Glen S. Fukushima

Fukushima served as Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for Japan and China[14] from 1988 to 1990. Prior to that, he served as Director for Japanese Affairs (1985–1988) at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). During his time at USTR, Fukushima gained a reputation as one of the most effective trade negotiators between the US and Japan and was instrumental in opening up markets for a variety of American industries.[11][15]

He was largely responsible for the success in opening Japanese markets to US products and services during that period. In a notable moment, a memo he wrote (Repairing the U.S.-Japan Relationship, January 4, 1994) ended up on the desk of U.S. President Bill Clinton.[15] Clinton added favorable annotations and circulated it widely, along with other memos he received that day.[16]

After leaving government, Fukushima was a senior business executive based in Asia from 1990 to 2012.[17] He entered the Japanese corporate world at AT&T Japan in 1990, eventually becoming vice president while leading the company's efforts to develop new business in Japan.[11]

He was offered the position of U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Economic Policy in 1993, but declined.[18] The man who was eventually confirmed, Chuck Meissner, was one of the casualties in the 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash.[19]

He served as president and CEO of Arthur D. Little Japan from 1998 to 2000, President & CEO of Cadence Design Systems Japan from 2000 to 2004, co-president of NCR Japan from 2004-2005.[20][21] In 2005, he became President & CEO of Airbus Japan, a position he held until 2010 when he became its chairman and a director serving until 2012.[22]

While working in the private sector in Japan, Fukushima served on a number of notable corporate boards. In 2001, he became the first American to serve on the board of Mizuho Financial Group, then the largest banking group in Japan.[1] Prior to Mizuho, he represented Cadence Design Systems on the board of Innotech Corp which it owned an interest in.[1] He has also served on the boards of companies such as the Industrial Bank of Japan, Daiwa Securities Group, Nissho Iwai, and Fidelity International.[23]

Fukushima served as vice president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan from 1993 to 1997 before serving as its president for two consecutive terms.[6][13][24] At the time, the Japan Times noted his contributions towards modernizing the Japanese business environment during his tenure at the Chamber.[25]

Since September 2012, Fukushima has been a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP) in Washington, DC.[6] He has advocated for deepening people-to-people ties between Japan and the United States along with trade ties.[26]

In 2022, President Joe Biden appointed Fukushima vice chairman of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).[27] The SIPC is a nonprofit established by Congress to assist investors in the case of the failure of a brokerage firm. It is led by a board with seven members, five appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and two named by the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve, each serving a term of three years.[28]

During the Clinton Administration, the White House appointed him vice chair of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and the U.S. panel of Joint Committee on U.S.-Japan Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON).[3][22]

Prior to the Clinton Administration, he was invited by president elect Bill Clinton to speak at what was termed the "Little Rock Economic Summit" on Japan, China, and the Asia-Pacific region.[30][31]

During the 2016 presidential campaign, he was a member of Hillary Clinton's Asia Policy Working Group.[32]

Fukushima is a cofounder of the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans for the 21st Century (CAPA21), a political action committee.[33][34][35][36] He is a member of the national committee of Latino Victory.[37]

Fukushima has served on the board of various nonprofits in the United States and in Japan. These include the Japan Association of Corporate Executives and the America-Japan Society.[38] He is a member of the The Asia Foundation's President's Leadership Council, the board of trustees of the U.S.-Japan Council, and the board of advisors of the Japan Policy Research Institute.[39][40][18]

In 2022, Fukushima made the largest single donation ever made by a U.S. citizen to the U.S.-Japan Fulbright exchange program.[7] The donation was announced at the U.S. Embassy Tokyo with President Joe Biden and Ambassador Rahm Emanuel present and established the Fulbright-Glen S. Fukushima Fund to expand study and research opportunities for Japanese and Americans.[5][7][41]

• 日米経済摩擦の政治学 (The Politics of U.S.-Japan Trade Friction), 1992 — winner of the 9th Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Foundation Prize in 1993.[22]
• 変わるアメリカ変わるか日本 (A New Era in U.S.-Japan Relations?), 1993
• 2001年、日本は必ずよみがえる (How the Japanese Economy Can Revive by the Year 2001), 1999

• Will there be a Pacific trade war in 2018?, Nikkei Asia, 2018[42]
• Bilateralism takes the lead after the Osaka G20 summit, East Asia Forum, 2019[43]
• A View from Japan, The Asan Forum, 2019[44]
• The G20’s uncertain future, East Asia Forum, 2020[45]
• The Case of Shinzo Abe, The Asan Forum, 2020[46]
• The United States and Japan agree in principle, but implementation is key, East Asia Forum, 2021[47]
• Japan: Biden’s Big Challenge, Democracy, 2021[48]
• Japanese Capitalism and Its Lessons for the United States, Council on Foreign Relations, 2022
• What I Learned from the Fulbright Fellowship, Japan Up Close 2022[49]
• Why I Contributed $1 Million to Fulbright Japan, Fulbright Chronicles, 2022[50]
• 元米通商代表補代理フクシマ氏「米、自由貿易回帰に時間」, The Nikkei, 2022[51]
• The geopolitics and economics of technology in the indo-pacific : security, prosperity and values, European University Institute, 2023

• Former USTR official: US will need more time for trade liberalization, Nikkei Asia, 2022[26]
• Glen S. Fukushima: Crossing divides, building bridges, Sustainable Japan by The Japan Times, 2023[41]

• America’s Asia Policy, a Conversation with Glen S. Fukushima, United Nations University, 2014[52]
• The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election and Japan, Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, 2020[53]
• バイデン政権の課題と日米関係, Japan National Press Club, 2022[54]