Japan-America Society of Oregon
2020 Annual ReportOur mission is …
to support business and develop community by strengthening the US-Japan relationship.
We focus on and represent the relationship in Oregon and Southwest Washington.
Our programming can extend beyond our region.

JASO is …
a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, established in 1907.
the 3rd oldest among 37 Japan America Societies nationwide.
an idea that in a grassroots effort, we as individuals can come together and make a difference.

JASO has …
a membership of around 130 organizations and 300 individuals. More than 800 persons are
members of JASO as individuals or through their organizations.
9 main committees under a Board of Directors and Executive Committee, comprising 150
volunteers, who plan and implement our programs in Business, Education and Culture.
2 full-time and 1 part-time staff.

Executive Summary
Our goal in 2020 quickly became staying safe, caring for those close to us, caring for our community,and being as active as possible in creating (virtual) places to gather, learn, connect, and support
each other.
2020 will always be the year of Covid, and like many organizations we restricted operations frommid-March to the end of April as we reoriented to the new world. We had enjoyed a series ofsuccessful, growing events in January and February, and from early May we restarted at full speed.
Fortunately, we were able to adapt a lot of our programming to be available and shared online. The
online world also offered new opportunity, particularly in respect to direct connectivity to Japan. We
took full advantage, welcoming Japan residents to events, visiting Japan businesses via video in realtime, and bringing college students from Oregon and Toyama together to hang out. A combination ofgenerous individual and corporate support, plus government help and internal resource
management, allowed us to adjust and make all our events free of charge to members (often nonmembers too), and still report a successful year financially.

Graham Morris
Executive Director

Business
In our Business Speaker Series we discussed thecomparative management of the US and Japaneconomies through Covid with Hiro Ito, Chair of theEconomics Department at Portland StateUniversity; learned how Columbia Sportswear has
adapted to Covid with President Tim Boyle andJapan President Massimo Lazzari; were inspired inconversation with the ever-ebullient Yoshida Sauce
owner Junki Yoshida, and focused on the USChina-Japan economic triangle with Professor Shujiro Urata from Waseda University. In ouryear-end gathering, ZGF architects led us through a dozen community development projects
they have undertaken in Japan, bringing Portland sensibility to drive Japanese city design.
JASO members also got to connect virtually to events from other Japan America Societies
nationally, from Covid economics to geopolitics, diplomacy in SE Asia, the growth of anime, andPPP compliance and DEI for Japanese companies.
JASO also kept local Japanese businesses informed of PPP requirements and opportunities,
assisted in business recruitment activities, and fielded questions and gave support to business
requests through the year.
The Women’s Leadership Council created andhosted 200 attendees for lunch, listening toleadership lessons from Miki Ebara, Executive
Producer from NHK World, Julia Wada, Senior VP
at Toyota USA, and ex-Nike Skateboard GM
turned entrepreneur Melanie Strong.
JASO NEXT is our growing Young Professionals
group. They hosted five different networking
events, culminating in a virtual sake-tasting led by
SakéOne, Oregon’s premier sake brewery.
Japanese Language Classes for Business Purposes thrived with the move to Zoom, where
the disappointment of not seeing each other or sensei in person, was trumped by not having tobeat the traffic into downtown Portland to get to class. We hosted three 8-week terms inJanuary, April and September, with opportunities for students at the beginner, improver,intermediate and advanced levels. We also started offering private one-on-one classes.
As membership benefits we hosted free cross-cultural workshops – how Americans andJapanese employees can become more successful by better understanding the cultural
identities that drive individuals in the workplace and corporate behaviors; and for all we hosted a
new-member orientation where newcomers could meet Board and committee members.

Education
In late February we hosted an expanded
4th Pacific Northwest Japan Bowl withover 60 high school students and 20
teams from schools in Oregon andWashington, including three student
levels for the first time. Winners fromKamiak HS in Washington and Westview
HS in Beaverton represented our region
at the online National Bowl in May.
We had to move our college Toyama
Cup speech contest to November andrecreate it online. Our winner Rei Takahashi from Willamette University will get to travel toToyama-ken once international travel begins again.
Our Japan on the Road educational classroom trips to elementary schools had started strongly
as always, but quickly closed for the school year. With review, and a passion to continue toreach third graders, our team created their first ever 15-minute online video and associatedteachers’ guide. Teachers also proved difficult to connect with as they worked through how andwhat to teach in their classrooms. But by November we were talking effectively again, withvirtual visits restarting in December.

CultureOur supremely enjoyable and delicious
shinnenkai included performances,traditional foods from Chef Naoko paired witha variety of sakes from SakéOne, plus
fukubukuro and fun activities to kick off theyear. Then, the culture team moved online
and experimented with a Netflix movie night
and cultural event on Facebook Live. Oursummer Japanese Beer Garden has always
been a highlight of this committee’s work, so
it was with a little trepidation that we logged
on. No worries, the team pulling of a stunning event as we visited three different breweries andbars in Japan that specialize in Oregon craft beer, while also sampling from our own homes!

