
Mr. Akio Okawara
President/CEO, Japan Center for International Exchange
Mr. Akio Mimura
Chairman, the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Senior Advisor/Honorary Chairman, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation
Dr. Hiroyuki Shimatani
Executive Director, Kyushu National Museum
Ex-Officio Panelists include:
Mr. Keiichi Ichikawa, Director-General, the North American Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
Ms. Mitsuko Shino Director-General for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ms. Yasushi Taguchi, Director-General for International Affairs, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology.
Advisors
Mr. Yutaka Aso, President & CEO, Aso Corporation and Aso Cement Co., Ltd.
Mr. Minoru Makihara, Senior Corporate Advisor and Former Chairman, Mitsubishi Corporation;
Mr. Teiichi Sato, Former Ambassador to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Japan-United States Friendship Commission (JUSFC)
For more information on JUSFC please go to our website here.
U.S.-Japan Bridging Foundation (USJBF)
For more information on USJBF please go to our website here.
The U.S. CULCON Secretariat and related organizations shares offices and a great deal of organizational history. This is a helpful comparison of CULCON, the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) and the U.S.-Japan Bridging Foundation (USJBF):
For a PDF of the the mission statements, membership, contact information, etc., please click here.