A discussion featuring

Makoto Yaminaka, SF Consul General, Consulate of Japan

and

Toru Kunimatsu, Deputy Economic Editor of the Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo and 2005 Yomiuri Fellow at the Graduate School of Journalism

Makomoto Yamanaka graduated from Keio University and joined Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1974. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Tokyo, he worked in the Asian Affairs Bureau, European Affairs Bureau, Treaties Bureau, and Intelligence and Analysis Bureau. His overseas assignments have included the Embassies of Japan in Bangkok and London, as well as the Permanent Mission of Japan in Vienna. In 1977, he was posted to the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C.. The Consul General has also served as the Head of the OECD Tokyo Centre. He began his tenure as the Consul General of Japan in San Francisco in March 2004.

The Consul General will cover issues such as U.S./Japan relations, the role of free trade agreements (FTA) in the region, the results and observations of 6 party talks and viable security arrangements for East Asia. He will also be discussing what he believes the future might hold for North Korea coming to terms with Japan over security issues, what might be the right mix of dialogue and pressure with North Korea and the future of relations between Beijing and Taipei.