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JUSSCA Board of Directors

Ambassador Rahm Emanuel
Honorary Chair

Rahm Emanuel was confirmed in a bipartisan vote as the 31st United States Ambassador to Japan on December 18, 2021.

Previously, Ambassador Emanuel was the 55th Mayor of the City of Chicago, a position he held until May 2019. During that time, he made the critical choices necessary to secure Chicago’s future as a global capital. As Mayor, the Ambassador added four years to a student’s education. He increased the school day by 75 minutes and added more than 200 hours to the school year, marking the largest single increase in educational time by any city and taking Chicago from having the least educational time of any large school district in the country to being on par with its peers. He implemented universal pre-kindergarten and full- day kindergarten for every Chicago child, and made Chicago the first city in America to provide free community college. The Mayor’s comprehensive public safety strategy focused on expanded prevention programs for at-risk youth, smarter policing strategies, and empowering parents and communities to reduce violence. The Ambassador made it a priority to bring global companies to the city, helping Chicago to lead the U.S. in corporate relocations and foreign direct investment for seven consecutive years. His administration invested in infrastructure, public transportation, open space, and cultural attractions. From the $8.5 billion O’Hare International Airport modernization program that is cementing Chicago’s status as a global leader in travel, tourism, and trade to the development of the iconic 1.25- mile Chicago Riverwalk, the City’s investments are creating thousands of good- paying jobs and making Chicago a better place to live, work, and play.

Prior to becoming Mayor, from November 2008 until October 2010, Ambassador Emanuel served as President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff. In addition to being the President’s top advisor, the Ambassador helped the Obama administration secure the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Ambassador Emanuel was elected four times as a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois’s 5th Congressional District (2002-2008). As Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Emanuel helped pass legislation to raise the minimum wage and authored the Great Lakes Restoration Act.

From 1993 to 1998, Ambassador Emanuel was a key member of President Bill Clinton’s administration, rising to serve as Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Politics. During this time, Emanuel served as a legislative liaison to Congress and spearheaded efforts to pass several of President Clinton’s signature achievements, most notably the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, and the historic Balanced Budget Act, which created the Children’s Health Insurance Program that expanded health care coverage to 10 million children. The Ambassador also worked closely with President Joseph R. Biden Jr., then a U.S. Senator, to shepherd the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 through Congress.

As a former Senior Counselor at Centerview Partners and former Managing Director at Wasserstein Perella & Co., Emanuel brings a depth of financial experience to the post.

Ambassador Emanuel graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981 and received a Master’s Degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. He is married to Amy Rule, and they have three children.

Shin Koyamada, Chair

Shin Koyamada is Chair of the Japan-United States Sister City Association (JUSSCA). Originally from Japan, Shin is an American actor, producer, martial artist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. As an actor, Shin became best known worldwide for his Hollywood blockbuster film debut co-starring as Nobutada in The Last Samurai, alongside actors Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe. The blockbuster film generated worldwide box office revenues of US$456 million. Shin also starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, recognized for having the highest rating in the history of Disney Channel Japan and Europe and is currently streaming on Disney+ to over 110 million global subscribers. As a producer, Shin has produced numerous movies both in the U.S. and internationally, and through his production company Shinca Entertainment, he has also produced numerous  shows, comics, and video games. In addition to his prominent work in the entertainment world, Shin is a martial arts expert who holds black belts in Japanese and Korean martial arts, and has also won U.S. national championships in Chinese martial arts. In 2016, he was appointed the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics Karate Ambassador. Shin is known for his global philanthropic efforts. He operates an international NGO,  Koyamada International Foundation (KIF), with national chapters on four of the world’s continents. He is a proud dad and husband.

