Connecting People & Ideas to Advance Mutual Interests in U.S.-Asia Relations

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, after a successful inaugural program, are pleased to announce the selection of a new group of participants for the “U.S.-Japan Network for the Future” program.

The purpose of the “U.S.-Japan Network for the Future” program is to identify American professionals who demonstrate an interest in and potential for becoming Japan specialists and policy intellectuals and to support them in this effort. Cohort II includes Japan specialists from all regions of the United States with diverse expertise and perspectives and the ability to participate constructively in the bilateral policy making process and to contribute to U.S.-Japan understanding.

Commenting on the program, Mr. Kazuaki Kubo, Director of the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership and David Boling, Deputy Executive Director of the Mansfield Foundation stated: “The inaugural phase of the ‘U.S.-Japan Network for the Future’ program was a great success and we look forward to working with this new cohort to further strengthen U.S.-Japan relations and deepen ties between Japan specialists throughout the United States.”

Network participants will participate in: a two-day workshop in Washington, D.C. (January 2012); a week-long meeting in Washington, D.C. (June 2012); a two-day retreat in Montana (autumn 2012); a week-long Japan study trip (June 2013); and a January 2014 public symposium and current issues panel discussions.

A list of Cohort II participants follows:

  • Celeste Arrington,  Assistant Professor, George Washington University
  • Emma Chanlett-Avery, Specialist, Asian Affairs, Congressional Research Service
  • Erin Chung, Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University
  • Annika A. Culver, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
  • Dyron Dabney, Assistant Professor, Albion College
  • Linda Hasunuma, Assistant Professor, Franklin and Marshall College
  • Jeffrey Hornung, Associate Professor, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
  • David Jänes, Director of Foundation Grants and Assistant to the President, United States-Japan Foundation
  • Weston Konishi, Associate Director of Asia-Pacific Studies, Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis
  • Kenji Kushida, Research Associate in Japanese Studies, Stanford University
  • Mary McCarthy, Assistant Professor, Drake University
  • Kenneth McElwain, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Andrew Oros, Associate Professor, Washington College
  • Gene Park, Assistant Professor, Loyola Marymount University