PARTICIPATING PANELISTS:

Daniel Okimoto, Director-Emeritus, Shorenstein APARC
FSI Senior Fellow and Professor of Political Science (former), Stanford University
Keitaro Matsuda, Senior Vice President, Director of Economic Research for Union Bank
Hirofumi Takinami, Visiting Fellow, Shorenstein APARC, Stanford University
Visiting Scholar, Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Finance, Japan

PRESENTATION LIVECAST



PRESENTATION SLIDES
Presentation: Masuda (pdf)
Presentation: Takinami (pdf)

EVENT OVERVIEW

Our topic for this forum is “Recovering from Recession”. Please join us for an exciting evening with three experts who have unique and insightful knowledge of where we are now and where we are headed. There are many serious and eye-opening phenomena, both positive and negative, that underlie the current state of the world economy. This evening will be a thought-provoking exposure of some of the key issues that lie ahead for the business community as we try to recover from this recession.

Daniel Okimoto will set the stage for where we stand with the current recession, both on a global basis and on a domestic basis in the US and Japan. What are the dangers of a double-dip recession? What are the warning signs that are on the horizon? What tools (if any) do public policy officials have left to deal with any further worsening or flattening of the global recession? At the domestic level, both the US and Japan face serious political and economic challenges as they try to develop policy that leads to recovery. Where are these two countries headed?

Keitaro Matsuda will present his view of where we stand with the current recession and the likely outlook for the future. Is there any reason for hope? What might help us avoid a double-dip recession? What steps should the US government and other governments be taking to avoid a double-dip recession and ensure a more healthy recovery? We have learned from this recession that financial crises can spread very quickly from country to country. How do we continue to dig ourselves out of this crisis and see that it doesn’t happen again in the future?

Hirofumi Takinami will speak about the comparison of responses by Japan and the United States to each respective financial crisis (’97 vs. ’08), especially which elements are crucial in the use of bailout of financial institutions as a means to address financial crises. What implications can be drawn from these crisis experiences of the two largest economies in the world?

This year the theme of Keizai Society is “Catch the Next Wave – New Opportunities for 2010”.
This forum will focus on how the world economies recover from recession, catch the next wave, and latch on to new opportunities in the years to come. Please bring many business cards in order to exchange with attendees and panelists, since it is important to network and help each other in these tough times. And please forward this message to your friends and colleagues to expand the power of the Next Wave.

PANELISTS

DANIEL OKIMOTO
Daniel Okimoto is a senior fellow of FSI, director emeritus of Shorenstein APARC, and a professor of political science at Stanford University. His fields of research include comparative political economy, Japanese politics, U.S.-Japan relations, high technology, economic interdependence in Asia, and international security. During his 25-year tenure at Stanford, Okimoto has served as a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Northeast Asia-United States Forum on International Policy, the predecessor organization to Shorenstein APARC, within CISAC. He has also taught at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, the Stockholm School of Economics, and the Stanford Center in Berlin. In 1976, Okimoto co-founded Shorenstein APARC. He has also been vice chairman of the Japan Committee of the National Research Council at the National Academy of Sciences, and of the Advisory Council of the Department of Politics at Princeton University. He received his BA in history from Princeton University, MA in East Asian studies from Harvard University, and PhD in political science from the University of Michigan. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Between MITI and the Market: Japanese Industrial Policy for High Technology; co-editor, with Takashi Inoguchi, of The Political Economy of Japan: International Context; and co-author, with Thomas P. Rohlen, of A United States Policy for the Changing Realities of East Asia: Toward a New Consensus.

KEITARO MATSUDA
Keitaro Matsuda is Director of Economic Research for Union Bank, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in San Francisco, California. He is the only bank economist based in the state. Mr. Matsuda monitors economic trends and developments for Union Bank management and customers, primarily focusing on the economies of California and the Pacific Northwest. He also tracks economic trends in Asia and the Pacific. Mr. Matsuda has more than 20 years of experience in the United States with Union Bank and its parent company, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Limited (BTMU). He is a member of the Economic Advisory Committee for the American Bankers Association. Mr. Matsuda received his MBA from Stanford University, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Tokyo. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. UnionBanCal Corporation is a financial holding company with assets of $85 billion at March 31, 2010. Its primary subsidiary, Union Bank, had 397 banking offices in California, Oregon, Washington and Texas and two international offices as of May 10, 2010. UnionBanCal Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of BTMU, and is a member of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of the world’s largest financial organizations.

HIROFUMI TAKINAMI
Hirofumi Takinami is a Visiting Fellow, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University as well as a Visiting Scholar, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance, Japan (MOF). He is former Director of the MOF. After joining the MOF in 1994, Takinami held many positions in the Japanese government including policy coordination and management positions such as: Deputy Cabinet Counsellor in charge of coordinating domestic and economic policies at the Cabinet Secretariat (i.e. the Prime Minister’s House), Director of Office for Planning on Personal Management, and Deputy Budget Examiner on social security expenditures at the MOF. In addition to such positions related to domestic policy, he has also worked on international issues, attending meetings as one of Japanese delegation, including Ministerial-level meetings of APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) and ASEM (Asia Europe Meeting) etc. While dispatched to the Ministry of Justice, he served as Special Advisory Staff to the Director-General of Criminal Affairs Bureau, addressing international economic crimes. Takinami graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1994, earning his Bachelor of Laws. In his first dispatch to the US by MOF, he received his Master of Public Policy from the University of Chicago in 1998, with a major in finance and public finance. He holds a US CPA (Certified Public Accountant). Reflecting his wide range of working experience, Takinami’s publications cover various issues including the reform of special accounts system of the Japanese national budget and the international treaty against computer crime. Takinami was born and raised in Ono, Fukui, the prefecture next to Kyoto, known for producing many CEO’s in Japan. He is proud of inheriting the virtues “diligence, honesty and gratitude” of this snowy country.