THE JAPAN SOCIETY
2015
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
TRUSTEE ELECTIONS

Notice of the 2015 Annual General Meetingat the Embassy of Japan, London on Wednesday 24 June

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 24 June2015 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 2014 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 re-elect David Warren as Chairman of the Japan Society.
4. To elect or re-appoint Ordinary Trustees of the Japan Society to fill certain vacancies arising.

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD___________________________H C POTTER
Chief Executive
Dated: 5 June 2015
Registered office: 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP

NOTES
1
2
3

4

5

A summary of the annual accounts is enclosed with this notice. The full accounts may be seen on the Company’s
website or may be requested in hard copy from the registered office.
A list of candidates for election or re-appointment as Ordinary Trustees, together with biographical details of thecandidates and David Warren, are also enclosed.
A member of the Company is entitled to appoint a proxy to exercise all or any of his rights to attend, speak andvote at the meeting. A form of proxy is enclosed with this notice. The proxy must be a member of the Company
or, in the case of a corporate member, its authorised representative.
To be effective, the instrument appointing a proxy and any authority under which it is executed (or a certified
copy of such authority) must be deposited at the registered office of the Company not less than 48 hours before
the time for holding the meeting. Completion and return of the form of proxy will not preclude members from
attending and voting in person 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 this Notice, together with some form of photographic ID
with you.

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Appendix
Election of Trustees
The Board of the Company consists of a Chairman, two Vice-Chairmen, up to four appointed Officers (Solicitor,
Treasurer, Librarian and Editor), 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 up to
fourteen Ordinary Trustees. The total number of Trustees should be not more than twenty. The number ofOrdinary Trustees should be no fewer than four.
One-third of the Ordinary Trustees is required to retire by rotation each year. Those who have retired byrotation may stand for re-appointment but no one may serve for longer than six consecutive years as amember of the Board.
The Board has appointed a Nominations Committee currently comprising David Warren (Chairman), Hideki
Asari (ex-officio Trustee) and Heidi Potter (Chief Executive). This committee reviews the skills that are requiredon 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 and some resignations, there
will be six vacancies for Ordinary Trustees which may be filled at the annual general meeting (the “AGM”).
Seven individuals have indicated their willingness to stand for election to the Board as Ordinary Trustees,
one of whom is Graham Holman, an Ordinary Trustee who will retire by rotation, but has indicated that he iswilling to stand for re-appointment. He is an enthusiastic and valuable member of the Board, which warmly
recommends his re-appointment. There are six other people standing for election to the Board as Ordinary
Trustees and after due consideration, the Nominations Committee, together with the Board, recommend
Tom Burn, Janet Hunter, Jason James, Mami Mizutori and Eiji Wakiwaka for appointment as Ordinary
Trustees. Between them they share a varied experience and active involvement in developing links between
Japanese and British communities which it is believed will be of great benefit to the Company. In addition,
Eddy Wertheim, is also standing for election.
The election will be conducted at the AGM using a voting paper listing all the candidates.
The Board also proposes to re-elect David Warren as Chairman of the Japan Society.
Biographical details of David Warren and all seven Ordinary Trustee candidates are set out below in thisAppendix.
We are always looking for new people to be involved with the Company in different capacities, including ascommittee 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 24 June 2015 or by proxy. A proxy form is enclosed
in this booklet for this purpose.

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Biographical Details of the Candidates for Chairman and Ordinary Trustees 2015
DAVID WARREN

GRAHAM HOLMANDavid Warren was British Ambassador to Japan from2008 to 2012, after a career in the British Diplomatic
Service that focused on East Asian affairs, in which
he served three times in the British Embassy in Tokyo
as well as two years as head of the China Hong Kong
Department in the Foreign Office in London (19982000). He retired from the Diplomatic Service in January
2013.
In addition to being Chair of the Japan Society from2012, he is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Instituteof International Affairs (Chatham House), a Visiting
Professor at Sheffield and De Montfort Universities, amember of the Advisory Board of Migration Matters
Trust, a pro-legal migration campaigning group, and anadviser to various companies.
He is also a member of the Management Board of the
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts andCultures, the Advisory Board of the London SymphonyOrchestra, and the UK-Japan 21st Century Group. In
August 2014, he became Chair of the Council of the
University of Kent.

