On the evening of October 1, JCIE/USA and the Consulate General of Japan in New York co-hosted an online dialogue featuring Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, the recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This was designed to share lessons from Japan’s relatively successful COVID-19 response and explore possible areas of US-Japan collaboration in battling the epidemic. 

The meeting started with remarks from Japan’s Minister of Economic and Fiscal Policy, Hon. Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of Japan’s COVID-19 response, then moved on to a presentation by Yamanaka and a conversation between him and Pulitzer Prize–winning science writer Laurie Garett, culminating in a dialogue with roughly 20 top US and Japanese experts on public health, medicine, and international affairs. It was moderated by JCIE/USA Executive Director James Gannon, and Ambassador Kanji Yamanouchi, the consul general of Japan in New York, gave closing remarks.