It was our honor to attend in a media capacity the US-Japan Council’s 2024 Annual Conference on October 31 at the Cerulean Tower Tōkyū Hotel in Shibuya, Tokyo. The USJC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening Japan-US relations by fostering people-to-people connections and it flagship event brought together business and political leaders from both sides of the Pacific. Member of our staff attended morning and afternoon plenary sessions that featured speakers like USJC president and CEO Audrey Yamamoto, Suntory Holdings president Niinami Takeshi, Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko, and former Digital Minister Kōno Tarō. During two rounds of breakout sessions, staff observed roundtable discussions on a range of topics that included: LGBTQ+ inclusion featuring Waseda University professor Robert Campbell and others; Japan-US space cooperation that included Chris Blackerby of Astroscale Holdings, JAXA president Yamakawa Hiroshi, and former astronaut Yamazaki Naoko; and geopolitical tensions featuring such leaders as Trinity Indo-Pacific Partners co-founder Asai Eriko and Director-General of the Trade and Economic Security Bureau at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Fukunaga Tetsurō.