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2013 Spring Conferment of Japanese Imperial Decoration Awarded to Dr. Lee-Jay Cho

On Monday, April 29, the Government of Japan will confer a decoration to the following individual of merit in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of friendly relations and mutual understanding between Japan and the United States:

• Dr. Lee-Jay Cho, chairman of the Northeast Asia Economic Forum and former executive vice president of the East-West Center, will receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette for his contribution to the enhancement of economic relations between Asian countries, including Japan, and the United States and the promotion of research exchange in the field of demography. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Sociology in 1965, Dr. Cho taught sociology and economics at various universities including Seoul National University, University of Michigan, and Kyoto University. He came to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in 1970 as professor of sociology and population studies. While holding a faculty position at the university, Dr. Cho continued his research in demography, statistics, and regional economic integration and developed a demographic methodology which has been applied at the Bureau of Statistics in Japan and other nation’s statistical bureaus and offices. Being recognized as an outstanding scholar in demography, Dr. Cho was then appointed as director of the East-West Population Institute in 1972. He served as the institute director until 1992. Dr. Cho also acted as East-West Center’s president pro tem and executive vice president, mainly working on efforts to promote mutual understanding between the United States and Asian nations including Japan. With the expertise and leadership he developed on Northeast Asia’s economic cooperation and development while working at the East-West Center, Dr. Cho established the Northeast Asia Economic Forum in 1991. Since then, Dr. Cho has led the forum as the chairman, and has contributed to strengthen industry-academia-government cooperation between the United States and the Northeast Asian nations, including Japan, while working on achieving regional economic cooperation and development in Northeast Asia.