Professional Luncheon,
Katsuya Okada,
Vice President, Democratic Party of Japan

The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation.

"Regime Change In Japan"

Katsuya Okada has tasted victory as an opposition leader. He was deeply involved in establishing the Hosokawa cabinet, which displaced the long-ruling Liberal Democrats. And in 2004 he was DPJ president when his party won more seats than the LDP in the upper house. But such moments of triumph have passed quickly. After only 11 months in office, the Hosokawa cabinet gave way to an LDP-led coalition government. And the year after the DPJ's 2004 upper house victory the LDP -- under a high-flying Junichiro Koizumi -- administered a severe drubbing to the still Okada-led opposition party in a lower house election.

Now Okada -- who has been mentioned as a possible prime minister if the DPJ wins the next election -- is looking for his party to pull off longer-lasting regime change. Indeed, he has a new book out to prove it. In Seiken Koutai (Changing the Regime) he argues that the LDP-led government is incapable of responding to a current Japanese malaise that he says is evidenced by a pensions issues, a financial crisis, environmental problems... and his list goes on.

A Tokyo University law graduate who started his career in the then-Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the 55-year-old Okada has a reputation for being what in the United States would be called a policy wonk. Join us as he shares his vision of a DPJ-led future Japan.

Sandwich: Roast beef & swiss cheese wrap with grilled onion, tomato, ground mustard mayonnaise & green salad.
Hot Lunch: Walnut crusted perch, coconut crabmeat sauce, steamed wild rice & roasted cauliflower with green salad & bread.
Dining Room Special: Pan seared lamb medallions, prune ragout, olive oil mashed potato & garlic spinach with green salad, bread & dessert.

Katsuya Okada, Vice President, Democratic Party of Japan