Community
Oregon and Southwest Washington are fortunate to have a vibrant scene of Japan-related
community groups, organizations, facilities, eateries, cultural artists, education institutions and ahistoric foundation. We work year-round supporting and creating awareness of their work,
events, and celebrations. In addition, our tomodachi-kai community meets regularly andexplores different elements, also making the move online.

Communications
We connect weekly to our database of 2,000 persons. Our web site at jaso.org received 13,718
visits in 2020. We are most active on social media on three platforms. Our Facebook page
moved to 4,000 followers. We post there about 3 times weekly, with 50% being items from ourmembers (82 total), 30% our items (51), and 20% various other. We tweet almost daily (328),
with 80% being general US-Japan news, information and fun items. And we run a LinkedIn
JASO group (328) where we post weekly, split evenly between JASO and member news.

Financial Report
Total revenue dropped from 2019 to 2020 by 13% to $315,348; and the balance between
membership, fundraising, operational revenue and other sources shifted due to Covid. However,with a commensurate and managed drop in costs, JASO was able to report a year-end surplus.

2018

2019

2020

$342,293$362,202$315,348
13%

36%

37%
27%

45%

22%

27%
28%

38%

27%

Fundraising

Fundraising

Fundraising

Membership DuesMembership Dues

Membership Dues

Programming

Programming

Programming
Other, govt support

Contact Us
We have an office, but we’re rarely there due to Covid. Office phones and mail are checked
once each week. Email is best.
Sarah Saito, Program Manager, ssaito@jaso.org
Kaoru Miyanaga, Assistant Director, kmiyanaga@jaso.org
Graham Morris, Executive Director, gmorris@jaso.org
For general information, info@jaso.org or (503) 552-8811.

Membership
Organizations and individuals join us for many reasons. Most importantly, members invest in ourmission. When combined with the passion of our volunteer groups, this funding powers all ourprograms. Additionally, members receive benefits: corporate listed here, individual listed here.
Our major corporate members are:Diamond
Columbia Sportswear
Consular Office of Japan in Portland
Deloitte

Lane Powell
SEH America
Shokookai of Portland

The Standard
Yoshida Group

Kumoricon
LegitScript
Pacific Rim Martial Arts Academy
Port of Portland

Portland Coffee Roasters
Portland General ElectricPortland Japanese Garden
Summit Properties

Portland JACL
Snow Peak
Sweet Onion Consulting

Tokyo Electron
United Grain Corporation

Platinum
Alterman Law Group
Hitachi High-Tech
JETRO
KPMGGold
Ajinomoto Windsor
Greater Portland IncJPMorgan

Silver
AGC Electronics America
ANDEO Intl Homestays
Buckley Law
Business Oregon
City of Hillsboro
Delta Air Lines
Dick’s Auto Group
Epson Portland Inc.
Fujimi Corporation

Gerding Edlen
Development
In Line Commercial
Construction
JAE Oregon
Japan Abacus Math
School
K&L Gates
Mackenzie.

Made in Oregon
Moss Adams
NW Natural
Pacific Dreams
Perkins & Co
Portland State University
Prosper Portland
SakéOneSapporo USA

Temple University JapanTokyo Ohka Kogyo
Tracktown USA
Uwajimaya
Wacom
Yamasa CorporationZGF Architects

Jelld
Kanematsu USA
Kanto Corporation
KBF CPAs
King Brewing Co. Ltd.
Kkobo LLC
Koji Osakaya JapaneseRestaurant
KurotaniLive Your ColourMarukin
Mitsubishi Gas Chemical
New Season Foods
Nippon Express USA
Nippon Mektron

Oregon Department ofAgriculture
Overseas Merchandise
Inspection Co.
Oyatsupan
PLACE
Prince Hotels USA
Rogue Ales & Spirits
Seisuke Knife
Sho Authentic JapaneseCuisineShoei Electronic
Materials
Sojitz Corporation
St.Cousair Oregon

Orchards
Syun Izakaya
The Bidwell Marriott
PortlandThe International School
The Mark Spencer Hotel
TofuguTokyo International
University of America
University of Oregon
Center for Asian &Pacific Studies
US-J Connect
Vanport InternationalYoui

Oya No Kai
Portland Taiko
Sora Shodo

Takohachi TaikoYuki OrigamiBronze
Barran Liebman
Cable Huston
CDZ Collegium Musica
CH2M Hill
Chef Naoko Corporation
City of Beaverton
City of SalemCity of Tualatin
Denison Cellars
Expeditors International
Global Business Passport
Hokusei North America
IMEX America
InSpec GroupInter-Pacific Consulting

CopperCREAWJapanese Cool
Mitsu Yamazaki LLC