Past Event: Leading Tokyo Today: A Conversation with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike

This program will be livestreamed on our Facebook and Youtube pages.

Join us for a special webinar in collaboration with Japan Society: a discussion with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. She has been the Governor of Tokyo since July 2016 and is the city's first female Governor, paving the way for women’s empowerment in Japan. The conversation will be centered around sustainable recovery, green finance, women’s empowerment, and the upcoming Summer Games.  

In this webinar, Governor Koike will provide opening remarks, which will be followed by a conversation with Dr. Joshua W. Walker, President and CEO, Japan Society.

This is the first program in Leading Cities Today, the Museum of the City of New York's new series of conversations exploring how urban leaders locally, nationally, and globally are facing the major challenges and opportunities of our moment. As New York City and cities around the world recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and respond to other shared issues, including the climate crisis, gentrification, and the pressures of urbanization, we invite a broad spectrum of city leaders to share their visions for how to build safe, sustainable, and equitable futures for their fellow citizens.

About the Speakers:
Governor Yuriko Koike has been the Governor of Tokyo since July 2016. In July 2020, she was re-elected to her second term of office. Prior to being elected to the post, she was active in national politics. She was a member of the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives for a total of 24 years from 1992, during which she has held major posts including Minister of the Environment, Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for National Security Affairs, Minister of Defense, and Director of the Committee on Budget of the House of Representatives. As the first woman to serve as the Minister of Defense and the Governor of Tokyo, she is paving the way for women to be more active in society.  With a BA in Sociology from Cairo University, she is fluent in English and Arabic, and was a prominent news anchor before entering politics.

Joshua W. Walker, Ph.D. is President and CEO of Japan Society and has held positions of leadership at Eurasia Group, the USA Pavilion of the 2017 World Expo, the APCO Institute and APCO Worldwide. He has served in the State Department and the Defense Department; is a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress; co-founded the Yale Journal of International Affairs; and attended the University of Richmond, Yale and Princeton Universities.