*ENGLISH PROGRAM

Prime Minister Suga faces a host of challenges in 2021, including the COVID-19 virus, a stagnant economy, hosting of the postponed Olympics, rising U.S.-China tensions, continued conflict with South Korea, a new American Administration, fast-changing technology and two elections that will determine his political fate and longevity. How Japan addresses these challenges will have an important impact on the U.S.-Japan relationship and the Bay Area.

Please join us at the Japan Society of Northern California’s annual Japan Outlook program on January 13, 4:00-5:30 p.m. Pacific Time (January 14 9:00 a.m. Japan time) to hear two experts from Tokyo discuss the political, economic and security outlook for Japan and prospects for the U.S.-Japan relationship in 2021.  Tsuneo Watanabe, senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and one of Japan’s foremost experts on Japan’s foreign and security policy, and Jesper Koll, CEO of Wisdom Tree Japan and one of Japan’s top economic commentators for more than three decades, will present their insights about prospects for Japan’s economy, domestic politics and foreign policy. The conversation will be moderated by incoming Japan Society Chairman Larry Greenwood.

You don’t want to miss this unusual opportunity to hear from two of Japan’s top experts talking about prospects for Japan in what we all hope will be a much more positive and less stressful year than 2020 turned out to be.

毎年恒例となりました Japan Outlook 2021を開催いたします。若い世代の政治家から、保守派も新世代も含む経営者まで、幅広い層のアドバイザーを務め、一貫して日本経済の調査に携わり続けているイェスパー・コール氏（ウィズダムツリー・ジャパンCEO）そして、笹川平和財団にて安全保障研究グループ上席研究員、また、メディアでもコメンテータとして活躍されている渡部 恒雄氏が、新しい年の展望について語ります。（英語プログラム：参加無料）

Date
January 13, 4:00-5:30 p.m. Pacific Time
January 14, 9:00 a.m. Japan time

Price  FREE!

*via Zoom

Agenda
4:00-4:15 Welcome / Scene Setter / Introduction of speakers | Larry Greenwood, Chairman, Japan Society of Northern California
4:15-4:30 Jesper Koll | Presentation
4:30-4:45 Tsuneo Watanabe | Presentation
4:45-5:00 Larry Greenwood Moderates discussion with Jesper Koll and Teuneo Watanabe
5:00-5:20 Audience Q&A
5:20-5:25 Closing // Takahide Akiyama, President, Japan Society of Northern California
5:25-5:30 Networking with Audience

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Our Amazing Speakers

Jesper Koll | Senior Advisor, WisdomTree Investments Inc. | Managing Director, Octave Japan Co. Ltd | Advisor, MizMaa Ventures | Senior Global Advisor, Japan Catalyst Inc.

Jesper Koll has been researching and investing in Japan since becoming a resident in 1986. Over the past two decades, Jesper has been consistently ranked as one of the top Japan strategists/economists, having worked as Chief Strategist and Head of Research for major U.S. investment banks J.P. Morgan and Merrill Lynch. In July 2015, became the founding Chief Executive Officer of WisdomTree Japan and now serves as senior adviser to WisdomTree Asset Management. His analysis and insights have earned him a position on several Japanese government and corporate advisory committees. In late-2016, Governor Koike appointed Jesper to her Tokyo Financial Center Advisory Board. He is also one of the few non-Japanese members of the Keizai Doyukai, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives; and serves on the Board of Governors of OIST, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology. Jesper is a Senior Adviser to the Japan Catalyst Fund (Monex Group) and the Tokyo-based D4V Venture Capital Group. He has written three books in Japanese, Towards a New Japanese Golden Age, The End of Heisei Deflation, and the recently published Japan’s Economy – The Envy of the World.

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Tsuneo “Nabe” Watanabe | Senior Fellow | The Sasakawa Peace Foundation

Tsuneo “Nabe” Watanabe is a senior fellow of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, an independent policy research organization in Tokyo. In October 2016, Watanabe joined the Sasakawa Peace Foundation after serving a senior fellow and a director of foreign & security policy research at the Tokyo Foundation in 2009 to 2016. He served a senior fellow at the Mitsui Global Strategic Studies Institute in Tokyo in 2005 to 2009. In 1995, Watanabe joined Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. He served a visiting research scholar, research associate, fellow and senior fellow until 2005. He is currently adjunct fellow of the CSIS.

His publications include “The World Order after 2021: 20 Angles of the International affairs” [in Japanese] (Shinchosha, 2020), “Asia Pacific Countries and the US Rebalancing Strategy” [co-authored with David W.F. Huang et.al.] (Palgrave Macmillan US, 2016), “NATO and Asia Pacific”[co-authored with Alexander Moens and Brooke A. Smith-Windsor et.al.](NATO Defense College, 2016),  “Are the US and China Trading Places in 2025: History Tells the Truth of the US-China Relations” [in Japanese] (PHP Research Institute, 2011). Watanabe received his D.D.S. from Tohoku University in Japan and his M.A. in political science from the New School for Social Research in New York.