Graham Holman is a Director and the Company Secretaryof Sumitomo Corporation Europe Ltd., with responsibility
for the legal affairs of Sumitomo Corporation Europe Groupin the Europe, Middle East, Africa & Russia CIS regions.
He qualified as a Solicitor in 1991 and went to Japan thesame year, joining the law firm Yamagami & Yamagami(now Yodoyabashi & Yamagami LPC) and remaining withthe firm for seven years. From 1993, he was also seconded
to the Osaka Head Office of Nissho Iwai Corporation (nowSojitz Corporation) as Legal Counsel. He returned to the UK
in 1998 to join Sumitomo Corporation Europe.
After returning to the UK, he joined the Committee of the
newly established British Japanese Law Association, serving
for over ten years. In February 2009 the Association received
a Certificate of Commendation from the Ambassador ofJapan in recognition of its contribution to deepening theunderstanding and friendship between Japan and the UK.
He maintains an interest in the Japanese language andwas a prize winner at the 2010 ‘Sir Peter Parker Awards for
Spoken Business Japanese’ organised by JETRO and SOAS.
He is currently Chairman of the Japan Society’s Membership
Committee and a Council Member of the Royal Institute ofInternational Affairs (Chatham House).
Sumitomo Corporation Europe is a member of the Platinum
Circle of the Japan Society.

TOM BURN

JANET HUNTER

Tom Burn is Deputy Head of Pacific Department in theForeign and Commonwealth Office. Pacific Department
manages the UK’s relations with Japan, the Republicof Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,
Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islandstates. His current role takes him far and wide, everywherefrom the Southern Gobi Desert to the islands of the South
Pacific.
Tom was born in Shropshire. He graduated from Durham
University with a degree in Arabic with Middle Easternand Islamic Studies in 1999, joining the Foreign Office thesame year. His London career has been varied, with roles
on the Middle East Peace Process, Afghanistan and EU
foreign policy. His overseas postings have both been to
Japan. His first started with two years Japanese language
training, in London and Kamakura, followed by three
years in Tokyo from 2002. This sparked a passion for Japanand Asia more broadly. His second was from 2010 to2014, serving as Political and Media Counsellor in Tokyo,
overseeing increasingly close cooperation with Japan ona foreign and security issues, and work to promote the UK
in Japan.
Tom is married to Yumiko, originally from Nara. Hisinterests include food and travel and his Japan-related
passions range from manzai and theatre to ceramics andshochu.

Janet Hunter took her BSc at the University of Sheffield
and her DPhil. at Oxford University. She has taught at the
London School of Economics since 1984, and since 2003
has been Saji Professor of Economic History.
She has published widely on the development of thefemale labour market in Japan, the history of AngloJapanese economic relations and the developmentof communications. Her books include The History of
Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1600-2000, Vol. 4, Economic
and Business Relations (jointly edited with S. Sugiyama,
Palgrave, 2002); Women and the Labour Market inIndustrialising Japan: the Textile Industry before thePacific War (Routledge, 2003); The Historical Consumer:
Consumption and Everyday Life in Japan since 1850
(jointly edited with Penelope Francks, Palgrave, 2012).
She is currently working on attitudes to commercial
morality in late 19th – early 20th century Japan, and amonograph on the economic impact of the Great Kanto
Earthquake of 1923. Her paper ‘”Extreme Confusion andDisorder”? The Japanese Economy in the Great Kanto
Earthquake of 1923’ appeared in the Journal of AsianStudies in 2014. She has served as President of the British
Association for Japanese Studies, and has just taken up
the post of co-editor of the Journal of Japanese Studies.
She is an academic member of the Council (governingbody) of LSE, and a trustee of the Great Britain-Sasakawa
Foundation. She received the Order of the Rising Sun fromthe Japanese Government in 2014.

