Celebrating 120 Years of Connecting Japan and the US
Japan Society held its 39th annual Award of Honor Gala on October 24, and based on the enthusiastic feedback from our guests, it was a fun and memorable evening and a fitting celebration of our 120th anniversary.
This year’s event sold out completely with 285 guests – 80 more than last year’s Gala. We had some anxiety figuring out how everybody would fit – the SFO Hyatt said it was the biggest event they had ever hosted! Be sure to check out our photo gallery from the evening.
A few highlights from this year:
- Six amazing awardees: Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Hideaki Nishino, MUFG’s Hiroshi Kawano, ANA’s Shinichi Inoue, Niantic’s Kei Kawai, and Japan Society’s long-time Gala Chair, Nobuko Saito Cleary
- A spectacular arrival: ANA’s EEVEE-decorated jet flew from Japan for the event and parked directly in front of the Gala Reception windows
- Live entertainment: An excellent performance by the renowned jazz band Akira Tana & Otonowa
- High stakes auction activities: Live and silent auctions featuring amazing prizes, including First Class round trip tickets on ANA to Japan, a stay at the Hyatt Kauai, along with Southwest Airline tickets, excellent dining from Hashiri Bettei Aoki Kaiseki restaurant and extra special Dassai Blue Beyond sake, a JAL airline mileage raffle, Japanet Cruise tickets, and much more
The Gala brought together many of our friends and supporters – it was wonderful to share an evening with everybody. Based upon the preliminary results, we also exceeded our fundraising goals for the evening, allowing us to continue our active calendar of program events in the coming months.
A huge thank you to all who attended – and to all of our donors and supporters who made this year’s event such a big success. To those who weren’t able to make this year’s event, we hope you’ll join us next year – both for our program activities throughout the year and for the 2026 Gala!
