Dana Lewis,
President
Dana Lewis has spent most of her professional life at the interface between Japan and the world. With a BA in Far Eastern Languages and Literature and an MA in journalism from the University of Michigan, she has worked for the Asahi Evening News, Kyodo News Service, Newsweek, and most recently with Newsweek Japan magazine, writing on Japanese politics, society and culture, U.S.-Japan relations, and the rapidly evolving political landscape in East Asia. Her reporting on Japan in Asia has taken her to China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. A 17-year resident of Tokyo, she has also translated thousands of pages of manga, from the award winning “Blade of the Immortal” to “Oh My Goddess.”
dlewis@usajapan.org

Mari Izumikawa,
Office Manager
Mari graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a BA in Japanese and MA in East Asian Studies. She was appointed as Teaching Associate for Japanese language and studies at UCLA. During this time, merging her interests in teaching, Japan and service learning, she created a course in intercultural communication for advanced Japanese language learners. In the past, Mari has worked for the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, and served as a Research Assistant for professors of Japanese studies in the US and Japan. In her free time, she enjoys learning traditional Japanese dance. For general information, memberships, and internship inquiries, please contact her at mizumikawa@usajapan.org.

Serena Olsen,
Intern
Serena earned her BA in Global & International Studies and Linguistics from UC Santa Barbara, with emphasis in East Asia and Japanese respectively. In 2006, she completed a Master's Degree in International Policy Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. She has traveled East and Southeast Asia extensively for personal, academic, and volunteer excursions, including a 2001 Pacific Rim Study Abroad program, a 2006 volunteer project with Tabitha Cambodia building stilt houses, and several visits to dear friends in Indonesia. When not engaged in something Asia-related, Serena is usually cooking, eating, and spending quality time with good friends. She can be reached at solsen@usajapan.org.

Susan Parini,
Program Officer
Susan Parini received a BA in Art from San Francisco State University and an MA in Asia Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco. As a graduate student, she presented research on Southeast Asia at Columbia University’s Sixteenth Annual Graduate Student Conference on East Asia and was published in the online journal, Asia Pacific: Perspectives. In 2006, she was selected to attend the Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations Conference in Singapore as an Environment Policy Workshop Delegate. Prior to joining the Japan Society, Susan served as a Junior Associate at The Asia Foundation, as well as Marketing Coordinator for two San Francisco-based environmental consulting firms. She currently volunteers at the Asian Art Museum.
sparini@usajapan.org

Miki Wood,
Language Class Coordinator
Miki grew up in Tokyo, Japan, and graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 2005 with a BA in English Education. Miki went to Western Oregon University as a college exchange program participant for one year, and contributed to cross-cultural understanding through planning and joining various events in the community. Exploring an international career, she worked for Hitachi Medical Corporation as an export assistant for two years. More recently, she worked for the Research Institute of Information Technology in Education, Waseda University as an assitant and translator. Having recently immigrated to the U.S., Miki is eager to contribute to intercultural understanding and education. For inquiries about Japanese language classes, please contact her at mwood@usajapan.org.