President’s Letter
President’s Letter
Winter 2025
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Happy New Year! Hope the end of 2024 was a relaxing time and a chance to recharge for what is ahead in 2025. I certainly enjoyed time with family and seeing New York again on center stage as the ball dropped in Times Square, but also was reflecting on what a banner year 2024 was for Japan and Japan Society.
2024 was a banner year for Japan…
Looking back at 2024, it was definitely a banner year for Japan! Japan won more Oscars than ever before with The Boy and the Heron and Godzilla Minus One. Japan won tons of Emmys and made history with FX’s Shōgun! Shohei Ohtani turned the World Series into a true World Series where more Japanese than Americans were paying attention to what the Dodgers and the Yankees were doing. The 2024 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Nihon Hidankyo for their anti-nuclear weapon activism assisted by the survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings. That all of these honors have gone to Japan, a single country, is pretty unusual. The only thing that’s missing is, of course, political stability. And if Japan had had political stability this past year it would have been too good to be true.
And Japan Society connected the dots
What’s amazing is that each one of these triumphs has a connection to Japan Society. We premiered The Boy and the Heron and Godzilla Minus One right here in New York at Japan Society. Many of the people who would vote for the Oscars were there in our auditorium to watch our five-star red-carpet event with the Shōgun cast, who held their premiere here at Japan Society before going on to clean up on the Emmys. We certainly can’t take credit for Ohtani or the recognition of the work by the hibakusha, but the fact is that the United Nations, where Prime Minister Kishida spoke so much about the history of his home city of Hiroshima, is literally across the street from Japan Society where we have hosted the newest Nobel Laureates before. And, of course, Ohtani and baseball have been a major focus ever since the 150th year baseball celebrations between the U.S. and Japan that we marked at our Annual Dinner in 2022 with the Yankees’ great Hideki Matsui and exemplified with a 2024 watch party celebrating this year’s special New York-Japan connection.
So it was not just a banner year for Japan, it was also a truly banner year for Japan Society. I think we can be very proud of what we’ve accomplished, whether by implementing our new strategy of engaging new and old friends in Japan, with our Japan Society School Partnership bringing Japan and Japanese culture to Title 1 schools in New York City, another record-breaking year for Language Center enrollment, welcoming a new senior gallery director, launching our new Culture & Community program, or celebrating the 20 years of service by our Artistic Director Yoko Shioya, who has received the 2024 Foreign Minister’s Commendation in addition to her many honors. Our 2024 Annual Dinner raised a record-breaking $1.8 million in unrestricted funds for Japan Society’s operations and programs.
In the business and policy realm, tentpole programs such as our annual Global Risk Forum, the U.S.-Japan Forum, and our new Economics & Finance Forum served as touchpoints for our Corporate members and friends, and we also co-hosted invitational events with people who historically would not have been seen in the same place, including Haruhiko Kuroda, the former Governor of the Bank of Japan, US Commerce Secretary Gina M. Raimondo, and former US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. In 2024, Japan Society was a true bridge and a connector, and I think we can be very proud of that. But how do you follow up a banner year with such great touchpoints? We’ve created a space to remind people why presence matters, and why Japan Society is so important in a world that is becoming more uncertain and more dangerous. Institutions matter, not just individual accomplishment, and it’s the team that needs the much greater strength, especially from a Japanese context.
Back to Japan
Later this month, I’ll be going to Japan to build on what we have accomplished in 2024 and to really focus on the future. Japan Society is in the midst of putting together a three-year plan to celebrate our 120th Anniversary—that’s happening on May 19, 2027. Historically, we’ve marked significant anniversaries every 10 years or so, from the 90th Anniversary in 1997 to the Centennial celebrations in 2007, and the 110th Anniversary in 2017, with a smaller nod to the post-pandemic re-awakening at our 115th year. For the 120th, we want to celebrate in style, and to invite our friends in Japan to be a part of this.
Throughout our long history, Japan Society’s Japanese members (both individual and corporate) have really only been those living in New York. But since the pandemic, we’ve expanded our audience through virtual programming reaching people in Japan, as well as featuring events with speakers live streaming from locations around the world. Much of what we’re doing now, and some of the things we’re celebrating from 2024, are happening because Japan Society is the premier venue for Japan outside of Japan. So what I’ll be doing in late January is inviting people to be part of what Japan Society is planning for 2025, 2026, and 2027, to be active players and supporters in building Japan Society’s future along with our amazing staff and Board.
All eyes on January 20th
The world will be watching as former President Donald Trump is inaugurated for his second term as U.S. President on January 20th. What January 20th represents is a smooth transition of power and a testament to the resiliency of American democracy after a very difficult political year in our polarized, divided society. We can have only one president at a time, so that’s the transfer of power. But in 2025, the transfer of power also happens on a very important day—Martin Luther King Day. And that also has resonance. When you think about Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which was delivered in 1963 literally right across the Mall from where the new president will be inaugurated, it is a reminder that we are not a perfect union, we’re a more perfect union.
No matter what any person’s political viewpoint is, or any president’s personal agenda, we are all called upon as citizens to be actively involved in our democracy. I think we’ve seen that not just in America, but also in Japan, with the change in leadership there. But in the American context, January 20th is a confluence of two very special things—the transfer of power that happens every four years, and MLK Day, which is celebrated every year and is the only holiday of its kind, when people are reminded that all of us are civil rights leaders under our democracy. In the midst of a cold and very dark winter it’s really important to remember that hope does spring eternal, and that sometimes the light is a little bit further away, but that it will always triumph over darkness.
All the best,
Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D.
President and CEO, Japan Society
P.S. Want to learn more about of our 2023-24 highlights? We’ve just published our 2023-24 Annual Report online. Please click here to view.