Dear JAC-US members,

Congratulations on launching the Japan Alumni Community of U.S. Exchange Programs (JAC-US), the first countrywide alumni association of U.S. exchange program alumni in Japan!  All of us here at the U.S. Embassy look forward to partnering with you and engaging with our dynamic alumni.

There are more than 10,000 Japanese alumni of U.S. Government exchange programs.  Among the alumni ranks are Japan's best and brightest: Nobel Prize winners; leaders of government, including a Tokyo Governor and even a Prime Minister; and some of Japan’s most well-known and internationally recognized novelists.  Your talents are impressive, and we are proud to be part of your pathway to success.

We hope to enable exchange alumni to build a platform for engagement and community through which you can identify and tackle head on the most pressing challenges of the day.  JAC-US will fulfill this important role.

We are delighted to be here at the launch of JAC-US and look forward to hearing about your many successes in the years ahead.  As we at the Embassy are Ambassadors of America, you are Ambassadors of Japan.  Together, we will strengthen the rich connections between our people that underpin all that we do together as nations.

Thank you and ganbarimashyou!

Philip Roskamp
Minister Counselor for Public Affairs
U.S. Embassy Tokyo

A Message for JAC-US 

I greatly appreciate each and every one of the JAC-US Advisory Board Members! With the tremendous support and understanding from the Public Affairs Section of the United States Embassy in Tokyo, we were able to successfully lay the groundwork for the JAC-US and launch the alumni community on July 30th. Looking back on my time with JAC-US, there are a myriad of lessons that I was blessed to learn; the significance of leadership, fundamental principles for community building, and more importantly, the enormous potential power of alumni. With everything that’s going on today, I ponder that the idea of connecting United States Government-funded program alumni and attempting to create an avenue where different opinions and ideas are rigorously exchanged can be, if not the best, a meaningful solution for unprecedented issues to solve. 

Ryo TANAKA
Former Program Lead