THE JAPAN SOCIETY
2022
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
TRUSTEE ELECTIONS

Update 13 September 2022

Please note that the venue of the AGM has been changed to:
Daiwa Foundation Japan House
13/14 Cornwall Terrace (Outer Circle)
London NW1 4QP
For all references to Embassy of Japan, read Daiwa Foundation Japan House

Notice of the 2022 Annual General Meetingat the Embassy of Japan, London on Tuesday 20 September

THE JAPAN SOCIETY (THE “COMPANY”)

NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGNOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING of the Company will be held on 20 September
2022 at 6.00pm at the Embassy of Japan, 101-104 Piccadilly, London W1J 7JT. The business of the meetingshall be to record thanks to Sponsors and Benefactors and to consider, and if thought fit, pass the following
resolutions:
1. To receive and adopt the audited annual accounts of the Company for the financial year ended 31
December 2021 and the Trustees’ Report.
2. To reappoint Richard Place Dobson as auditors and to authorise the Board to approve theirremuneration as thought fit.
3. To elect or re-elect Ordinary Trustees of the Japan Society to fill certain vacancies arising.

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD___________________________H C POTTER
Chief Executive
Dated:
Registered office: 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
NOTES
1
2
3

4

5

The full accounts may be seen on the Company’s website (www.japansociety.org.uk) or may be requested in hard
copy from the registered office.
A list of candidates for election or re-election to the vacancies as Ordinary Trustees, together with biographicaldetails of the candidates, are also enclosed.
A member of the Company is entitled to appoint a proxy to exercise all or any of his or her rights to attend,
speak and vote at the meeting. A form of proxy is enclosed with this notice. The proxy must be a member of theCompany or, in the case of a corporate member, its authorised representative.
To be effective, the instrument appointing a proxt and any authority under which it is executed (or a certified
copy of such authority) must be deposited (by post or email) not less than 24 hours before the time for holding
the meeting. Completion and return of the form of proxy will not preclude members from attending and voting inperson at the meeting. If you have appointed a proxy and attend the meeting in person, your proxy appointment
will automatically be terminated.
To comply with security policy at the Embassy of Japan, members are asked to notify the Society in advance of
their intention to attend the AGM. Please bring a copy of your booking confirmation, together with some form ofphotographic ID with you to the meeting. Without such ID admission may be refused.

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Appendix
Election of Trustees
The Board of the Company currently consists of a Chairman, a Vice-Chairmen, two appointed Officers(Solicitor and Treasurer), two ex officio Trustees (one additional Vice-Chairman, the deputy head of mission at
the Japanese Embassy, and one Ordinary Trustee, a member of the Japanese Embassy) and eleven Ordinary
Trustees.
As set out in the Articles of Association, the total number of Trustees on the Board should be no more thantwenty, and there should be no fewer than four Ordinary Trustees.
One-third of the Ordinary Trustees is required to retire by rotation each year. Those who have retired byrotation may stand for re-election but no one may serve for longer than six consecutive years as a memberof the Board.
The Board has appointed a nominations committee currently comprising Bill Emmott (Chairman), Tim
Harding, Martin Hatfull, Sue Hudson, and Heidi Potter (Chief Executive). This committee reviews the skills
that are required on the Board from time to time and the succession policy; and it makes recommendations
to the Board on possible future appointments.
This year it is expected that, as a result of the requirement to retire by rotation, there will be five vacancies for
Ordinary Trustees which may be filled at the annual general meeting (the “AGM”).
Five Ordinary Trustees, Sue Hudson, Tadaharu Iizuka, Yuuichiro Nakajima, Neil Riley and Pernille Rudlin,will retire by rotation and have indicated that they are willing to stand for re-election. The Board warmly
recommends their re-appointment. Biographical details of all five Ordinary Trustee candidates are set out inthis Appendix.
Overall, there are five candidates for election to fill a possible five Ordinary Trustee vacancies on the Board.
Members are therefore asked at the AGM to cast their votes “For” or “Against” each candidate. Members
may also select the “vote withheld” option if they do not wish to vote for or against any particular candidate,although a vote withheld in this way is not a “vote” by law and will not be counted in the calculation of the
proportion of votes “For” and “Against” a candidate.
We are always looking for new people to be involved with the Japan Society in different capacities, including
as committee members and as Trustees and are delighted that so many people are willing to volunteer theirskills to the Society. We encourage members to let us know at any time during the year if they would like to
be more involved. Suggestions of names of people to be considered for committees or for the Board should
be made to any member of the nominations committee or indeed any member of the Board.
Members may vote, as normal, in person at the AGM on 20 September 2022 or by proxy. A proxy form is
enclosed in this booklet for this purpose.

