News Release from Northwestern Michigan College 1701 E. Front St., Traverse City MI 49686 Contact: Paul Heaton, 231 995-1019, email: pheaton@nmc.edu Date: June 24, 2008 News Archive

IAF speaker discusses "Japan in China's Shadow" July 10

TRAVERSE CITY – Longtime Washington D.C.-based journalist Ayako Doi will speak on "Japan: Struggling to Find Its Role in China's Shadow" at an International Affairs Forum lecture at 6 p.m. July 10 in Milliken Auditorium on the main campus of Northwestern Michigan College.

Doi served as the editor of the Daily Japan Digest during its 14 years of publication between 1990-2004. The electronically-distributed summary of news from and about Japan was widely read by policymakers, business executives, academics and journalists in the U.S. and around the world. The company she co-founded now publishes the Japan Automotive Digest, a weekly newsletter on worldwide operations of the Japanese auto industry, for which she is a contributing editor.

In addition, she has written numerous articles on contemporary issues regarding Japan and Asia for the Washington Post, the Financial Times and the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal, among other publications. She contributes regularly to major Japanese magazines and is a frequent guest on NPR and the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS.

Prior to starting the Daily Japan Digest, Doi was Washington correspondent of the Japan Times. She was a reporter for Newsweek in Tokyo from 1979 to 1983, for Forbes magazine in New York from 1978-79, and for Sankei Shimbun, one of the big four Japanese dailies, between 1972-75.

The program is the last in the 2007-2008 International Affairs Forum series. All programs begin with a reception in the Sculpture Court of the Dennos Museum Center at 5:15 p.m. and are followed at 6 p.m. by the lecture and a discussion in the Milliken Auditorium. All current educators and students are admitted free.

Individual lecture tickets are $10 each and are available in advance or at the door. Two levels of Forum membership are also available: as a Subscriber, members pay $125 and receive 16 tickets good for any lecture; as a Patron, members pay $300 and, in addition to the 16 tickets, receive recognition at each lecture and an opportunity to have dinner with the speaker. For tickets or information, call NMC Extended Education at 231-995-1700.