On February 17 and 18, USJC’s Development Manager Miki Sankary coordinated a visit to Pittsburgh, PA for the Deputy Consul General Kenju Murakami, Director of the Japan Information Center in New York. Over the two days, DCG Murakami visited the “city of bridges,” iconic institutions and leaders that have been bridging the people of Pittsburgh with Japan.
Some of the leaders and Institutions included:
- The many faculty and staff of the Asian Studies Center and the Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures at the University of Pittsburgh
- The president and CEO, Richard V. Piacentini of the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens
- Dr. Lila Penchansky and Carnegie Museum of Art Curator, Akemi May to view the largest private collections of Japanese contemporary woodblock prints.
- Bill Strickland, founder and Executive Chairman of Manchester Bidwell Corporation, and Dr. Kimberly Rassau of the Bidwell Training Center
- Tadao Arimoto at Arimoto Design Woodworking Studio
- Amy Boots Executive Director of the Japan America Society of Pennsylvania, and Susan Renda Board Chair of JASP and Vice President of Human Resources at Mitsubishi Electric Power Products, Inc.