Princess Takamado
Minister Fumito Miyake
Minister of Public Affairs – Embassy of Japan in Washington DC
Mr. Fumito Miyake, Minister of Public Affairs at the Embassy of Japan in the United States of America, assumed his present position in September 2023. He transferred from Tokyo headquarters where he served as the Deputy Assistant Minister and Director of the Management and Coordination Division of the Foreign Minister’s Secretariat.
Minister Miyake joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994 after graduating from Tokyo University’s Faculty of Law, and has served abroad in both the Embassy of Japan in Australia (2004) and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna (2014). During his time in the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo, he served in a multitude of roles, including Principal Deputy Director of the Second North America Division and Principal Deputy Director of the United Nations Planning and Administrative Division. He was also Director of the Non-Proliferation, Science, and Nuclear Energy Division during the historic first meeting in 2018 of US and North Korean leaders.
Dr. Kent E. Calder
Edwin O. Reischauer Professor, Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies
Kent E. Calder directs the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and previously served as the school’s Interim Dean in 2021, Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and International Research Cooperation from 2018 to 2020, and director of Asia Programs from 2016 to 2018.
Prior to SAIS, Calder served as special advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), professor at Princeton University, lecturer on government at Harvard, and as the first executive director of Harvard University’s Program on U.S.-Japan Relations. Calder received his Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he worked under the direction of Edwin O. Reischauer.
A specialist in East Asian political economy, Calder lived and researched in Japan for eleven years and across East Asia for four years. In 2014, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. Calder’s recent publications include: Eurasian Maritime Geopolitics (2025); Global Political Cities: Actors and Arenas of Influence in International Affairs (2021); Super Continent: The Logic of Eurasian Integration (2019); Circles of Compensation: Economic Growth and the Globalization of Japan (2018); Singapore: Smart City, Smart State (2017); Asia in Washington (2014); and The New Continentalism: Energy and Twenty-First Century Eurasian Geopolitics (2012).
Eriko Tokùra Murray
Soprano Singer, Voice Trainer and Kimono Dresser
Eriko started singing at the age of 10 and received an Advanced Diploma in Music Performance (ATCL) from Trinity College London, UK. While living in Sri Lanka, she appeared in a commercial on TV, sang as an insert song in a movie, and sang at the Presidential Palace. After moving to the United States, Eriko worked as a member of the Fairfax-based 7 Sopranos (now Sopranessence) and made their debut concert at Carnegie Hall in October 2013.
After a thorough improvement of her voice by the late Lewis Urban, a former professor emeritus of Performing Art singing at the University of Maryland, as a soloist, Eriko started to sing the national anthem at the ceremony of the Embassy of Japan in the United States. Currently, she is engaged in unique singing activities such as Zoom concerts, singing of the U.S. national anthem at the official DC United soccer game, and collaborations with dancers, incorporating waka and old songs into the concert program, and continuing activities to spread Japan culture through kimono.
In May 2024, she sang for a ceremony at the Marine Corps Base Quantico for the Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage month celebration, in July she held a solo concert in Tokyo and in September, Eriko sang at the solo concerts that she was longing to do at St. Mary’s Abbey Glencairn in Ireland. Her CD was released at Amazon co.jp. on March 7th, 2025.
Yoshinao Anpuku
CEO, NIKOLI Co., Ltd.
Yoshi Anpuku, a Mathematics graduate of Kyoto University and a native of Osaka, currently serves as the CEO at Nikoli, Japan’s pioneering puzzle magazine publisher established in 1980. He has authored over 100 Sudoku books catering to all skill levels and is renowned for inventing Shikaku, the world’s first pencil puzzle based on area concepts. Notably, Yoshi played a key role in creating the largest Guinness record crossword with 66,666 clues.
