Recent Speakers

• Noted Filmmaker Hisako Matsui

…Who presented her recent work The Choice is Ours and spoke of issues regarding how young people learn around and understand the Japanese legal system.

• Social Commentator and Author Karel van Wolferen

…Who offered his perspective on how the Japanese face troubled time and the nation’s best strategies for weathering the global economic downturn.

• Former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda

…Who spoke of the importance of learning from mistakes of the past. Japan, and the world, PM Fukuda argued, can build enduring and sustainable societies never before seen, as long as the lessons of history are heeded.

• Educator/Clean Energy Activist Hiroaki Koide

…Who shared some of his research to back up his assertion that nuclear power was a flawed solution from the start.

• Author and Academic Yoshihide Ezaki

…Who provided much needed and encouraging insight on the question of how Japan might better serve its aging population. Ezaki’s research suggests that Japan’s aged do not suffer for lack of food or medicine; rather, they need to be better incorporated back into society.