CWP alum Wendy Leutert named to the 'Cohort 8 of the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future'

The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and Japan Foundation are honored to announce fifteen experts who will be joining the “U.S.-Japan Network for the Future” program. These specialists on the U.S.-Japan relationship have been identified and selected for demonstrating potential as policy intellectuals and bringing diverse expertise and perspectives to the bilateral policy-making process.

As part of the program’s eighth cohort, they will begin a two-year program this June. Over a series of events spanning both countries, the participants will benefit from programming that assists in building professional networks and enhances their opportunities and abilities to engage with policy-relevant research.

This program honors the legacy of both Ambassador Mike Mansfield, who firmly believed that the U.S.-Japan relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world, “bar none,” and Professor Ezra Vogel, the founding member of the Advisory Committee, who provided the initial vision for the Network for the Future program.

Cohort Eight includes: Wendy Leutert, Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Indiana University

The Network for the Future program began in 2009, and for more than 15 years, the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation and the Japan Foundation have been building and providing opportunities for trained specialists in the academic, government, non-profit, and corporate sectors of the United States and Japan. The new cohort brings the size of the network to 112 individuals.

Program Agenda

Cohort Eight’s planned program agenda includes an inaugural workshop in Washington, DC, this June, followed by a retreat held in the Mansfields’ home state of Montana this October. Next year, the cohort will conduct week-long study trips to Washington and Japan before culminating in a public symposium in June 2028.

Apr 14, 2026 and https://us-jf.org/en/news/usjlp-class-of-2026-announcement

Photo Credit: https://mansfieldfdn.org/blog/cohort-8-of-the-u-s-japan-network-for-the-future/