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Biographical Details of the Candidates for Ordinary Trustees 2019
SUE HUDSONTADAHARU IIZUKA

Sue Hudson has spent all her adult life, both inher professional and private capacity, working for
greater understanding and closer relations between
Britain and Japan. In 2018 she was awarded theJapanese Foreign Minister’s Commendation forher contribution to promoting stronger relations
between Japan and the UK.

Tadaharu Iizuka has been living in the UK since1981. He made the decision to come to the UK afterworking for seven years as a sales representative witha foreign-owned pharmaceutical company.

She moved to Japan after graduating from Sheffield
University in History and taught English for almost
four years in Mishima High School, Shizuoka Ken,on a Japanese Government programme. This wasfollowed by a year in Miki Travel, London, a period
working as a freelance Anglo-Japanese media
coordinator before joining the London office of theJapanese media company, Fujisankei, where she
currently works as Senior Director for Projects andBusiness Development.
Over the years at Fujisankei, Sue has worked on manyhugely diverse projects; ranging from children’s
programming, such as Thomas the Tank Engine, toFormula One, to working with a leading Japanese
cookery writer on creating Japanese cookery books
in English, to the Praemium Imperiale Arts Awards,
to promoting and filming Japanese musical talent in
the UK – to mention but a few.
Sue has also been actively involved with the AngloJapanese community in a private capacity. On her
return from teaching in Japan, she joined the Miura
Anjinkai – a society created for the young people
returning from Japan having been on the same
Government programme and became its chairman.
An interest in ‘grass-roots’ events led her, withother members of Anjinkai and the local Japanesecommunity, to instigate the Natsu Matsuri thatran for a number of years from 1985 in London’sBattersea Park. As chairman of Anjinkai, she also sat
on the Japan Society Council and worked with theSociety to try to attract more young members.
More recently, Sue was involved, as a member ofthe executive committee for Japan400 – establishedto mark and celebrate the arrival of the first British
ship to Japan in 1613 and worked on the overall
production of the major events during the year.
She is passionate about exploring ideas for projects
that bring the two countries closer – whether itbe through food, music, art, business or sport andgreatly enjoys the challenge of finding stimulating
ways of bringing people together.

