WASHINGTON – Ten Japanese American leaders will travel to Japan from March 1 to 9 as part of the Japanese American Leadership Delegation (JALD).
Sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and organized by the U.S.-Japan Council, JALD is dedicated to strengthening the relationship between Japanese Americans and Japan and expanding the role of Japanese Americans in advancing U.S.-Japan relations.
Developed under the philosophy of people-to-people diplomacy, JALD cultivates a network for Japanese American and Japanese leaders at the regional, national and international levels. The program also gives Japanese leaders across the business, government, academic, nonprofit and cultural sectors the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the multicultural nature of the U.S. through the experiences of a diverse group of Japanese Americans.
Since the program’s inception in 2000, 227 individuals have participated. The 2024 delegates are:
Naomi Ostwald Kawamuraserves as executive director of Densho, a Seattle-based nonprofit organization and digital archives focused on documenting, preserving and educating the public on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Previously, she served as executive director of the Nikkei Place Foundation, a Japanese Canadian charity based in British Columbia, Canada.
In 2021, she was elected president of the Museum Education Roundtable, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that publishes the peer-reviewed Journal of Museum Education.
Kawamura holds a bachelor of fine arts from the University of Washington, a master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in education from the University of British Columbia. Her scholarly research focuses on cultural memory practices in Japanese American and Japanese Canadian communities. A Shin-Nisei and daughter of a hibakusha,Kawamura was born and raised in San Diego.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: Hiroshima and Kagoshima
Yoh Kawanamiis a director at Hawaiian Electric Company, where he is responsible for the operations of customer-sited energy resources to support the integration of renewable energy. For his research with water heaters as an electric grid resource, he received the prestigious EPRI Technology Transfer Award, which recognizes industry innovators who transform research into applicable utility solutions.
He serves on the boards of the U.S.-Japan Council and Pacific International Center of High-Technology Research (PICHTR), among others. Kawanami also volunteers for organizations ranging from education to U.S.-Japan relations to local community development. He is an alumnus of both the Tomodachi Mitsui Leadership Program and a member of the Pacific Century Fellows Class of 2018.
Kawanami holds a doctorate in engineering management from George Washington University, where his thesis was on customer-sited renewable energy strategy in Japan. He also holds a master’s in engineering management from Duke University and a B.S. in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from University of Washington.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: maternal side from Iwate, paternal side from Nagasaki
Derek Kenmotsuof San Mateo is a business leader in the tech industry and U.S. Army Green Beret. As the head of partnerships for AI/ML at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), he plays a pivotal role in accelerating the U.S. military’s adoption of commercial technology, rapidly enhancing its capabilities.
As the DIU head of Asia-Pacific international partnerships, he advises allies and partners in defense innovation and sources dual-use commercial technology from companies based in the Asia-Pacific region. Previously, he founded an education company in Vietnam that provided corporate training that transcended industries. His tenure at Apple saw him leading cross-functional teams, contributing to the development of various iPhone components.
Beyond his corporate roles, Kenmotsu served as a U.S. Army Green Beret, advising the commanding general of the Philippine Army Special Operations Command. He co-founded the U.S.-Japan Council’s Advanced Leadership Collective and serves on the Emerging Leaders Program Steering Committee.
He holds an MBA from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, where he was elected class president, and BS in international relations from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: Hiroshima and Kanagawa
Darin Manois a Salt Lake City Council member, licensed architect and educator. He holds undergraduate degrees in architecture and psychology from the University of Utah and a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University.
A fourth-generation Japanese American, Mano lived for two years in Kyushu and Okinawa, where he learned to speak Japanese and developed a deep respect and love for the culture, people, art and food of Japan.
As an architect, he owns and manages Uncommon Architects, a firm that aims to provide opportunities for gender and ethnically diverse professionals. Mano also taught architecture and urban design at the University of Utah for six years before joining the Salt Lake City Council in 2020. He served as the 2023 council chair and is focused on solving the city’s housing crisis.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: Shizuoka and Miyazaki
Susan Miyagi McCormacis the founder and editor-in-chief of JapanCulture-NYC, an English-language website that introduces Japanese culture to New Yorkers and connects members of the Japanese and Japanese American community while promoting Japanese-related events.
A 1990 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in communications, she has had a long career in sports television, which has taken her to Tokyo to work Yankees games and the World Baseball Classic.
Her career in baseball merged with her community involvement when the Japanese Consulate tapped her to moderate a panel discussion celebrating the 150th anniversary of baseball’s introduction to Japan, which featured Yomiuri Giants and New York Yankees legend Hideki Matsui.
She is a vice president of The Japanese American Association of New York and a board member of the JET Alumni Association of New York and the Communications Committee of the New York Region of the U.S.-Japan Council.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: Okinawa
Tomoko Hosaka Mullaneyis executive director of the U.S.-Japan Business Council (USJBC) at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In her role, she leads a team of policy and program experts to promote U.S. business interests in Japan and strengthen the bilateral economic relationship. Established in 1971, the USJBC is the pre-eminent U.S.-based organization representing American companies that do business in Japan.
Prior to joining the chamber in 2022, Mullaney was vice president at The Asia Group, a Washington, D.C.-based firm that provides strategic and business advisory services to the world’s leading companies. She supported clients across a variety of sectors, providing them with strategic advice and analysis of Japan’s complex political, regulatory and market landscape.
Mullaney is a former journalist and leader in media and technology with a decade of experience in Asia. She served as deputy economics editor at The Associated Press (AP) in Washington, D.C. and worked as a business journalist in the AP’s Tokyo Bureau, where she was a key member of the team that covered the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster. She was the AP’s lead economic writer in Japan during the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath.