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JASON JAMESEIJI WAKIWAKA

Jason James has been Director General of the Daiwa
Anglo-Japanese Foundation since 2011. Having beenfascinated by Japan on a choir tour at the age of 13, he readJapanese Studies at King’s College, Cambridge, graduatingFirst Class with Distinction. Subsequently he worked formany years in the financial industry, mostly specialisingin Japanese equities, becoming Head of Research in theTokyo office of HSBC Securities, and eventually Head of
Global Equity Strategy at HSBC’s London headquarters.
From 2007-2011 Jason was Director of the British Council
in Japan, during which time he also served as CulturalCounsellor at the British Embassy, Chair of the European
Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) Japan cluster,a Board Member of the Japan-British Society (and Chairof its Awards Committee), and a Board Member of United
World Colleges Japan.
He is currently a member of the UK-Japan 21st Century
Group, a Councillor of the Ueno Gakuen Educational
Foundation, and a member of the International Advisory
Board of the White Rose East Asia Centre. Having lived
in Japan for 15 years, and with a Japanese wife, Jason’sinterest in the country is broad, covering the economy,
financial markets and tax, as well as Japanese literature
and arts, and the relationship between the UK andJapan. Publications range from The Political Economy ofJapanese Financial Markets (co-author, Macmillan 1999),
to Edmund Blunden and Japan (Asiatic Society, 2010).

Born and raised in Japan, Eiji Wakiwaka earned anundergraduate degree in commerce from Waseda
University, Japan and an MBA from Harvard University.
He joined Mitsui & Co. Ltd in the Accounting Departmentof their Tokyo Head Office in 1973, and then transferredto their New York Office after the Harvard MBA programin 1978. After 3 and half years in New York, he returnedto Tokyo in charge of Mitsui’s global oil trading activities
in 1982.
In 1985, he left Mitsui and joined BP’s trading team in
London, and became BP’s global oil trading manager,
followed by a series of management positions in the
UK Retail, Rotterdam and Antwerp Refining, and the US
downstream in Cleveland, USA. He came back to London
in 1993 to work for BP Exploration and Production(upstream) in charge of gas strategy in Asia Pacific, andthen became CFO for BP Asia Pacific in Singapore, before
returning to London in 1998 to work for Russia, Central
and Eastern Europe downstream business development.
In 1999, he returned to Japan to develop Retail business(now divested) and later took charge of BP‘s Gas businessin Japan, Korea and Taiwan. He also became President of
BP Japan in 2001.
He returned to London in June 2009, and joined theClinton Foundation in the area of Carbon Capture andStorage projects in Europe for Clinton Climate Initiative.
He now acts as advisor to Clinton Climate Initiative.

MAMI MIZUTORIEDDY TOSHI ISHIKAWA WERTHEIM

Mami Mizutori is Executive Director of the Sainsbury
Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures. The
Institute is affiliated with the University of East Anglia
where she is the Special Advisor for Japanese Studies.
Previously, Mami worked for the Japanese Ministry ofForeign Affairs where her last position was Budget Director.
She also served as Director of the Japan Information
and Culture Centre at the Embassy of Japan in London,
Director of the National Security Policy Division, Directorof the United Nations Policy Division, and Director of the
Status of US Forces Agreement Division. In addition to
London, Mami served in Washington DC and Mexico City.
Mami graduated in law from Hitotsubashi University,
Tokyo and obtained a Masters Diploma in International
Studies from the Diplomatic School of Spain. She hastaught courses at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University andat Waseda University, Tokyo. She frequently participatesin international conferences relating to such themes
as cultural policies and East Asian diplomacy hosted
by the Ditchley Foundation and similar internationalorganisations. She is a member of the UK-Japan 21stCentury Group.
Mami writes on a wide variety of topics for contemporary
Japanese media, including Monetary and Financial Affairs
published by Jiji Press. Recently, her work on public
diplomacy in the UK was published in a volume producedby PHP Research Institute. Mami is a Managing Trustee of
the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and a Trustee ofthe Association for Aid and Relief Japan. She serves as a
Director of Fidelity Japanese Values PLC.