Yoshi travels globally to impart puzzle knowledge, conducting workshops such as “Japanese Puzzle Party” and “The Story of Shikaku” at prestigious venues like the National Museum of Mathematics in NYC. His expertise has been recognized at events like MOVES 2022, where he delivered a speech titled “Playing with Puzzles: a presentation to honor the memory of Maki Kaji.” He has taught popular puzzle classes to students ranging from kindergarten to high school in the U.S. and has showcased Sudoku creation at the Sudoku Championship in Malaysia.
Nikoli’s puzzles, including the world-famous Sudoku, are handcrafted and licensed worldwide. In the U.S., companies like Workman and Sterling have published many enduring Nikoli puzzle books.
Atlas Obscura Article: Inside Japan’s Cult-Favorite Puzzle Laboratory
The National Museum of Mathematics: MOVES 2022
Kihachiro Nishiura
Kihachiro Nishiura is a desendant of Nishiura Enji, the founder of the Nishiura-yaki school of ceramics, which was highly acclaimed in the Meiji Era. His “Nishiura Style” exhibitions of incense, floral arrangements, calligraphy, and other art forms have been enthusiastically received in Japan and around the world.
Maki Hishikawa
Vice President, International Affairs, Aflac Life Insurance Japan, Ltd.
Vice President, International Affairs, Aflac International, Inc.
Based in Washington DC, Maki is responsible for managing Aflac Life Insurance Japan’s
engagement and analysis with respect to international politics and economic policy and
global regulatory issues. She also manages Aflac International’s activities in Washington
relating to international economic policy, global regulatory policy and Japan-related policy
matters.
Prior to joining Aflac in 2010, Maki was Director of Japan Research for Dewey & Leboeuf
LLP’s International Trade Group based in Washington, DC. During her tenure at the law
firm, she published articles whose topics included Japanese insurance regulations, U.S.-
Japan relations, U.S. trade, industrial and competition policy in journals, such as the Wall
Street Journal and the Japanese weekly Ekonomisuto. Before she moved to Washington in
1996, she was a staff writer in Tokyo for Japan’s largest business daily Nikkei. Maki has
master’s degrees in international affairs from the George Washington University and from
the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
Currently, Maki serves as a member and co-vice chair on the board of the Japan-America
Society of Washington, DC. She also serves on the Board of the Japan Commerce
Association of Washington D.C. as well as the Board of the Coalition of Service Industries
(a US-based service industry association).
Shihoko Goto
Senior Fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation
Shihoko Goto is Senior Fellow at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation. She specializes in trade and economic interests across the Indo-Pacific, and is also focused on geopolitical developments in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. She is also a columnist for The Diplomat magazine and contributing editor to The Globalist. She is currently an executive board member of the Japan-America Society of Washington DC, and a member of the Global Taiwan Institute’s US-Taiwan Task Force. Prior to joining the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, she was a financial journalist covering the international political economy with a focus on Asian markets.
As a correspondent for Dow Jones News Service and United Press International based in Tokyo and Washington, she has reported extensively on policies impacting the global financial system as well as international trade. She was also formerly a donor country relations officer at the World Bank. Previously, she was a member of the Mansfield Foundation’s US-Japan Network for the Future, and she has received the Freeman Foundation’s Jefferson journalism fellowship at the East-West Center as well as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s journalism fellowship for the Salzburg Global Seminar. She received an MA in international political theory from the Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University, Japan, and a BA in Modern History, from Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK.
Mariko Baika/梅花まりこ
Mariko Baika is a Japanese bilingual voice actor in the Washington DC area. She’s originally from Tokyo and came to the US for graduate work in International Politics at UCSD. She worked as a project manager at a consulting firm in the DC area, focusing on science and technology policy and international security issues. After leaving the firm, she took up mentorship from a Japanese news anchor and various other voice actors in Japan and the US. You can hear her voice in live action drama, cooperate narration, audio dramas, E-learning, and commercials. Her most notable role is English dubbing for Lady Ochiba in SHOGUN FX Series. Fun fact: She became a big fan of anime recently!