Videos

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation and the U.S.-Japan Council co-hosted a panel discussion with six distinguished Asian American state legislators from diverse backgrounds who are participating in the 2019 Asian American Leadership Delegation (AALD) program.

The AALD program is co-organized by the U.S.-Japan Council and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation, with support from the National Asian Pacific American Caucus of State Legislators. The AALD program gives selected state-elected Asian American officials the opportunity to visit Japan for one week to meet and exchange ideas with Japanese political, governmental, business and community leaders at both the national and local levels. It aims to enhance mutual understanding and network building between Japan and the United States.

The panel discussion was moderated by Mrs. Nobuko Sasae, President of Nobuko Forum Japan, and the delegates talked about their respective political and personal journeys in the United States.

*Please jump to the 12:51 mark for the keynote speech delivered by Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner.

The Ocean Policy Research Institute of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (OPRI-SPF) co-hosted the "Rollout Symposium of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC)" with the Ministry of the Environment on October 15, 2019, in Tokyo. In the symposium, Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner (Co-Chair, Working Group II, IPCC / Professor, Head of the Department of Integrative Ecophysiology at the Alfred Wegener Institute) and several authors of SROCC from Japan and other countries in Asia gave presentations on the latest scientific findings indicated in the report.

H.E. Tommy Remengesau Jr., President of the Republic of Palau, recently visited SPF to speak about Palau’s progressive ocean policies, the work of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy, and plans for the 7th Our Ocean Conference to be hosted by Palau in August 2020. You can watch highlights of the president's speech as well as additional comments by H.E. Faustina K. Rehuher-Marugg, Minister of State, Republic of Palau, and H.E. Francis M. Matsutaro, Ambassador of the Republic of Palau to Japan.

Under the “America First” motto, U.S. President Donald Trump has continued to criticize the U.S. alliance with Japan as unfair and demand greater military and financial investment from allies around the world. Against this backdrop, SPF in collaboration with the Casimir Pulaski Foundation of Poland has conducted a series of comparative analyses to compile balance sheets outlining the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. allies in Asia and Europe.