The U.S.-Japan Alliance And The Future of The Indo-Pacific
Wednesday March 20th | 4:00 pm-7:30pm
Ahmanson Auditorium
- About the Event
- About the Speakers
- Schedule
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The Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University is honored to welcome Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, Admiral Harry Harris, and Dr. Saori N. Katada to provide their invaluable perspectives on the U.S.-Japan alliance and the future of the Indo-Pacific.
About LMU
LMU is a top-ranked national university rooted in the Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount traditions, LMU is committed to fostering a diverse academic community rich in opportunities for intellectual engagement and real-world experience. Our three campuses are rooted in the heart of L.A. a global capital for arts and entertainment, innovation and technology, business and entrepreneurship.
About The Japan America Society of Southern California
Japan America Society of Southern California is a premier non-profit organization founded in 1909 to serve as a bridge between Americans and Japanese. Our mission is to build economic, cultural, governmental, and personal relationships between the people of Japan and America.
Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki has been a Japanese diplomat who served as Ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2012. He is currently the President of the America-Japan Society Inc. & the National Association of America-Japan Societies. He served as Ambassador to the United Nations and to the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 2005-2008, where he served as a chairman of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. From 1995 to 1999 he worked in Washington DC as the Political Minister of the Embassy of Japan. Fujisaki has also held posts in Jakarta, Paris (OECD), and London; his other Ministry of Foreign Affairs posts include terms as Deputy Director-General for Asian Affairs and Director-General for North American Affairs before being appointed as the Deputy Foreign Minister. His teaching positions include four years (1991-1995) as a lecturer Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki is a Japanese diplomat who served as ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2012 and is currently the President of the America-Japan Society Inc. & the National Association of America-Japan Societies. He served as Ambassador to the United Nations and to the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 2005-2008, where he was chairman of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. From 1995 to 1999 he worked in Washington, DC as the Political Minister of the Embassy of Japan. Fujisaki has also held posts in Jakarta, Paris (OECD), and London; his other Ministry of Foreign Affairs posts include terms as deputy director-general for Asian Affairs and director-general for North American Affairs before being appointed as the deputy foreign minister. His teaching positions include four years (1991-1995) as a lecturer and five years(2013-2018) as a professor of International Relations at Sophia University, Tokyo. 
Admiral Harry Harris served as the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea from July 2018 to January 2021. He served 40 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring on 1 June 2018. He joined the State Department 3 days later. From May 2015 to May 2018, he commanded U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM). He is the first (and only) Asian-American to hold 4-star rank in the U.S. Navy and the first to head USINDOPACOM. He is also the first officer from the Navy's Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance community to achieve 4-stars. He previously commanded U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. 6th Fleet, Striking and Support Forces NATO, Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 1, and Patrol Squadron 46. He participated in Operations Attain Document (Libya 1986), Desert Shield/Storm, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, Willing Spirit (Colombian hostage recovery 2008), and Odyssey Dawn (Libya 2011). A Naval Flight Officer, Harris has flown over 4400 hours, including over 400 combat hours.
From 2011 to 2013, as the Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Harris served as the direct representative of the Chairman to Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry. Traveling to over 80 countries with the Secretary, he participated in most of the Secretary’s meetings with foreign leaders. Concurrently designated as the U.S. Roadmap Monitor for the Mid-East Peace Process (Oslo Accords), he travelled monthly to Israel to meet with Israeli and Palestinian Authority leaders to assess conditions.
His personal decorations include the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award, the CIA's Agency Seal Medal, the CIA's Ambassador's Award, and numerous DoD and Navy awards. He was awarded Japan's Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun, First Class. As part of Australia's 2018 Special Honors List, he was awarded the Order of Australia. He received the Republic of Korea’s Tong-il Order of National Security Merit in 2014 and the Gwanghwa Order of Diplomatic Service Merit in 2021. He has also been decorated by France, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Singapore. Nationally recognized for his work as a champion of diversity, he was awarded the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award from Tufts University in 2021.
Harris was born in Japan, reared in Tennessee and Florida, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1978 where he was a varsity fencer. Awarded master’s degrees from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, he did post-graduate studies at Oxford University and completed the Seminar 21 fellowship at MIT. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Council of American Ambassadors, and is a Governor for the Center for Creative Leadership.
Harris’ father was a career U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and the Korean War. Harris’ mother was Japanese and became an American citizen in 1974. He is married to Ms. Bruni Bradley, herself a career Naval officer.
Dr. Saori N. Katada is Professor of International Relations and the director of the Center for International Studies at University of Southern California. She is the author of Japan’s New Regional Reality: Geoeconomic Strategy in the Asia-Pacific published from Columbia University Press in 2020, which also came out in Japanese in 2022. She has co-authored two recent books: The BRICS and Collective Financial Statecraft (Oxford University Press, 2017), and Taming Japan’s Deflation: The Debate over Unconventional Monetary Policy (Cornell University Press, 2018). She publishes on geoeconomics, international political economy of trade and finance, monetary policy as well as on Japan and the Indo-Pacific. She has her Ph.D. is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Political Science), and her B.A. from Hitotsubashi University (Tokyo). Before joining USC, she served as a researcher at the World Bank in Washington D.C., and as International Program officer at the UNDP in Mexico City. 
Dr. Gene Park is director of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University and professor in the Political Science and International Relations Department. His expertise and research areas include East Asia, political economy, and international relations. He is currently working on projects on Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Prior to arriving at LMU, he taught at Baruch College, City University of New York. Professor Park has been a Global Taiwan Institute Scholar, Social Science Research Center Abe Fellow, and a Shorenstein Fellow at Stanford University’s Asia Pacific Research Center. In addition, he spent two years as a visiting researcher at Japan’s Ministry of Finance. He also has had affiliations with the Stockholm School of Economics, Academia Sinica, Keio University, Rikkyo University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. He is a member of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation’s U.S.-Japan Network for the Future. He co-authored a book entitled Taming Japan's Deflation, The Debate over Unconventional Monetary Policy (Cornell University Press, 2018). An earlier book, Spending without Taxation, FILP and Politics of Public Finance, was published by Stanford University Press. His articles and commentary have appeared in Japanese Journal of Political Science, Governance, Socio-Economic Review, Texas National Security Review, Asian Survey, Pacific Review, New York Times, National Interest, Current History, Yonhap News, Kyodo News, Channel NewsAsia, and the Wall Street Journal. Presented Wednesday March 20th
4 pm-7:30 pm
4:00 pm Registration
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm Seminar
6:30 pm -7:30 pm Networking Reception