We are pleased to welcome the following new members to the Council (joined in April 2025):
Hawaii
- James Meli (Honolulu, HI)
Co-Founder, Mana Up Hawaii, LLC - Tomoko Valdez (Honolulu, HI)
General Manager at Honolulu Branch, JTB USA, Inc.
Japan
- Casey Abel (Tokyo, Japan)
CEO & Co-Founder, ZooKeep K.K. - Sae Amemiya (Tokyo, Japan)
Senior Program Manager Insurtech, Plug & Play Japan - Saya Goto (Tokyo, Japan)
Senior Instructional Designer, Amazon Japan - Rei Tanaka (Tokyo, Japan)
Partner, EY Strategy and Consulting
New York & Vicinity
- Helena Narisu (New York, NY)
Intern, U.S.-Japan Council - Hideaki “Roy” Umetsu (New York, NY)
Managing Partner, Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
Northern CA & Nevada
- Mizuna Sekine (Menlo Park, CA)
Associate, LATHAM & WATKINS LLP
Southeast
- Jung Won Lee (Apex, NC)
Managing Director, Deloitte
Southern CA & Southwest
- Yuko Sasaki (Los Angeles, CA)
Director of Board Administration and Executive Assistant, Kura Sushi USA
Washington, D.C. & Vicinity
- Lauren Rice (Washington, D.C.)
Corporate and Foundation Giving Director, AARP Foundation