(See earlier activities)

Upcoming events (Dates subject to change):

• Latino Voters and Latin American Issues in the 2008 Elections (April 2008 student program)
• Debate: Democratic and Republican Representatives in Tokyo (April 2008)
• Post-Primary Analysis and Look-Ahead to the General Election (June 2008)

Program Focus: Elections 2008

What are the factors that will determine who the next president is? What issues will play a significant role in the presidential and congressional campaigns? How will new political leaders address the challenges of domestic and foreign policy? Tokyo American Center programs in the lead-up to the November 2008 U.S. elections are examining these and other questions. With these activities and related services of the Information Resource Center, we are working to improve understanding of the U.S. political process.

March 2008: U.S. Economic Trends and Political Implications

Tokyo American Center (TAC) hosted a lecture/discussion on the "Outlook for U.S. Economic Policy: International Implications" with Dr. I.M. Destler, Professor at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland. The presentation focused on current trends and the likely policy proposals that will come from the U.S. Government, Congress, and the presidential campaigns. Destler responded to a series of questions related to the prospects for U.S. and global economic stabilization, and more important for the curious audience, he described possible scenarios under a new administration, particularly in the area of monetary policy and trade agreements.

December 2007: Understanding U.S. Elections and Campaign Financing

Massie Ritsch, Communications Director at the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington D.C.-based political watchdog organization, spoke to an audience of over 70 people at the Tokyo American Center on "How to Follow the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election."

Mr. Ritsch highlighted the importance of money in the 2008 election campaign - which will be the most expensive in American history - by drawing from his organization's website, www.OpenSecrets.org. The site has a wealth of information on the amount of money each candidate has raised and from what sectors and people they have received donations.

Mr. Ritsch also outlined the American caucus and primary systems and gave an overview of the frontrunners for each party's nomination. Mr. Ritsch's program helped explain the quite alien primary system in the U.S. for a Japanese audience and described in unique detail the role of money in the campaign to increase understanding of the American political process. Mr. Ritsch's presentation and especially his tour of the OpenSecrets.com website showed the importance of civil society watchdog organizations in the U.S., and demonstrated the relatively remarkable transparency of the American political financing system.

November 2007: The Next Administration and Challenges for U.S. Policy in Asia

With the cosponsorship of the Council on Foreign Relations and Foreign Affairs Japan, and the support of the Asahi Shimbun and the Japan Foundation, TAC held an afternoon-long symposium on November 13, with nearly 200 Japanese scholars, policy makers and journalists in attendance. Led by a keynote speech by CFR President Richard Haass, the symposium included three discussion sessions devoted to developments in China, the Korean peninsula and trans-Pacific economic relations. The major challenges, as outlined by Dr. Haass, include:

October 2007: Elections and Their Ramifications for U.S.-Japan Relations

Weston Konishi, Hitachi International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, shared his observations on the 2008 field of candidates in an October 11 presentation at TAC. Responding to the audience's interest in the prospects for a transition from a Republican to Democratic administration, Konishi highlighted the positions of a number of Democratic candidates on foreign policy issues related to Japan and Asia, and offered a preview of debates over trade, defense, democratization and antiterrorism that may emerge in the course of the campaign.

Konishi also made a similar presentation in early November for Tokyo-area graduate students in the TAC's "American Classroom" seminar series, where participants could discuss political change in Japan and the U.S., and how trends will interact in the future of the U.S.-Japan alliance.

Other recent programs:

Trial By Jury: What It Means in America, What It Could Mean in Japan

On October 22, three Bar Associations in Tokyo hosted TAC speaker Robert Precht, Director of the Mansfield Center Juries and Democracy Center on "Techniques for Persuading Lay Citizens: Learning from the U.S. Jury System." Precht's presentation centered on his experience as a defense lawyer for one of the defendants in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing case, explaining the ins-and-outs of jury selection, witness testimony, cross-examination and other tasks that will become important as Japan adopts a lay-judge system with citizen-jurors in 2009. The overview also shed light on how the U.S. grapples with difficult issues in its criminal justice system through the principle of public participation.

Mr. Precht will do a similar presentation for student audiences on February 20 as part of the "Kiso Koza" series of the Information Resource Center. For more information please refer to the IRC page.

Sharing U.S. and Japanese Objectives for Asian Economic Integration

Nishogakusha University hosted an international symposium on "Rethinking Cooperation and Competition between East Asia and Japan," a December 1 joint program by the Japan-China Economic Association and Tokyo American Center, along with the Japan External Trade Organization and the Japan Institute of Overseas Investment. The symposium's two sessions - International Politics and Economics, and International Business - brought together panelists from Japan, China, Southeast Asia, Australia and the U.S. Attorney Dennis Unkovic of Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, invited by TAC to represent how some American businesses and their advisors are approaching economic developments in Asia, pointed to commonalities and contrasts among the major regional actors as a challenge for achieving successful integration.

American History Through Music, American Music Through History

Gregory Reish, Assistant Professor of Music History at Chicago's Roosevelt College, played and sang "old time" musical selections (19th century and early 20th century folk music) on guitar and banjo for a November 20 audience at the Tokyo American Center. Before each song, Reish set each song in its American historical context by describing the story behind the song, or where it takes place in America, and even talking about the origin of bluegrass, folk and country music. The performance of entertaining and charming songs allowed Reish to communicate important aspects of unique moments in American history, such as the Gold Rush, Dust Bowl days and Prohibition.

On October 10, the Mike del Ferro Trio performed at the auditorium of Seisen Women's University, for an audience of about 150, including students, faculty, alumni and other friends of the Tokyo American Center. The repertoire ranged from jazz standards by Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to original compositions by del Ferro which interpreted opera and Italian folk songs through a jazz vocabulary. Del Ferro's repertoire, it is fair to say, broadened the audience's view of what jazz is and showed it to be a vibrant, evolving and inclusive American art form.