Our speaker in June, Hiroe Makiyama, beautifully embodies all of these traits. Educated in Japan as well as in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia, she is truly a multi-cultural person who has been able to bring the best of her international experiences to everything she’s done, in both her professional and her charitable work.

She holds a B.A. from International Christian University in Tokyo and a J. D. from Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan.  From her first job as a TV director at TBS for the Morimoto Morning Eye show to her current position as a Democratic Party or Minshu-to upper house member of the Diet, her career has taken many twists and turns.  Licensed to practice law in both New York and Connecticut, she has worked for various law firms and entertainment companies such as Universal Music, Shochiku, Warner Brothers and Sony Pictures in Hollywood, New York and Tokyo.

Upon her return to Japan she started a wine tasting club that donated all its proceeds to charitable causes. This, in turn, lead to her becoming an award winning representative for Mondavi Winery in Japan. Then in 2007, in a way very few of us could imagine, she ended up campaigning for and winning her current seat in the House of Councillors.

     Contact: Naoko Yagura, Akiko Tatsuke