Tadaharu was born in Niigata Prefecture and raised
there until the age of 15. He attended high schoolin Kanagawa Prefecture and studied politics at Hosei
University in Tokyo. After arriving in the UK in 1981,
Tadaharu joined the Tazaki Group, working for 16
years across various business sectors, including
the import of Japanese food, residential property
and recruitment, and being appointed in turn as
manager, general manager, and director. During
his last three years with the Group he served as its
Deputy Managing Director.
In 1998, Tadaharu took up the position of Managing
Director for Centre People Appointments Ltd in
London and has worked with the company to thepresent day. Centre People Appointments Ltd was a
subsidiary company of Japan Centre until September
2017, before recently being taken over by Quick Co.
in Japan.
Outside his work, Tadaharu has served as a committee
member of the Japan Association in the UK and the
Chairperson of Niigata Kenjin Kai.
He belongs to a Japanese Working Group whichaims to establish a Japanese care home for Japaneseelderly residents in the UK, as well as serving on the
Sakura Cherry Tree Project committee.
Tadaharu enjoys playing golf and reading.
YUUICHIRO NAKAJIMA
Yuuichiro Nakajima first came to the UK as a four-year
old boy when his father was posted to his Japanesecompany’s London office. Over the next four years
Yuuichiro lived in London and the experience led
him to return to the UK as a graduate student andthen to work in the City; to date his working life has
been spent almost equally between London andTokyo.
Having studied economics at Keio University,
Yuuichiro started his career with the Overseas
Economic Cooperation Fund in Tokyo. In 1985, heenrolled in the MBA course at the London Business
School as a British Council scholar and in 1987 joined
S.G.Warburg’s corporate finance department in
London. After 16 years of working for City firms, in52003 Yuuichiro established his own advisory boutiqueCrimson Phoenix in Tokyo to advise corporate clientson cross-border M&A (mergers, acquisitions, joint
ventures, partnerships, etc.) and corporate financetransactions involving Japanese companies. Crimson
Phoenix opened its London office in 2012 where
Yuuichiro is now based.
Yuuichiro was an active member of the Japan-British
Society when he lived in Tokyo, serving as a board
member and chairing its Younger Members’ Groupand later Centenary Awards Committee. He joined
the Japan Society in 1985 and was soon thereafter
elected to its Council, later serving on the Centenary
Review Committee, which sought to modernise theSociety’s constitution, and the Awards Committee.
Yuuichiro is non-executive chairman of Japan H.L.
Limited, which operates Japan House London. He wasformerly on the Executive Committee of the British
Chamber of Commerce in Japan and is a member of
the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in
the UK, serving on the latter’s Council as a Director
in 2019-20. Yuuichiro is a non-executive directorof J.P.Morgan Japan Small Cap Growth & Income
plc. In addition, he was a member of the Audit andCompliance Committee of FIFA from 2017 until 2021
and serves as a Finance Committee member at the
Asian Football Confederation.
He shares his interest in choral singing with his wife
Wendela.
NEIL RILEY
Neil Riley is a banking and finance professional who
specialises in dealing with the Japanese market. He
has spent most of the past 25 years either living inJapan, or working in Japan-related roles.
Neil is Senior Director at Mizuho Bank Ltd, London
Branch, where he builds and maintains relationships
with Japan-parented corporate client groups. He
previously ran the EMEA Japan Desk at Barclays, andhas also spent time in previous roles at the Bank ofTokyo Mitsubishi Ltd (London), Deutsche Bank AG(London and Tokyo), and HSBC (Tokyo and Moscow).
In the mid-2000s Neil established and ran a businessin Japan: a winter sports themed travel agency andproperty fund aimed at international ‘inbound’visitors. Through this role he spent three years
living in Echigo Yuzawa, Niigata Prefecture, and was
appointed as ‘Tourism Spokesperson for Niigata
Prefecture’ (Niigata-ken Kankou Karisuma) by the
local government. As a means of enhancing PR for
the Niigata region, Neil once achieved the Guinness
World Record for “Most Different Ski Lifts Ridden in6

24 Hours” (42).
Neil read Politics and East Asian Studies (Japanese
Language) at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne.
This course took him to Japan for the first time in1994, taking one year of exchange study at Fukuoka
University, Kyushu. He took his MBA at the Universityof Nottingham, specialising in Corporate Financeand Business Ethics and graduating with Distinction
in 2012.
Neil is married with two daughters, who have joint
British-Japanese citizenship.
PERNILLE RUDLIN
Pernille Rudlin was partly brought up in Japan andspent one year as a student at Hiroshima University.
After graduating in Modern History & Economics from
Oxford University, she was one of the first graduate
trainees at the American PR firm Burson Marsteller.
She then worked for Mitsubishi Corporation for 9
years in sales in London and Tokyo, and also in HR
and corporate planning. After taking an MBA at
INSEAD, she worked for a British IT company, runninga team of artificial intelligence programmers andwas also Director of External Relations for the global
marketing unit at Fujitsu.
She has been running her own business for the
past 15 years, primarily representing the American
firm Japan Intercultural Consulting, which provides
training and consulting to hundreds of Japanesefirms and their partners across Europe, Middle East
and Africa.
Her interest in bridging cultures throughcommunication, business and education has led toher becoming a trustee of New Routes Integration,
which helps refugees and asylum seekers integrate
into British society, a non-executive director of ofJapan H.L. Limited, which operates Japan House
London, and an Associate of the Centre for JapaneseStudies at the University of East Anglia.
She is a columnist for various Japanese publications
and the author of several books and articles on crosscultural communications and business.

