Press Releases

1. On October 18th Japan time, the 29th Plenary Meeting of the Japan-United States Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) was held online.
2. Mr. KATO Ryozo, Japan CULCON Chair (Former Ambassador of Japan to the United States) and Dr. Sheila A. Smith, U.S. CULCON Chair, (John E. Merow Senior Fellow for Asia Pacific Studies, Council on Foreign Relations) co-chaired the plenary meeting joined by the panelists representing various fields of the both countries such as government, business and academia.
3. At the beginning of the meeting congratulatory messages from Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan and the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States of America, were read out, which address the importance of people-to-people exchanges in the Japan-U.S. relationship.
4. Discussions focused on topics such as the impact of the COVID-19 on Japan-U.S. exchanges, global roles that Japan and the U.S. play in response to the pandemic and multilayered diplomatic relations between Japan and the U.S. including local governments.

Note: CULCON was established in June 1961 by a joint statement announced by Prime Minister Ikeda and President Kennedy. Its first meeting was held in Tokyo in January 1962. Ever since then, conferences have been generally held biannually, alternating between Japan and the U.S.