Japanese soldiers and sailors were indoctrinated to chose death before the dishonor of surrender, but 35,000 had been taken prisoner before Japan surrendered. Thanks to the language skills and cultural understanding of Japanese-Americans as well as trained Caucasian intelligence personnel, we gained valuable intelligence that shortened the war. POWs had expected to be executed after repatriation, but once the war ended, as many Japanese said, "We had all become prisoners." For the most part, the Allies treated Japanese prisoners decently, a fact that contributed to the successful occupation of Japan that followed.

Rick Straus was born in Germany and lived seven years in prewar Japan. After the war ended he became a Japanese Language Officer and served in the Occupation at GHQ, Tokyo. This included selecting and translating German documents into English and Japanese for the Prosecution Staff at the Tokyo Trial.

While on a Fulbright grant at Keio University, Straus passed the Foreign Service examination. Half of his 30-year career was in Japan (Embassy Tokyo and Consul General on Okinawa). His last assignment was faculty member at the National War College. After "retiring", Straus taught adult education courses on Japan at Washington area universities and ran the Japanese Language Program at the Foreign Service Institute.

Since moving to northern Michigan a decade ago, Straus wrote The Anguish of Surrender (University of Washington Press, February 2004) based on U.S. and Japanese sources. A Japanese language version appeared last fall. He is on the board of the World Affairs Council of Traverse City, responsible for securing most of the speakers. He also does two commentaries a month on international affairs for the local PBS radio station. Straus' undergraduate and graduate training was at the University of Michigan.

The end of the Koizumi era has come, bringing to a close one of the longest-serving premierships in modern Japanese history and a period of intense change in Japanese domestic and foreign policy. At the dawn of the post-Koizumi era there many questions: How much of this change will endure? Will economic reform move ahead or stagnate? Can the ruling party hold on to power without the popularity of Koizumi? What is the future of Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors? Will Japan continue to expand its security role?

The Japan Society of Northern California and the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford have assembled a panel of experts for two Bay Area events to address these questions.

Speakers' Bios:

Peter Ennis, Editor, The Oriental Economist Report

As editor of The Oriental Economist Report (TOE), Ennis is responsible for overall news coverage, but focuses mostly on Japanese political and security developments. He is also US correspondent for the Weekly Toyo Keizai, with responsibility for coordinating coverage of economic and political developments in the United States that impact on US-Japan relations. For the past ten years, Mr. Ennis has written the "Inside America" column for the Weekly Toyo Keizai.

Mr. Ennis has been reporting and writing about Japan and US-Japan relations for 25 years. He began working for Toyo Keizai in 1985, first on a freelance basis, and then full time when the company opened its New York office in 1987. He became bureau chief in 1996.

Takao Toshikawa, Editor, Tokyo Insideline and Chief Correspondent, The Oriental Economist Report

Mr. Toshikawa began his career as a journalist in 1970 as a staff writer for the Weekly Post and became a senior writer in 1976. From 1970 to 1983, he served as special correspondent based in the United States covering American presidential elections and other political affairs.

In April 1983, he joined Insider Inc., and became chief editor for Tokyo Insider, an English language newsletter of Japanese political and economic affairs. He also established his own newsletter "Tokyo Insideline", a bi-weekly publication for the intelligence community. In 1997 he was appointed to the position of chief correspondent at The Oriental Economist.

Daniel Sneider, Associate Director for Research, Shorenstein APARC, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University.

Sneider was a 2005-06 Pantech Fellow at the Center, and the former foreign affairs columnist of the San Jose Mercury News. His twice-weekly column on foreign affairs, looking at international issues and national security from a West Coast perspective, was syndicated nationally on the Knight Ridder Tribune wire service, reaching about 400 newspapers in North America. He has appeared as a foreign affairs commentator on the "Lehrer News Hour" and on "National Public Radio."

Sneider has had a long career as a foreign correspondent. He served as national/foreign editor of the San Jose Mercury News, responsible for coverage of national and international news until the spring of 2003. From 1990-94, he was the Moscow bureau chief of the Christian Science Monitor, and 1985-90, he was Tokyo correspondent for the Monitor, covering Japan and Korea.

Sneider's writings have appeared in many publications, including the New Republic, National Review, the Far Eastern Economic Review, Time, the International Herald Tribune, the Financial Times, the Dallas Morning News, and the Sacramento Bee.

The end of the Koizumi era has come, bringing to a close one of the longest-serving premierships in modern Japanese history and a period of intense change in Japanese domestic and foreign policy. At the dawn of the post-Koizumi era there many questions: How much of this change will endure? Will economic reform move ahead or stagnate? Can the ruling party hold on to power without the popularity of Koizumi? What is the future of Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors? Will Japan continue to expand its security role?

The Japan Society of Northern California and the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford have assembled a panel of experts for two Bay Area events to address these questions.

Speakers' Bios:

Peter Ennis, Editor, The Oriental Economist Report

As editor of The Oriental Economist Report (TOE), Ennis is responsible for overall news coverage, but focuses mostly on Japanese political and security developments. He is also US correspondent for the Weekly Toyo Keizai, with responsibility for coordinating coverage of economic and political developments in the United States that impact on US-Japan relations. For the past ten years, Mr. Ennis has written the "Inside America" column for the Weekly Toyo Keizai.

Mr. Ennis has been reporting and writing about Japan and US-Japan relations for 25 years. He began working for Toyo Keizai in 1985, first on a freelance basis, and then full time when the company opened its New York office in 1987. He became bureau chief in 1996.

