Public Lecture | U.S.–Japan Relations in a Shifting Global Landscape

As the United States and Japan navigate their relationship with new leadership in both capitals and an evolving geopolitical landscape, JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles and the Japan America Society of Southern California are proud to present a timely public lecture featuring Glen S. Fukushima, a renowned voice in U.S.-East Asia relations. A Visiting Fellow at Stanford University and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., Mr. Fukushima brings extensive experience to this essential conversation on the current and future state of U.S.–Japan relations.

Set against a backdrop of heightened global tensions and transforming domestic politics in both countries, the program will provide an in-depth analysis of the political and policy forces shaping the bilateral relationship in 2026.

Drawing on his wide-ranging experience across both the public and private sectors, Mr. Fukushima will examine how domestic political dynamics in Japan and the United States shape foreign policy, trade, and regional security, with particular attention to their implications for the Asia-Pacific region. The lecture will be followed by a question-and-answer session designed to foster informed dialogue and deeper understanding among business leaders, scholars, policymakers, and the broader public. Join us for an evening of rare insight from a distinguished expert who has helped shape Pacific Rim policy for decades.

(Doors Open at 6:30 PM, light snack will be served)

Courtesy of americanprogress.org

Glen S. Fukushima is a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University and a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., where he focuses on U.S.-East Asia relations. On October 14, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden nominated him to serve as Vice Chair of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), and the United States Senate confirmed him for this position on April 6, 2022.

From 1990 to 2012, Mr. Fukushima was a senior business executive based in Asia representing several major multinational corporations: Vice President, AT&T Japan; President, Arthur D. Little Japan; President & CEO, Cadence Design Systems Japan; President & CEO, NCR Japan; and President & CEO, Airbus Japan. He was elected to serve for two terms as President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, then the largest American Chamber of Commerce outside the United States.

Before his business career, he served in Washington, D.C. as Director for Japanese Affairs (1985-1988) and Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for Japan and China (1988-1990) at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Executive Office of the President. In 1993, he declined an offer to be the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of Commerce. He began his career as an attorney at the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker.

Mr. Fukushima has served on numerous corporate boards of directors, advisory boards, and government advisory councils in the United States, Europe, and Japan. He has served on the board of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, America-Japan Society, National Association of Japan-America Societies, Japan Society of Boston, Japan Society of Northern California, Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., International House of Japan, Japanese American National Museum, U.S.-Japan Council, International Student Conferences, Global Council of the Asia Society, and President’s Leadership Council of the Asia Foundation.

Mr. Fukushima has been a member of the Council on Foreign Relations since 1993. Until June 2001, he served for eight years in the White House-appointed positions of Vice Chairman of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission and Vice Chairman of the U.S. panel of CULCON (Joint Committee on United States-Japan Cultural and Educational Interchange). He has been a member of the Director’s Circle of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and of the Nexus Group of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and co-founder of the Tokyo Committee of Human Rights Watch. He has served on the board of the Washington Bach Consort and the PostClassical Ensemble. In 2016, he was appointed Commissioner of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery, and in 2018, he was invited to join the board of the Mori Art Museum.

His publications include Nichi-Bei Keizai Masatsu no Seijigaku [The Politics of U.S.-Japan Economic Friction], winner of the 9th Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize in 1993. He received the Excellence 2000 Award from the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce in 1999, the Alumni Hall of Fame Award from Stanford University in 2002, and the Person of the Year Award from the National Japanese American Historical Society in 2008. He has been a Visiting Professor at Kyoto University and University Professor at Waseda University. Keio University awarded him the status of Honorary Alumnus in 2012, and LEAP (Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics) conferred on him its Leadership Award in 2014. He is listed in Who’s Who in America.

A native of California, Mr. Fukushima was educated at Deep Springs College, Stanford University, Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship. He was a Stanford/Keio Exchange Scholar at Keio University and a Fulbright Fellow and a Japan Foundation Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo. He currently lives in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Tokyo, and often speaks at conferences especially in Asia and Europe.

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