Prior to her tenure at the AP, she worked as an editor at Dow Jones Newswires in Tokyo and has written for The Oregonian, The Washington Postand The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Mullaney is a council leader with the U.S.-Japan Council. She holds a master of arts in international relations from Tokyo’s Waseda University and graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor of science in journalism. She was born in Japan and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where her parents owned a Japanese restaurant. She lives in Bethesda, Md. with her family.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: maternal side from Ibaragi, paternal side from Kanagawa
Anna Ninoyuis the owner and principal architect of METIS Design, an architecture design firm based in Chicago. Started with her partner and husband in 2017, the firm is a conduit for cultural exchange and innovative design that challenges established norms and generates novel ideas for the built environment. Her current clients include The University of Chicago Medicine, Related Midwest and the Japanese American Service Committee, among others.
Ninoyu has been a member of the U.S.-Japan Council since 2017 and currently serves as the chair for the Midwest Region. She is also chair of the board for Chicago Access Network TV, a non-for-profit organization celebrating 40 years of community access TV over five channels, providing media production training and education, and a community forum for elected officials and leaders accessible to all Chicagoans.
In 2018 and 2019, as adjunct professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology, she developed the curricula for the College of Architecture to teach a traveling seminar to Japan titled “Topics in Advanced Technology.” The seminar included visiting over 120 contemporary and traditional Japanese architecture and 50 UNESCO heritage sites. She arranged group lectures for her students with well-known architects Tadao Ando, Tezuka Architects, Junya Ishigami + Associates, Kumiko Inui Architects and Kengo Kuma and construction companies such as Obayashi Corporation and Takenaka Corporation. The purpose of these interactions is to connect students to new environments and gain insight from diverse design and construction practices.
She is currently collaborating with the School of the Art Institute’s College of Architecture (SAIC) and the Nara University of Education and Women’s College of Architecture to establish an architectural studio program that studies the intersection between vernacular Japanese temple carpentry and hi-tech computer-aided fabrication to create novel methods of construction.
As a Japanese American female architect and business owner, Ninoyu strives to diversify and elevate design and construction through cultural and environmental exchange and advocacy to create a positive impact in the built environment and for the benefit of the next generation of aspiring designers and creative professionals.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: Mie and Aichi
Rob Ohnois president and CEO of the ANNIKA Foundation. He is responsible for all aspects of the organization, which supports and empowers young women globally to pursue their dreams through the game of golf. The foundation conducts tournaments, clinics and other development initiatives on five different continents and was founded by Annika Sorenstam, who is considered the greatest female golfer of all-time.
Previously, Ohno served for 24 years at PGA Tour, where he was a member of the senior leadership team. He led various areas of the global sponsorship and corporate partnership business. Later, he became head of international tours, where he oversaw professional golf tours in Latin America, Asia and Canada. Previously, he worked at American Golf Corporation, General Mills and Cambridge Associates in various sales, marketing and analyst capacities.
Ohno graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in economics and received his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He played professional ice hockey in Germany for a year after college. He lives in Florida with his wife and has two sons. He serves on the boards of the AJGA and RBFF organizations, and has taken on volunteer leadership roles within the USJC and Asian Executive Network. He was formerly board chair/vice chair of Vicar’s Landing, the Ponte Vedra YMCA and Harvard Interviewing & Recruiting of North Florida.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: Ehime
George Tanakais a managing director of U.S. Bank and leads their Japan Practice. With more than 25 years of banking experience, he is responsible for delivering programs that provide U.S.-based banking solutions for globally mobile clients. He also collaborates closely with MUFG Bank in Japan and is responsible for developing and introducing new products and services tailored to the Asian consumer market. In this position, he is involved in coordinating marketing and outreach to the Japanese and Japanese American community.
Prior to his current position, Tanaka worked as a senior vice president and Japanese market segment manager and has also held positions within the bank in consumer banking, Asian corporate banking and business banking.
Tanaka is an active member of the community and serves on the boards of Go For Broke National Education Center, Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, Little Tokyo Service Center and California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce in Sacramento.
He has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Boston University and is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: maternal side from Tokyo, paternal side from Shimane
David Yoshimurais a partner at the international law firm Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP. Based in Des Moines, Iowa, his practice focuses on international commercial litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution, and he co-leads the firm’s international arbitration practice team. Faegre Drinker is an industry leader in full-service international and cross-border legal services.
In addition to his dispute resolution practice, Yoshimura engages Faegre Drinker’s bespoke Japan Engagement Team to serve all legal needs of the firm’s many Japanese and Japan-affiliated business clients. The firm offers these clients solutions in employment immigration, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and all other areas of need.
Yoshimura is deeply engaged with Japanese culture and heritage. He is president and board chair of the Japan America Society of Iowa (JASI) and a board director of the Iowa Asian Alliance. Through these organizations, he fosters Iowa and Japan’s unique historical relationship (as Japan’s first sister city and sister state) and seeks to build up and maintain that interpersonal and economic friendship.
He received his B.A. from Iowa State University and J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Prefecture in Japan of ancestral origins: maternal side from Kumamoto, paternal side from Hiroshima
Press representatives are invited to meet the delegates at a special symposium in Osaka. Co-hosted with the Japan Foundation, “Culture, Community and Commerce: Harnessing Global Experiences for Local Economic Revitalization in Osaka” will feature a special guest speaker and panel discussion.
For more information about the program, go to: www.usjapancouncil.org/japanese-american-leadership-delegation/