“Japan and Its Neighbors – Is Reconciliation Possible?”
2015 ushers in the “Year of the Sheep” but with the prevailing geopolitical and military winds in Greater Asia this may not necessarily make for a calm and gentle year. Territorial disputes and old tensions are still a problematic aspect for Japan and its Asian neighbors.
To discuss what the current ramifications of these problems are from the context of ‘Japan as Part of Asia’, and presenting his outline of challenges and opportunities, will be Yukio Okamoto.  Mr. Okamoto is a former special advisor to two Japanese Prime Ministers who had a distinguished career as a diplomat with Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stationed in Paris, Cairo and Washington.
With the special arrangement of the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, we are very fortunate to have our guest speaker give us his views on the relationship of Japan to various Asian nations and bring us up to speed on one of the most important regions of the world amidst a multilateral environment that will take great skill and patience for diplomats and other leaders to negotiate.
Yukio OKAMOTO, a career diplomat in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has served Japan through a variety of international posts. He currently head Okamoto Associates, Inc. which is a political and economic consultancy. In addition to this work, Mr. Okamoto has served as an advisor to past Japanese prime Ministers in the field of Foreign Relations.  In addition to sitting on the Boards of three Japanese multinational companies and advisor to several others, he established “Signal of Hope Fund” to assist Tohoku-region fisheries recover from the disastrous 2011 earthquake and tsunami. 
Mr. Okamoto is a visiting professor of international relations at Ritsumeikan University and has written many books on Japanese diplomacy. He is known far and wide as an interesting and frequent guest on public affairs and news television programs, providing his astute view of geopolitical matters on a regular basis. 
 
Program Schedule:

• 5:30 pm Registration
• 6:00 pm – 7:15 pm Program
• 7:15 pm – 8:00 pm Networking