North America-Japan Partnership in a New Global Era: Building the Future through Exchange, Innovation, and Collaboration

This event aims to explore innovative approaches to strengthening North America–Japan partnership amid profound global change. Through their individual experiences across Canada, Japan, and the United states, the speakers will discuss strategies for reinforcing values-based partnerships within societies and among the three countries, as well as brainstorm new ideas and opportunities for trilateral collaboration that will strengthen relations over the coming century.

In a keynote address, Intercultural Exchange as a Path to Creativity and Innovation, Dr. Roseann Runte will draw upon examples from educational and institutional partnerships among Canada, Japan, and the United States to examine how international and intercultural exchange fosters creativity, innovation, and leadership across disciplines, including science, technology, education, and the humanities.

A panel discussion titled Creating Foundations Toward the Next 100 Years will follow, featuring a distinguished group of leaders from Canada and the United States. Moderated by David Janes, this panel will explore the future of North America–Japan relations in an evolving global landscape, examining opportunities to strengthen educational, cultural, philanthropic, and policy collaboration while identifying new models of partnership for the decades ahead.

This event is co-sponsored by the Japan Foundation, Toronto and International House of Japan, in partnership with American Friends of the International House of Japan and Japan Society Canada.

Keynote Speaker

Photo by Jean-Marc Carisse

Dr. Roseann O’Reilly Runte is a recipient of the Order of Canada and has served as president of a number of universities in Canada and the United States. She was also the President and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. In addition to her scholarly writing, she has published poetry and works for the general public which have received many awards. Her latest book, Renshi has been launched this month and was composed with Japanese poets Shuntaro Tanikawa and Ooka Makoto.

Panelists

Dr. Annika Culver is Professor of Japanese History and Director of the Prince Takamado Japan Center at University of Alberta. She has also taught at Florida State University (FSU), University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP), Skidmore College, and University of Chicago. She is an Editorial Board Member at the Texas National Security Review and belongs to the US-Japan Network for the Future. Professor Culver is author of Glorify the Empire: Japanese Avant-Garde Propaganda in Manchukuo (2013), winner of the Southeast Conference for the Association for Asian Studies Book Prize; Japan’s Empire of Birds: Aristocrats, Anglo-Americans, and Transwar Ornithology (2022); Democratizing Luxury: Name Brands, Advertising, and Consumption in Modern Japan (2023), and co-editor of Manchukuo Perspectives: Transnational Approaches to Literary Production (2019). Her forthcoming book is Princess of the Water World: The Transoceanic Lives of a Japanese American Noblewoman (Routledge 2027).

Dr. Frank Feltens is Susan Brotman Chief Curator at the Seattle Art Museum. Prior to this, he was Associate Director for Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Japanese Art at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art. He received a PhD in Japanese art history from Columbia University. Feltens is a specialist in Japanese art with a focus on the late medieval and early modern periods. Additional interests include Japanese photography and the intersections between painting and ceramics. Feltens has published and lectured on a range of topics related to Japanese art. He has written and co-authored books about the Japanese painters Katsushika Hokusai, Ogata Kōrin, the Zen monk-painter Sesson Shūkei, as well as Japanese literati painting. He has also previously held research positions at the Museum of Modern Art, the National Museum of Asian Art in Berlin, and the Nezu Museum as well as at the temple Sensoji in Tokyo. Feltens organized a number of exhibitions, including Imagined Neighbors: Japanese Visions of China, 1680–1980 (2024), Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan (2022), Hokusai: Mad about Painting (2019/21), and Japan Modern: Prints in the Age of Photography (2018–19) at NMAA. Feltens is a longtime practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony in the Urasenke tradition and carries the honorary tea name Söchoku.

Justin Rockefeller is Co-Founder and Executive Chair of Avenera, an AI engineering and services company that creates compounding value through custom-built and managed AI solutions.  Avenera exists to be the trusted AI partner to enterprise leaders, providing confident action and durable advantage.  Justin co-founded and chairs The ImPact, a global membership community of 95+ families committed to aligning their assets with their values.  He is a member of International House of Japan North America Advisory Board, and serves on the boards of Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Longview Philanthropy.  Justin is an Aspen Institute Finance Leaders Fellow.  Previously, Justin was Global Director of Family Offices and Head of Impact at Addepar. He graduated from Princeton University and lives in NY.

Photo by Alexis MacDonald

Dr. Phillip Lipscy is professor of political science at the University of Toronto, where he is also Chair in Japanese Politics and Global Affairs and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. In addition, he is cross-appointed as professor at the Faculty of Law at the University of Tokyo. His research addresses substantive topics such as international cooperation, international organizations, the politics of energy and climate change, international relations of East Asia, and the politics of financial crises. He has also published extensively on Japanese politics and foreign policy. Lipscy’s book from Cambridge University Press, Renegotiating the World Order: Institutional Change in International Relations, examines how countries seek greater international influence by reforming or creating international organizations.

Dr. Tom Mason is a specialist in people-to-people diplomacy. He became the first full-time Executive Director of the U.S.-Japan Bridging Foundation in 2020. Under his leadership, the Foundation has developed comprehensive support before, during, and after the program that includes mentoring, leadership development, and career preparation for emerging U.S.-Japan leaders. He has broadened the Bridging Scholar applicant pool, established new memorial funds, and developed partnerships to strengthen bilateral ties between the United States and Japan.

Prior to joining the Bridging Foundation, Dr. Mason founded and led the ALLEX Foundation for eighteen years, building Chinese and Japanese language programs at over 100 universities and training more than 1,200 instructors, many of whom now teach at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, and leading institutions worldwide.

Moderator

Dr. David Janes is Vice President, North America, International House of Japan (IHJ) and concurrently Executive Director of the American Friends of the International House of Japan (AFIHJ). David has focused his career on international education, global affairs, and philanthropy. His notable roles include Chief Advancement Officer at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), President and CEO of the OIST Foundation (which he founded and launched), Executive Director of Global Citizens Initiative, and Director of Foundation Grants & Assistant to the President at the United States-Japan Foundation.

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