Eddy Wertheim is co-director to the Japanese Gallery. His
responsibility in this role is to overlook research conductedin the field of Japanese Art as well as organising events andexhibitions globally. In doing so, offering individuals an
opportunity to appreciate and gain a better understandingof Japanese historical and current culture today.
Since studying for a BSc (Hons) in Hospitality Management& Sports Coaching at Oxford Brookes, he has worked ona variety of projects covering sports, art and culture withvarious organisations such as museums, Embassies andeducational institutions both nationally and internationally.
He assisted the Japanese Olympic fencing team in the run
up and during London 2012, where they achieved the firstever team Olympic medal for fencing, and continues towork closely with the team as well as with the developmentof the Japanese fencing association.
Over the years, he has innovated various ways in whichto spread the beauty of Japanese Art and Culture acrossall age groups and demographic around the world.
Exhibiting, lecturing and educating through the Japanese
Gallery, Eddy is a key player and specialist in JapaneseArt, from contemporary art, Japanese anime and manga
to classical masterpieces of ukiyo-e, katana, ceramics andlacquer ware.

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please detach here and return to the Japan Society

THE JAPAN SOCIETY

PROXY FORM for the ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2015
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 Wednesday, 24 June 2015 and at every adjournment thereof.
Name (please print).......................................................................................................................

Category of membership

Individual

FamilyCorporate

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

Dated....................................................................................................................... 2015
Instructions to Proxy

Please indicate with an “X” in the boxes below how you wish the proxy to vote. The Proxy will vote orwithhold 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 David Warren as Chairman

4Election or re-appointment of Ordinary Trustees

AgainstVote
withheld

Please indicate overleaf how you wish
the proxy to vote

General Notes
1 A member of the Japan Society is entitled to appoint a proxy to exercise all or any of his or her rights to attend,
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 haveappointed a proxy and attend the meeting in person, your proxy appointment will automatically be terminated.
3 If you wish, you may delete the words “the Chairman of the meeting” and insert the name of a proxy of yourchoice. 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 under which
it is signed, or a certified copy of that power or authority) must be received at 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London
NW1 4QP not less than 48 hours before the meeting or the adjourned meeting or, in the case of a poll, not lessthan 24 hours before the time appointed for taking the poll.
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 avote) 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 becounted 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 copyof 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.

There are six vacancies amongst Ordinary Trustees and seven candidates to fill those vacancies. The election
will be conducted at the AGM using a voting paper listing all the candidates.
The names of the candidates are listed below (in alphabetical order). Please indicate, by placing an “X” against
the names of the relevant candidates, how you wish the proxy to vote in the election.

Please Note•••

You have a maximum of six votes and may vote only once for any particular candidate
If you vote for more than six candidates, none of your votes will be counted
If you vote for fewer than six candidates and you do not wish the proxy to have discretion to cast theremainder of your votes in favour of other candidates, please place an “X” in this box•

If, as a result of any of the candidates withdrawing at or before the meeting, there is no competition tofill the vacancies, the election will be conducted by counting the number of votes cast “for” and “against”
each remaining candidate. In that case, the proxy will vote “for” each candidate against whose name you
have placed an “X” but will, at the proxy’s discretion, vote for or against any other candidate. If you do
not wish the proxy to exercise this discretion, please place an “X” in this box.

i

Elect Tom Burn as Ordinary Trustee

ii

Re-elect Graham Holman as Ordinary Trusteeiii

Elect Janet Hunter as Ordinary Trustee

iv

Elect Jason James as Ordinary Trusteev

Elect Mami Mizutori as Ordinary TrusteeviElect Eiji Wakiwaka as Ordinary Trustee

viiElect Eddy Toshi Ishikawa Wertheim as Ordinary Trustee

Please return this form to the following address:
The Japan Society, 13/14 Cornwall Terrace, London NW1 4QP
email: heidi.potter@japansociety.org.uk

please detach here and return to the Japan Society

Election or re-appointment of Ordinary Trustees