Anthony Al-Jamie, President

Anthony Al-Jamie is President and Chief Executive Officer of JUSSCA. He is an interculturally-minded journalist, educational innovator, and nonprofit professional, who lived and worked in Japan for some 20 years. During his two decades in Japan, he successfully established a number of language schools in Saitama and Tokyo prefectures. Through these schools, he ran an English language program for members of the Advanced and Basic Officers Courses at the Japan Self Defense Force Training Grounds in Asaka, Saitama for over a decade. Anthony served as an International Advisory Council Member to the Governor of Saitama, Japan, and was the only non-Japanese Member of the Wako-shi Rotary Club. He is an accredited journalist and the Editor-in-Chief of the Tokyo Journal, Japan’s oldest English magazine. A Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) with vast experience in the management of nonprofit organizations, he is President of the Japan-United States Sister City Association, Chair of California Sister Cities, President of Sister Cities International Southern California Chapter, National Chair of KIF USA, Commissioner and former Chair of the Anaheim Sister City Commission, current member and former Vice-Chair of the Los Angeles-Nagoya Sister Cities Affiliation, former Chair of the San Bernardino Sister Cities Council,  Founding Chair of the California Youth Leadership Summit and the California Young Artists Expo, and a member of the Japan America Society of Southern California.

Koichiro Bansho
Vice-Chair

Lieutenant General (Ret.) Koichiro Bansho retired from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) in August 2015 after 35 years of military service. LTG Bansho started his career as an infantry officer in 1980 with the Infantry and Ranger specialty after graduating from the National Defense Academy. After completing the Command and General Staff College, he was assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a military staff in 1989. After a company command of the 45th Infantry Regiment, he was assigned to the Ground Staff Office (GSO) in 1993.

Upon his graduation from the U.S. Army War College (Master of Strategic Studies) in 2000, he was assigned as Chief, Policy and Programs section, GSO. He then took command of the 3rd Infantry Regiment in Hokkaido. Subsequently, he commanded the first Japanese Contingent to Iraq deployed in al-Samawah in 2004.

After his service as Chief, Public Affairs Office, GSO, he was assigned as the Commandant, JGSDF Officer Candidate School. He followed this by serving as Director, Policy and Programs Department (G5), GSO in 2009. As a significant temporary assignment, he was called up as the Chief of Japan-U.S. Bilateral Coordination Center for the first-ever Japan-U.S. bilateral disaster relief operation known as “Operation Tomodachi,” when Japan suffered the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.

After his mission of G5 and HADR, he was assigned as the Commanding General, 3rd Division in 2011. He was then assigned to the position of Vice Chief of Staff, JGSDF in 2012. Finally, he took command of the Western Army responsible for the defense of the South-Western region of Japan from 2013 to 2015.

After retiring from JGSDF, he assumed the position as Senior Adviser of Marubeni Corporation from Dec. 2015 and served as the Advisor of the National Security Secretariat, Cabinet Secretariat from 2016 to 2018. He has assumed the President of All Japan Jukendo (martial art by bayonet fencing) Federation from May 2018.

Douglas Erber, Vice-Chair

Douglas Erber is a recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays awarded in the name of the Emperor of Japan through the Decoration Bureau of the Office of the Prime Minister. Douglas served as president of the Japan America Society of Southern California for 17 years, and as an officer and past member of the board of the National Association of Japan-America Societies, Inc.  He is also president emeritus and advisor for the Sister City Association of Huntington Beach, which has a strong, 40-year relationship with Anjo-city, Aichi-prefecture.  Erber is a founding member of the Steering Committee for Japan House Los Angeles.  He also serves on the board of the John Manjiro-Whitfield Center for International Exchange – US.  Currently, he is executive director of the Infant Development Association of California, a 50-year-old membership organization that advocates and promotes family-centered, quality early intervention for children with special needs, ages 0-3.  Erber also is the board president of the Autism Partnership Foundation.  In 2014, the governor of California appointed him to the state’s Interagency Coordinating Council (ICC) on Early Intervention; in 2019, he was elected co-chair of the ICC.  Erber worked in Japan for two years after he earned his BA degree at California State University, Long Beach.  An avid surfer, he has surfed around the world, including the East Coast and remote islands of Japan.