please detach here and return to the Japan Society

THE JAPAN SOCIETY

PROXY FORM for the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2022
I/We, being a member of The Japan Society, hereby appoint the Chairman of the meeting (see note 3) /........................................................................................................ as my/our proxy to vote for me/us at the Annual General
Meeting of The Japan Society to be held on Tuesday 20 September 2022 and at every adjournment thereof.
Name (please print).......................................................................................................................

Category of membership

Individual

FamilyCorporate

Name of corporate
member (if applicable).......................................................................................................................

Signature.......................................................................................................................

Dated....................................................................................................................... 2022
Instructions to Proxy

Please indicate with an “X” in the boxes below and overleaf how you wish the proxy to vote. The Proxy will
vote or withhold their vote, at his or her discretion, on (a) any resolution listed below if no instruction is
given regarding that resolution and (b) on any other business transacted at the meeting.
For

1

Receiving the Accounts and the Trustees’ Report2

Re-appointment of the Auditors

3

Re-appointment of Sue Hudson as Ordinary Trustee

4

Re-appointment of Tadaharu Iizuka as Ordinary Trustee

5

Re-appointment of Yuuichiro Nakajima as Ordinary Trustee

6

Re-appointment of Neil Riley as Ordinary Trustee

7

Re-appointment of Pernille Rudlin as Ordinary Trustee

AgainstVote
withheldNotes
1 A member of The Japan Society is entitled to appoint a proxy to exercise all or any of his or her rights toattend, speak and vote at a general meeting of The Japan Society.
2 Appointment of a proxy does not preclude you from attending the meeting and voting in person. If you
have appointed a proxy and attend the meeting in person, your proxy appointment will automatically bePlease return this form to the following address:
The Japan Society, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
or by email to: heidi.potter@japansociety.org.uk

please detach here and return to the Japan Society

terminated.
3 If you wish, you may delete the words “the Chairman of the meeting” and insert the name of a proxy of
your choice. The proxy must be a member of the Japan Society or, in the case of a member which is a
corporation, its authorised representative. Please initial any alteration. A proxy must attend the meeting
to represent you.
4 The completed and signed proxy form (and, if relevant, the power of attorney or other authority underwhich it is signed, or a certified copy of that power or authority) must be received at 13/14 Cornwall
Terrace, London NW1 4QP or by email to heidi.potter@japansociety.org.uk not less than 24 hours before
the meeting or the adjourned meeting.
5 To direct your proxy how to vote on the resolutions mark the appropriate box with an ‘X’. If no voting
indication is given, your proxy will vote or withhold their vote at his or her discretion. Your proxy will vote(or withhold a vote) as he or she thinks fit in relation to any other matter which is put before the meeting.
6 The vote withheld option is provided to enable you to instruct the proxy not to vote on any particularresolution. However, it should be noted that a vote withheld in this way is not a “vote” by law and will not
be counted in the calculation of the proportion of votes “For” and “Against” a resolution.
7. Any power of attorney or any other authority under which this proxy form is signed (or a duly certified
copy of such power of authority) must be included with the proxy form.
8. If you submit more than one valid proxy appointment, the appointment received last before the latest
time for the receipt of proxies will take precedence.