http://nbrforums.nbr.org/foraui/message.aspx?LID=5&MID=43919
From: NBR
To: Japan-U.S. Discussion Forum
Sent: Friday, April 19, 2013 6:02 PM
Subject: Important Japan Forum and Japan Program News
Dear Forum members,
I write today to update you on the growth of NBR's Japan program and some unfortunate news regarding the Japan Forum.
NBR has been expanding its programming on Japan over the past several years. Japan issues lie at the heart of the Kenneth B. and Anne H.H. Pyle Center for Northeast Asian Studies, through which we recently organized a major international conference on leadership change in Japan and elsewhere in Northeast Asia. Japan is an ongoing focus through our core programs - Strategic Asia, the Pacific Energy Summit, the Asia Policy journal - and we currently have foundation grants to support work on the U.S.-Japan alliance and congressional outreach work focused on Japan. Earlier this month NBR was awarded two major new grants for projects, one on U.S.-Japan collaboration and energy security issues and the other on U.S.-Japan collaboration and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
While our overall Japan program is growing significantly, the Japan Forum has long struggled to be self sustaining. Your tremendous support for the Forum through the annual fund drive and modest foundation grants have allowed us to maintain the Forum until now. Unfortunately, NBR did not receive renewed funding for the Forum in 2013 and we have spent the past few months in many discussions with members of the Japan Forum Advisory Board, with potential funders, university partners, and supporters, and with Ed Griffin, who has skillfully and patiently moderated the Forum for more than a decade.
We have, however, reached the conclusion that we can no longer continue to sustain the Forum, and will close the discussion at the end of this month. NBR will maintain the Japan Forum archives on our website, providing open access to the rich and valuable debates that have taken place over the past decade.
We extend our deepest thanks to Ed Griffin for his years of service in making the Japan Forum a hugely successful venue for discussion on contemporary Japanese and U.S.-Japan related issues. We'll be in touch with you shortly regarding Ed. We also gratefully acknowledge the Forum's advisors for their guidance, Fumiko Halloran for her relevant and thought-provoking book reviews, as well as all the institutions and many individuals who have supported the Forum through the years for their generous contributions.
Finally, we thank you for your participation and support of the Forum. From the innumerable reports received, we believe that the Forum, spanning 25 countries and over 850 members, has influenced the debates on Japan-related issues on a global scale, benefitting and fostering the entire community enormously. Although NBR's Japan Forum will no longer be an active discussion venue after this month, we hope that you will find other venues to continue the conversation. During the course of our deliberations these past few months, we found several free and publicly available platforms, such as H-Net, where members could organize a new group if they choose to do so.
I urge those of you with research concepts that are policy relevant and fundable to contact either Michael Wills, NBR's vice president for research and operations, or me as we continue to grow our research agenda on Japan.
With enormous and sincere thanks,
Rich Ellings, President