Takao Toshikawa, Editor, Tokyo Insideline and Chief Correspondent, The Oriental Economist Report

Mr. Toshikawa began his career as a journalist in 1970 as a staff writer for the Weekly Post and became a senior writer in 1976. From 1970 to 1983, he served as special correspondent based in the United States covering American presidential elections and other political affairs.

In April 1983, he joined Insider Inc., and became chief editor for Tokyo Insider, an English language newsletter of Japanese political and economic affairs. He also established his own newsletter "Tokyo Insideline", a bi-weekly publication for the intelligence community. In 1997 he was appointed to the position of chief correspondent at The Oriental Economist.

Daniel Sneider, Associate Director for Research, Shorenstein APARC, Freeman Spogli Institute, Stanford University.

Sneider was a 2005-06 Pantech Fellow at the Center, and the former foreign affairs columnist of the San Jose Mercury News. His twice-weekly column on foreign affairs, looking at international issues and national security from a West Coast perspective, was syndicated nationally on the Knight Ridder Tribune wire service, reaching about 400 newspapers in North America. He has appeared as a foreign affairs commentator on the "Lehrer News Hour" and on "National Public Radio."

Sneider has had a long career as a foreign correspondent. He served as national/foreign editor of the San Jose Mercury News, responsible for coverage of national and international news until the spring of 2003. From 1990-94, he was the Moscow bureau chief of the Christian Science Monitor, and 1985-90, he was Tokyo correspondent for the Monitor, covering Japan and Korea.

Sneider's writings have appeared in many publications, including the New Republic, National Review, the Far Eastern Economic Review, Time, the International Herald Tribune, the Financial Times, the Dallas Morning News, and the Sacramento Bee.

Steven K. Vogel, Associate Professor, Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Vogel specializes in the potlicial economy of the advanced indistrialized nations, especially Japan. He has recently completed a book entitled Japan Remodeled: How Government and Industry are Reforming Japanese Capitalism (Cornell, 2006.) His earlier book Freer Markets, More Rules: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Industrial Countries (Cornell University Press, 1996) won the 1998 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. He has also edited a volume entitled U.S.-Japan Relations in a Changing World (Brookings Institution Press, 2002.)

Vogel has written extensively on comparative political economy and Japanese politics, industrial policy, trade, and defense policy. He has worked as a reporter for the Japan Times in Tokyo and as a freelance journalist in France. He has taught previously at the University of California, Irving, and Harvard University.

Dr. Hakjoon Kim has been President and Publisher of Dong-A Ilbo (East Asia Daily) since 2001. His career has spanned the fields of journalism, public policy and academia. After earning his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1972, Kim spend a year as a research associate as the university's Asian Studies Program in the University Center for International Studies and as a research assistant professor in the Department of Political Science. In 1973 he returned to Korea and spent the next 16 years as a professor and a visiting scholar at various universities in Korea and then in Japan, the United States, Germany, Austria, and London.

In 1989, Kim was elected to the Korean National Assembly and became the chief policy assistant, press secretary, and spokesperson for the president of Korea. In 1993 he rejoined the academic world as chairperson of the board of directors and professor at Dankook University while still keeping one foot in the policy world as advisor to the Korean Ministry of Unification and then to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Affairs.

During this time, Dr. Kim was also publishing books in English on Korean politics, books in Korean on the history of Russia and the Soviet Union, and publishing articles in numerous journals, such as Asian Survey (UC Berkeley), Journal of Northeast Asian Studies (Washington, D.C.), Japan Review of International Affairs (Tokyo), Korea and World Affairs (Seoul), Security Dialogue (Oslo), Far Eastern Affairs (Moscow) and other professional journals. In 1983 he won the Best Book Prize, which was awarded by the Korean Political Science Association for his book Han'guk Chongch'i Ron (On Korean Politics,) Seoul, 1983.

Against the backdrop of export-led growth of some economies -- most notably China and India -- human development issues in Asia tend to be overlooked. The 2006 report Trade on Human Terms, produced by the United Nations Development Programme, finds that trade has contributed to further increasing the inequality both between and within countries. In addition, it warns that many of the region's open economies, particularly the East Asian success stories, are creating far fewer jobs, especially for youth and women, and experiencing "jobless growth." Many of the developing countries in the Asia-Pacific are now net importers of agricultural products; food security has thus become an emerging issue.

While Asia and the Pacific have embraced globalization, the regions poor are being left behind and will be so without determined action by governments. The report recommends that those countries adopt bold new policies that harness trade and economic growth, suggesting an "eight-point agenda" that includes investing for competitiveness; adopting strategic trade policies; restoring a focus on agriculture; combating jobless growth; and others.

Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha will discuss the findings and recommendations of this ground-breaking and thoughtful report which can be viewed at:

Asia - Pacific Human Development Report 2006

Dr. Hafiz A. Pasha is UN assistant secretary-general and UNDP assistant administrator and director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific. He has served as the commerce and trade minister, minister for finance and economic affairs, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, and education minister in three government administrations in Pakistan.

Prior to his government work, Dr. Pasha was the vice chancellor/president of the University of Karachi and dean and director of the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, Pakistan.

Dr. Pasha has published extensively in the fields of trade, public finance, social development, and poverty reduction. He has an M.A. from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Pasha was recently awarded the Congressional Medal of Achievement by the Philippines Congress in recognition of his work on poverty reduction, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the Asia-Pacific countries and his role in leading UNDP's response to the 2004 tsunami tragedy.