Dr. Marianne Yoshioka of Columbia and Other Japanese American Leaders Selected to Travel to Japan
February 25 , 2009
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership have selected thirteen Japanese American leaders from throughout the United States to participate in a delegation visit to Japan from February 26th through March 8th. This year marks the ninth delegation of the Japanese American Leadership Delegation (JALD) Program. From the New York area, Dr. Marianne Yoshioka of Columbia University School of Social Work and third generation Japanese American will participate in the Program.
The delegation will visit Tokyo, Kyoto and Okinawa and meet with Japanese leaders from a wide variety of arenas, including Diet representatives, Foreign Ministry officials, business executives, and U.S. Embassy officials. On March 5th, there will be a Symposium in Okinawa sponsored by the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership in cooperation with the Japanese American National Museum, where three delegates will participate as panelists. As with past delegations, Irene Hirano, Executive Advisor of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angels, will lead the delegation.
Professor Marianne Yoshioka holds an MSW and PhD in social work and has trained as a family therapist. She is an Associate Professor and the Dean of Academic Affairs at the Columbia University School of Social Work (CUSSW) which is the oldest in the U.S. and now world-most innovative graduate school of social work. Her extensive research includes addressing issues of domestic violence within Asian immigrant populations, assisting universities and organizations around the world to develop professional social work services. Dr. Yoshioka’s paternal grandfather is from Nagasaki Prefecture and her maternal grand parents are from Ehime Prefecture. They immigrated to the west coast of Canada in 1915-1917.
The goals of the Delegation Program are to improve understanding and strengthen long-term relations between Japanese Americans and Japan, and develop on-going strategies to enhance the role of Japanese Americans in advancing U.S.-Japan relations.
- Contact for JALD and interviews for Dr. Yoshioka;
- Consul Keiko Miura
- Political Section,
- Consulate General of Japan
- Direct: 1-212-418-4487
- Email:
