SOLD OUT – Global Atlanta’s Consular Conversations: Japan Consul General Luncheon

Join Global Atlanta on Wednesday Feb. 16, for the next interview in the Consular Conversations series presented by Miller & Martin PLC, this time featuring  Kazuyuki Takeuchi, Consul General of Japan.

This special edition of Consular Conversations is to be held at The Carter Center, where this fall a traditional Japanese bell tower will be built to house the Peace Bell given to President Carter as a symbol of friendship between the people of Japan and Georgia. Undertaken by partners including the Japan-America Society of Georgia, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Georgia, JETRO and the consulate, the Friendship Tower Project is to be an enduring symbol of economic ties and cultural exchange between Georgia and Japan, which started in earnest during Carter’s time as governor of Georgia during the early 1970s.

The discussion with Consul General Takeuchi will include a one-on-one interview with the Global Atlanta editorial team, followed by a moderated audience Q&A. The following is a sampling of topics to be discussed:

• Japan’s pandemic measures, current situation and Olympic experience
• Japanese investment in Georgia — The Next Wave?
• U.S.-Japan security cooperation in Asia
• How Japanese companies have adapted during the pandemic, including workforce retention strategies
• Georgia-Japan Peace Bell project at the Carter Center — how it came about and where it’s going
• Southeast-U.S. Japan summit plans

The luncheon will take place in the Cyprus room, which overlooks the Carter Center’s Japanese garden and Cyprus lawn.

A follow-up of the event will be published in an article following the discussion. Consular Conversations Annual Pass holders will have exclusive access to a post-event recording of the discussion.

For public health and safety reasons, everyone attending in person must be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 and wear masks during the event.

Hosted by:

Meet our Speaker:

Consul Kazuyuki Takeuchi graduated from the University of Tokyo with a degree in Economics in March 1985 and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) the following month.

In 2007, he was appointed Director of the Economic Security Division in the Economic Affairs Bureau of MOFA. Then in 2008, he became Minister-Counsellor, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy in Myanmar where he stayed for three years. His next post took him to the Embassy in Germany where he served as a Minister from 2011 until 2014.

In 2014, he returned to Japan to join the Sendai Immigration Bureau in the Ministry of Justice as the Director-General.

His most recent post was that of Minister and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy in Austria from 2016 until September 2019.
He arrived in Atlanta, Georgia for his first North American Appointment as Consul General for the Consulate General of Japan (managing the states of Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, & South Carolina) in September 2019. Mr. Takeuchi is joined by his wife.

Meagan Martz

Senior Associate Director, Principal Gifts Development – Asia, The Carter Center

Meagan Clem Martz is a Senior Associate Director of Development at The Carter Center. She is responsible for cultivating and maintaining relationships with individuals and foundations across Asia in order to solicit funding for the Center’s peace and health programs. Prior to COIVD-19, Meagan spent an average of 90 days out of the country each year, visiting donors and prospects in Asia and participating in Carter Center projects in Africa. In 2019, she served as an expert on Chinese aid in Africa at the Yale Africa-China Conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

Before joining The Carter Center in 2013, Meagan worked as an International Trade Program Coordinator for the Georgia Department of Economic Development and as a consultant for the Georgia Tech Research Institute.

Meagan has a bachelor’s degree in International Affairs and Modern Languages – Japanese and a master’s in International Affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology. As a student, she studied in Japan and Thailand and conducted her graduate field work on women’s empowerment through local conservation efforts in Belize and Guatemala.

Trevor Williams

Managing Editor, Global Atlanta

A seasoned digital journalist, Trevor Williams has spent the last decade covering the intersection between local and global business, traveling to more than 30 countries on five continents in pursuit of stories linked to his native state of Georgia. He focuses intently on Asia and also has written extensively on foreign direct investment, trade and exports, Georgia’s ties with China, and Atlanta’s emergence as a payments hub, among other topics. He earned dual bachelor’s degrees in magazine journalism and religion at the University of Georgia, also minoring in Chinese language and literature. He is a proud husband and father of two young sons, as well as the editor of the book “Making Men: Five Steps to Growing Up.”

Tom Harrold

Senior Partner, Miller & Martin

Tom Harrold leads the firm’s International/World Law Group practice and has for many years worked with European and Asian companies investing in the Southeastern United States and with American companies who have expanded around the globe seeking new business opportunities. Having been Deputy Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Revenue, Mr. Harrold has a keen insight into the operation of state government, the legislature and most importantly, economic development to assist with the negotiation of very lucrative incentive packages for new companies locating in the State of Georgia and throughout the Southeast. Mr. Harrold has also been instrumental in navigating through the Georgia General Assembly significant pro-economic development legislation including the Motion Picture Production Tax Credit, Single Factor Apportionment Formula, Repeal of the Georgia Intangibles Tax, Tourism Development Act and the Anti-SLAPP legislation for the movie industry passed in the 2016 Session of the Georgia General Assembly.

Mr. Harrold has traveled to more than 70 countries and was one of the original founders of the World Law Group, which was established in 1987 and is recognized as the elite and premier international legal network with more than 61 member firms with offices in 93 countries connecting 21,000+ lawyers. In 2009, he was awarded the Cross of Merit of Germany (Das Verdienskreuz 1. Klasse) by German President Horst Köhler.

Mr. Harrold is almost evangelical in his belief of the importance of international trade and business and reminds his American friends that our country has approximately 24% of the world’s GDP but only 5% of the world’s population – meaning there are literally millions of potential customers outside the borders of the United States.

Mr. Harrold is always thinking about the people and the companies he represents and is not hesitant to share his views, contacts and experience to make a company successful and profitable. He is an involved counselor for his friends, who he is honored to represent, and not just a contract legal technician.

His greatest enjoyment is to get a company to locate in the Southeast, make new friends and help them succeed.

About the Consular Conversations series: 

Sponsored by Miller & Martin PLLC since its inception in 2016, Global Atlanta’s Consular Conversations series consists of monthly public interviews with consuls general in the Southeast United States.