Until the 1980’s, JASSW was run entirely by volunteers. Today our staff consists of four full-time professionals and our Board of Directors is headed by an elected Chair and composed of local and state leaders in business, government, education and the arts.
Staff
Dale L. Watanabe was appointed Executive Director in May 2012. He was born and raised in the south end of Seattle, graduating from Tyee High School. Watanabe graduated from California State University, Long Beach with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, and also earned an MBA from Seattle University. He worked for over 20 years with Microsoft as a senior business development manager, before stepping away in 2011. He served as Commander of the Nisei Veterans Committee in 2006 during the initial kickoff of the organization’s $2.5M Capital Campaign to remodel the NVC Memorial Hall, and has served on the NVC Board of Directors since 2004. “I have appreciated the opportunity to be a part of such a well-respected, long-standing organization whose mission it is to foster friendship, cultural exchange, and trade with the land of my ancestors,” says Watanabe. “Japan and U.S. trade, business and cultural exchange are important for many corporations and individuals here and in Japan. I've enjoyed working with and learning from the many JASSW members and volunteers who are dedicated to the mission.”
Born in Japan and raised in the States, Michiko has had a long relationship with Japan. After spending most of her youth in Seattle, she studied at Middlebury College in Vermont where she spent a year studying abroad at International Christian University in Tokyo and received her Japanese/Sociology undergraduate degree. After graduating, she spent the next four years in Yamagata, Japan as a prefectural Coordinator for International Relations (CIR) for the JET Program. She returned back to Seattle in September 2021 after gaining an appreciation for ryokans, snow, sake, and good food. Although Michiko has lived in various parts of the US and Japan, she considers Seattle her home and is excited to help forge and strengthen international relations between Washington State and Japan.
Born in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture of Japan.
After working in Japan as the official race announcer and pit reporter of Suzuka Circuit and Twin Ring Motegi and as an event coordinator & MC, she moved to Orlando, Florida with her one-year-old son and partner, where she started Taiko drumming at Walt Disney World.
After the 2008 financial crisis, she moved to Seattle and founded the microbusiness, “Japan Creative Arts” in 2009 which provided Japanese music, arts and culture mainly though “The School of TAIKO/太鼓の学校”. In addition, in 2014 she started to produce the “Bellevue World TAIKO Festival” to introduce and promote high quality, unique Japanese culture.
Since its founding, she has been in charge of it all - website production, accounting, grant writing, performance coordination, costume design, etc. - all while working as a Taiko instructor and performer.
She is pleased to take part in this new project to support the community in Japanese, taking advantage of her experience running a small business in the United States as a Japanese immigrant, to surviving the current challenging days due to COVID-19.
