[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 136 (Tuesday, September 30, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12186-S12187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    ON THE PASSING OF JOJI KONOSHIMA, PRESIDENT, U.S.-ASIA INSTITUTE

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, on September 17, 2003, America lost one of 
its true Ambassadors of Friendship, Mr. Joji Konoshima, President and 
co-founder of the U.S.-Asia Institute.
  Mr. Konoshima was well known at home and abroad for his efforts to 
promote understanding and dialog between the United States and East 
Asian nations. His career as an educator, labor organizer, political 
advisor, and diplomatic mentor spanned more than 40 years.
  Born in Tokyo, Japan, Mr. Konoshima immigrated with his family to the 
United States at the age of six years and settled in California. He was 
a student at the University of California, Berkeley, when he and his 
family were evacuated during World War II to the Heart Mountain 
Relocation Center in Wyoming. After the war, he received a Bachelor of 
arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, 
Berkeley, in 1953, and a Master of Arts degree in Education from New 
York University in 1960. Mr. Konoshima taught social studies and 
Japanese language in New York City, and was an adjunct assistant 
professor at New York University for more than a decade.
  In 1973, Mr. Konoshima organized the Manhattan teachers' union in 
backing the successful candidacy of Mayor Abraham Beame. He then served 
as the labor coordinator for New York gubernatorial candidate Hugh 
Carey in 1974, and was the union liaison for Governor Carey after his 
election. In 1974, Mr. Konoshima traveled to Hawaii to organize the 
teachers' union. In 1976, he became the New York labor coordinator for 
the Presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter, and went on to join the 
national Carter-Mondale campaign as labor liaison. After the election, 
Mr. Konoshima became the National Director of the Asian Pacific Affairs 
Unit of the Democratic National Committee. He accompanied Vice 
President Walter Mondale to Japan, and traveled to Japan and Korea with 
President Carter. He played a key role in the historic visit of Chinese 
Premier Deng Xiaoping to the United States in 1978, traveling with him 
to New York, Houston and San Francisco.
  In 1979, Mr. Konoshima co-founded, with his colleague Esther Kee, the 
U.S.-Asia Institute, an organization dedicated to fostering better 
relations between the U.S. and the countries and people of East Asia. 
During his tenure as President of the U.S.-Asia Institute, Mr. 
Konoshima personally escorted Members of Congress on visits to the 
People's Republic of China, as well as delegations of Congressional 
staff. Mr. Konoshima led more than 85 Congressional staff and trade 
delegations to China, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Korea, 
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. He also hosted seven 
international conferences in cooperation with the U.S. Department of 
State, and a multitude of briefings on issues of interest and concern 
to the U.S. and East Asian nations. Mr. Konoshima was an advisor to 
political,

[[Page S12187]]

business and diplomatic leaders on both sides of the Pacific.
  Joji Konoshima will be missed by all whose lives he touched, but his 
extraordinary efforts in support of U.S.-Asia relations shall never be 
forgotten.

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