Japan-Northeast Indiana Summit

The Annual Japan-Northeast Indiana Summit will be presented by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, Grow Wabash County, and the Japan-America Society of Indiana.

Date: Tuesday, December 8
Time: 8:00 - 9:00 AM (EST)
Virtual Meeting

Northeast Indiana is home to more than 20 Japanese companies and, statewide, Japan-invested facilities employ more than 67,000 Hoosiers, demonstrating the strength and positive economic impact of the long-standing relationship between Indiana and Japan. The Japan-Northeast Indiana Summit is an excellent example of collaboration that demonstrates a collective commitment to working together and building relationships to spur growth and investment.

We're pleased to welcome The Honorable Kenichi Okada, Consul-General of Japan in Chicago, who will give remarks from Chicago.

The program will feature - direct from Tokyo - Keynote Speaker Kiyoaki Aburaki, Managing Director of the BowerGroupAsia. Aburaki-san will give an update on the Japan-U.S economic relationship, perspectives on the U.S. Presidential election and Japan’s expectations for the new administration, and the current impact of the coronavirus in Japan.

Paul Roland, Director, Japan Business Development, Indiana Economic Development Corporation, will provide perspectives on the Indiana-Japan relationship from the State of Indiana Japan Office, Tokyo.

We invite you to join the VIRTUAL Japan-Northeast Indiana Summit at 8 AM on Tuesday, December 8th (10 PM for Aburaki-san in Tokyo and 7 AM for Consul-General Okada in Chicago).

Register Here

Featured Speakers:

The Honorable Kenichi Okada assumed his current position of Consul-General of Japan in Chicago on October 14, 2019. The jurisdiction of the Consulate-General of Japan in Chicago covers 10 states in the Midwest and Great Plains: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. This is Okada-san’s sixth overseas assignment, and his previous postings include the Embassies of Japan in China, the U.S., and the Republic of Korea; the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Taipei; and the Consulate-General of Japan in Shanghai. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo intermittently from 1994 to 2018, Mr. Okada acted as the expert on Asia with a focus on China and North Korea at the Asian Oceanic Bureau, the Intelligence and Analysis Service, and the Minister’s Secretariat. Mr. Okada joined the Ministry in 1988 and he studied at the University of Tokyo, Peking University, and Harvard University.

Kiyoaki Aburaki is Managing Director for Japan at BowerGroupAsia. Earlier, Aburaki-san served for three decades with Keidanren, Japan’s most powerful business organization, where he led Keidanren’s strategic international initiatives and policy development, covering international trade and investment, defense and aerospace industries, information technology, entrepreneurship, deregulation and data privacy. He also worked closely with former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to establish Japan’s Track 1.5 dialogues with the United States and China. From 2010 to 2012, Aburaki-san represented Keidanren and the 21st Century Public Policy Institute in Washington, DC. Aburaki-san is a member of Technology and Security Taskforce, an expert group on national economic security. He obtained a Master of Science degree in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Keio University. Kiyo-san has presented for the National Association of the Japan-America Societies and at JASI’s Japan Update. We thank the National Association of Japan America Societies for inviting Aburaki-san.