Karen Kelley, Vice-Chair

An executive leader in foreign affairs with the U.S. Department of State, Karen Kelley achieved the personal rank of Minister-Counselor as a Senior Foreign Service Officer.  She served in multiple diplomatic assignments overseas in the Asia Pacific and Africa regions. Her executive leadership assignments include three years as Consul General in Osaka, Japan, and three and a half years as Counselor for Public Affairs in Harare, Zimbabwe where she also served as the Acting Deputy Chief of Mission. Domestically, Karen was the inaugural Senior Advisor for Recruitment, Retention, Diversity and Inclusion in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs.  

Earlier in her career, she was the Deputy Office Director and Acting Office Director in the Office of Japanese Affairs in Washington, D.C. and the Public Diplomacy Advisor to the Commander, U.S. INDO-PACOM in Camp Smith, Hawaii.  Her assignments as official embassy Spokesperson and Press Officer include the U.S. missions in Yaoundé, Cameroon, in Manila, Republic of the Philippines and in Tokyo, Japan.  In Japan, she also held the Public Affairs Officer position in the U.S. Consulates General in Osaka and in Naha, Okinawa.

Ms. Kelley is the mother of two adult sons whom she single-parented while juggling her professional responsibilities and personal interests. After a 32-year career as a U.S. diplomat, Ms. Kelley retired her foreign service commission in September 2021.

Ambassador Haruhisa Takeuchi
Vice-Chair

Haruhisa Takeuchi is a former Foreign Ministry official. His appointments include Consul-General of Japan in London, Director-General, Intelligence and Analysis, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador of Japan to the State of Israel, Ambassador in charge of Okinawan Affairs and Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Singapore. He retired from Foreign Service in 2016 and is now lecturing at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy.

Ambassador James Zumwalt
Vice-Chair

Ambassador James Zumwalt became Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Japan America Society of Washington DC in September of 2019.  Previously he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the U.S.-Japan relationship. From 2015 to 2017 he was the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Senegal and the Republic of Guinea Bissau. Previously, he was responsible for policy toward Japan and Korea as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asia Affairs. When the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck Japan in 2011, Jim was serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, where he coordinated the United States’ support for the Japanese Government’s response to that crisis.

During his 36-year Foreign Service career, Jim has served in a variety of assignments with a focus on Asia and international economics in Washington, Tokyo, Beijing, Kinshasa, Dakar, and Bissau. In Washington, D.C., he worked in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Japan, Korea, and Philippines desks and also at the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs and the United States Trade Representative’s Office. He speaks Japanese, French, and some Chinese.  He is the recipient of the Order of the Rising Sun with Gold Rays and Neck Ribbon award from the government of Japan and the Commander of the Order of the Lion award from the government of Senegal. 

Ambassador Zumwalt received a master’s degree in International Security Studies from the National War College in 1998 and a Bachelor of Arts degree in American History and also in Japanese Language from the University of California at Berkeley in 1979. He is from El Cajon, California and is married to Ann Kambara, a retired Foreign Service Officer who is now pursuing a second career in social work.

David Bracey, Secretary

David Bracey is Secretary of the Japan-United States Sister City Association and a voting member of the Board. A former resident of Tokyo and Saitama, Japan for nearly two decades, David Bracey currently serves as Secretary of the Southern California Chapter of Sister Cities International, a member of the Los Angeles Nagoya Sister City Affiliation, and as an administrator for Anaheim University in Anaheim, California. Prior to moving to Southern California, David directed the Career Management Center at the Anaheim University Akio Morita Learning Center in Tokyo, Japan.  David has worked and traveled throughout Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam over the past 30 years.

Keisuke Shimoyamada
Executive Director

Keisuke Shimoyamada is JUSSCA’s Executive Director and a non-voting member of the Board of Directors. Keisuke oversees the daily operations of the association’s activities in Tokyo, Japan under the direction of the Chair and President of the Association. In addition, Keisuke is responsible for overseeing the implementation of JUSSCA-related programs in Japan.  

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